Our trek finished with a great boat ride.
And we walked into our Ostello Bello hostel, which was highly recommended by a few people. The rooftop bar and happy hour were definitely a good start.
Day trip to Taunggyi and Aythaya vineyard
The best part of the hostel life is cheap day trips. There are 2 wineries in the area – the worse one is in cycling distance, but the better one needs a vehicle. To our luck the hostel had an organised tour exactly on the day we needed it. 🙂
Conversation wise it probably counts as one of the most interesting days of our trip. We had a few Canadians, a French guy living in Singapore and an English girl on the local “bus” with us. The most surprising answer was probably to the question: “Would you try the milk your woman’s boobs produce?” All men said NO. Whyyy? How is that any different from any other milk? And you would end up tasting it anyway to make sure it’s fine for your baby no? 😀
We also discussed the San Francisco rental market, US politics, the Factfulness book, poverty in the world, weed price around the world, some physics, religion etc. It was intense! So intense that V went silent at some point, even though his favourite topics were up. I asked him if he’s ok. He said that you need to scream your ideas and opinions so fast and loud into the group he is too tired to contribute. 😀
One of the Canadians loved Estonia and has been there many times, so we discussed my home country too. The guy who’s been said Estonia is a very white country. So another Canadian got curious: “When was the first time you saw a black guy?” I said probably when I moved to the UK when I was 18. People were shocked. I did forget the basketball guys bought into the Estonian league, so it was actually earlier, when I was about 14-15.
We first visited a snake-shaped pagoda.
Offerings 
Then did some sightseeing at a local market in the capital of the state.
Eggs 
Avocado is a Myanmar thing – who knew?! 
Lunch-bowl, not for us 
Fish 
Children playing with a cardboard box from China 
Friends catching up
Stopped for lunch at a Thai restaurant. A Canadian woman (on a separate bus) was very out of order. So picky and crazy. We rolled our eyes and I told V if I ever become such a person he is allowed to slap me.
We finished off at the most awaited stop of the day, Aythaya vineyard. The place was pretty. And the wine also surprised everyone positively. Some had been to the Red Mountain vineyard and apparently not many finished their tasting glasses. Whereby here glasses always went empty and ordered some more drinks to watch the sunset there.
After a Pancake Kingdom dinner we continued the conversations with one of the Canadians and a new Dutch couple and a Polish girl on the rooftop.
Pancake Kingdom crepes 
Rooftop cocktails
Bike tour and Tofu palace
The next day we rented bikes and went to explore. The road towards the hot springs was supposed to be scenic, but it was just a ride on a rather busy road.
But then we reached a village with Tofu palace. We got a great tour of the local crafts (snacks and alcohol) and got to snack a lot of tofu in various shapes.
From flat to puffy 
Teamwork 
Alcohol in the making 
This woman is incredibly beautiful
V nicely organised 3 Israeli girls from our tour to share a boat with us across the lake. So they loaded us with all our bikes on the boat and we chilled over. It was interesting to be in the company of youngsters. They made me reminiscent of my early 20s, I might have felt a little old. Very nice girls, travelling after their military service.
Fitting the bikes on the boat and Israeli girls 
Local lady filling the final spot on our boat
Inji was still in town too, so we met up in a cool Cafe CCM. There was another Korean girl who’s been traveling for 4 years, and working at the same time. We asked how she manages the bad wifi situation and so far she didn’t seem too upset about it. 4 years without a home, wow!
I picked up our laundry, we repacked and got on another night bus back to Yangon. This time there was a dinner stop. 🙂 No snacks, but full dinner provided. Nice!