The ten hour bus drive from Bagan to Inle Lake is stunningly beautiful. Myriads of multicolored fields with scattered pines and palms, ranging unpredictably side by side from cream to red to green, startlingly bright, glossy yellow flowers propping up everywhere lining the roadsides, breathtakingly innocent and fresh. The friendliest hills I have ever seen were slowly rolling oh-so-very gently and imperceptibly one into the other. It was a countryside that was perfectly welcoming- no sharpness, no jarring objects, crisp fresh mountain air, every plant twinkling a smile.
One of my favorite passtimes on the road is surreptiously opening the bus window and making eye contact with the people passing by, bartering a smile for a smile; in Burma, the country with the most smiles per square millimeter, everyone smiles back, and there is something thrilling about locking eyes with a stranger who you'll never meet again.
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| Rolling patchwork hills |
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| Vibrant countryside colours |
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| Snacking on traditional lahpet thoke (fermented tea leaf salad) |
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| Working in the fields |
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| Monks collecting their morning alms in Nyangshwe |
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| Sunset monkey mayhem on Mount Popa |
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