I was still pretty sick from lunch the day before, but managed to get myself together for the flight to Pindaya. The airport in Mandalay is way out of town - over an hour drive. We checked in with just our web receipt on my iPhone - didn't even need to show ID. There's no assigned seats, just board the plane and seat yourself. We had lots of carry-on bags thanks to all the souvenirs we had bought but there were no issues, and lots of overhead space for them.
The flight itself was really quick, 35 minutes. They did take time to serve a drink :)
We had booked with Thahara for our stay in Pindaya. They were fairly new when I booked (only 8 reviews in tripadvisor at the time) but had an established sister hotel that got great reviews so figured we'd be okay.
Thahara Pindaya has five guest rooms in a farmhouse-type building outside Pindaya, surrounded by farmer's fields. It's really upscale inside, with the best beds and duvets we've had on this trip. Pindaya is at 1500m or so with very pleasant weather - highs of 22C and lows of 12C at night at this time of year.
Thahara offers an all-inclusive 3-day package including full board, excursions and airport pickup, which we had signed up for, and so there was someone with a nice little sign with "Eric D'Souza and Heather Murray" waiting to pick us up.
I was sick and so missed the scenic hour-long drive to the hotel. We even passed by a cattle market that I didn't get any pics of.
We reached the hotel around noon, just in time for lunch. It's a family-run place, with the best cooking we've had. I picked a really good place to get better! They made me congee for lunch and a chicken noodle soup for dinner; Heather had the normal meals which were ginormous and way too much food.
By the next morning I was feeling much better and ready for sightseeing. We had some leisure time in the morning and spent it catching up on our books, in the sunlight-filled common area overlooking rolling fields.
We actually cooked our own lunch! One of the activities we signed up for was a cooking class. Our host (Aye Aye) had done all the prep work - I did have to cut up some garlic and shallots, but the rest was adding to pots and stirring. (Maybe not 'cooking our own lunch' per se, but still) Made a chicken-based broth (her secret is to use skinless chicken neck for flavour), a chicken curry, all added on top of Shan noodles. While everything was simmering we munched on freshly-made fried pork rinds with a lime soda to wash it down.
After lunch we drove out to see Shwe Oo Min Cave, which has been filled with thousands of statues of Bhuddha over the years. It's supposed to be one of the highlights of Myanmar according to the Rough Guide. We thought it was okay. I had pictured a natural limestone cave floor; however the path is tiled and all the remaining floorspace is taken up by statues, with wiring all about for lighting and cctv. Didn't have much aura to it at all.
The small villages that we drove through were really picturesque, we liked that part better than the cave. Stopped in a couple workshops where crafts were made by hand. The paper making one was touristy, although it was cool to see how fast the guy could turn a piece of bamboo into an umbrella handle. Less touristy was the textile place where we placed an order for 12 napkins for pickup tomorrow ($6). Also watched cigars being rolled using cocoa leaves, and were offered a couple samples for free (!).
We had a couple of cocktails just after the sunset. Aye Aye's husband said they were "light" but I think now that he was referring to the flavour and not the alcohol content.
Dinner was excellent, now that I could actually eat. Over the three days we stayed here, Aye Aye served us something different every meal, all traditional Shan dishes. Very yummy.
...
We were up early the next morning (actually, at 6am, our normal waking time this trip) so that we could participate in the daily alms offering. Every morning, the students at the monastery walk through the villages with bowls in hand. A younger student walks a couple minutes ahead banging on a metal pot. Villagers come out and offer food to the students (they're not allowed to ask for food, so this is the system).
So we parked on the corner, and Aye Aye gave us large bowls of rice, with instructions for one scoop to each student. Both of us found this oddly stressful. The students file by fairly quickly, and it's not that easy to spoon rice equally without having any spill out the side. Anyways we made it through without any faux pas.
Aye Aye had to go to the morning market so we wandered through while she picked up a few groceries for dinner. Then it was back to the farmhouse for breakfast, more leisure time, lunch, and then the afternoon excursion to a Heritage House.
We weren't sure what to expect with the Heritage House. It was a big old house built over 100 years ago. What made it interesting was the owner, Rosie. She's about 80 and was a former history professor at various universities in Myanmar. She was full of stories as she took us through the house. Her father was knighted (or something, it wasn't clear from the picture) by the British / Indian something way back when, so now Rosie's treated as royalty.
Next we visited another very old house, this one over 200 years. The owners (not sure how old they were, maybe 80 as well) had moved into a more modern house on the property. The old house was still standing to visit; the doors were much shorter than today (about 5' high). It was made of teak and most of the wood was still original.
Back home, we freshened up and then had a pre-dinner drink at sundown. Dinner was excellent again, grilled chicken breast and grilled vegetables, mostly from Aye Aye's garden. We had our cigars after to finish off the meal which were pretty mild and fresh, looking at all the stars, our last night in Pindaya. Tomorrow we head back to Yangon by plane.
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