Girls' Day at Inle Lake: Shopping, Spa, and Some Wine

My first full day at Inle Lake, some girls from the hostel and one of the girls from the trek and I decided to spend the day biking around Inle Lake. In proper girl fashion, we started off the day shopping at the market in Nyaung Shwe. We were lucky that the five-day rotating market, where villagers from all around the area bring their goods to sell, was happening right in Nyaung Shwe that day. The next day would have been in Heho, which would have been too far away to conveniently visit. 

Five-day rotating market at Nyaung Shwe 

Michelle (Germany), Michelle (Sri Lankan-Canadian), Geena (Germany), and I wandered the market in the way that really usually only girls can put up with.

"I want to buy one of those baskets."

"I think they were back this way."

One more turn of the market and a lot of wandering later... We definitely made at least several circles, as we each had our eye on something. Between us, we bought some jewelry, a tiered lunchbox, a shopping basket, spices, tea, and snacks.

After the market, we rode our bikes to the Khaung Daing Hot Springs. 

$10 USD seemed a little pricey by Myanmar standards, especially when you know the locals are probably paying a dollar, so we were a little undecided. Geena talked us into it, and in the end, we were really happy we did. There are three pools: a foreigner pool (co-ed) comprised of actually four smaller pools, a female pool (a larger swimming pool with a lot of children and mothers), and a men's pool (which I didn't see). 

Photo courtesy of Michelle Ohlendorf

The water was hot and relaxing. They give you a glass of Tang on the house (which looks fancy in photos), a towel, and a complimentary shampoo packet. We stayed longer than we had planned and I could have spent even longer laying on the lounge chairs.

After a long-tail boat across the lake with our bikes and lunch we headed to the winery.

We made it to Red Mountain Winery in time to do our tasting as the sun set. A tasting of four wines was 3,000 kyat. We agreed that the wines were not very good, but the views were beautiful. 

It looked so much like Napa and Sonoma that I had to keep reminding myself that I was actually in Myanmar. Especially with the hot springs, it was easy to forget that I was in a foreign country. The day felt so relaxing and so familiar. A bunch of easy going adventurous girls, just kind of going with the flow.

Red Barn Winery at sunset