Today was market and food day. Explored nearby markets and ate at random joints. I also ate again at Innlay Hut!

I just had a random thought as I was selecting pictures to post. Look at the top left picture of farming tools below. I originally took that shot cause I thought the machetes were cool. Just now, I realized that this shop owner’s living comes from making and selling these knives. People use them in their daily lives. I took a picture as if it was a souvenir. I am grateful to be able to go to a market as if it was a tourist attraction. I am even more grateful to come to an understanding that markets aren’t a tourist attraction. It represents the community’s daily grind.

Inle Lake, Nyaung Shwe, Myanmar was my favorite of all 4 places I visited. Something about water seems to relax me. When we arrived at 5am, I immediately hired a boat to take me around Inle Lake. This village exists solely because of the lake. It was here that I had a pondering thought. While watching people’s daily lives, I realized that being a tourist in a lot of cities was just witnessing people live their day to day lives. Wouldn’t it be strange if people came to your office and watched what you did? And took pictures?

We cruised around Inle Lake for about 8 hours. I got to watch the sunrise, witnessed fisherman at work, visited tons of small businesses along Inle Lake, visited Shwe Inn Dein Pagoda, Nga Phe Kyaung Monastery, and went through the floating garden. It’s incredible to see how different how people live their lives and how they adapt to the resources around them.

Go eat at Innlay Hut. It’s an Indian restaurant and it is bomb. Kumar is awesome. He loves the 313 and Eminem. Seriously, go eat here.