January 24

The farewell dinner last night was definitely a non event as no one seemed to be in the mood for it.  I had about half of my pumpkin soup, one little piece of beef, a few vegetables and a teaspoon of rice and that was it.  Then it was back to the room to attempt to pack.  That attempt was unsuccessful so I left it to this morning to try again.  After another attempt I determined that I was going to have to carry my sweat pants and sleeping top in a plastic bag but as I sat there contemplating the problem I decided that was unacceptable so tried one more time and this time managed, with considerable effort, to close the suitcase.  I almost called for someone to come and carry my backpack up to the hotel but decided to have a go at it myself.  I took it slowly and stopped to rest a few times but made it eventually.

When we left Inle Lake this morning it was 5 C.  To make room in my suitcase I had to wear jeans and my jacket so didn't at all mind that it was cool.  The bus we used for the drive to Heho was a major step down from the ones we had used previously. It was quite small and there was no leg room at all between the seats.  Thankfully the trip went quickly.  Security checks in the Heho airport are cursory at best.  They don't want your jacket to go through the x-ray machine and have no x-ray walk through.  Instead you go into a booth behind a curtain labeled with the rather foreboding title  "Body Search".  The body search turned out to be a man running his hands down the front of my legs and sending me on my way.  The women said that their booth was empty so they just walked through.

After going through security, and I use the word loosely, I chatted a bit and then sat down to read.  They don't announce flights over a public address system but rather just yell something not in English.  I have yet to understand a word they say.  As I was reading I looked up and suddenly realized that none of my group was there and the room had almost emptied.  Oops!  I was one of the last to board the plane but at least I made it.  Huge sigh of relief.

On our arrival in Yangon it was quite a shock as the temperature must have been 30 C or more and the humidity was high to boot.  We were all dripping sweat and peeling off as many clothes as possible.  It took quite a while for our bags and the bus to arrive and it wasn't pleasant standing around in that eat wearing far too many clothes.  Four of the group were going off on an extension of the tour so they and Ko Sai left us there and continued onward.  Eventually our new guide and bus arrived and transferred us to the Summit Parkview Hotel. 

I took the afternoon to relax as I had vowed not to open my suitcase after the battle I had getting it closed in the first place.  I read and had a short nap.  When I went down to try and get on the internet all of the computers were in use but one of the group was there so we arranged for three of us (or more if they showed up) to have dinner.  I eventually got on one of the computers but the connection was very slow and undependable.  I got about three quarters of the way through the 2,100 accumulated messages and the connection was lost so I had to log in again and begin once more.  I finally got through them and replied to a couple that required an answer right then.  The rest I left to try and deal with in Bangkok tomorrow.

It turned out that there were just three of us for dinner. One other wasn't feeling well so skipped it and three others decided to eat later.  We ate on the patio and had a pleasant relaxing meal.  I had spring rolls to start.  I expected, form the way the menu read, that it would be one roll but it turned out to be eight of them!  They were quite good but by the time my huge bowl of soup arrived I was almost full so only ate the shrimp and some of the vegetables.

Tomorrow it's off to Bangkok again....