Where to sleep in Burma, Myanmar. Here is where our author spent three of her nights on one of her most beautiful and undoubtedly exciting trips: at the Princess Garden Hotel.
Some trips have been more important to me than others: for the people I met, for their dramatic story, for the impact they have had on my life. Countries that have moved me with lots of tears like in front of a romantic film. One of these was the Myanmar. In this special place we have chosen to sleep a comfortable accommodation with a swimming pool: the Princess Garden Hotel.
Travel to Myanmar
What do you say to a friend returning from a trip to Myanmar? Beautiful?
No. Using this adjective is superficial and reductive. Myanmar gets inside you, it makes you resize the Western life in which you are submerged, you gives disarming smiles and spicy aromas. It makes you understand, if you have inquired about the history of the country and the life of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese leader of peace, how little you have had to fight to be able to express your opinions on the street or at school and above all, it makes you realize how little you are aware of all this.
The trip to Myanmar left me this and my eyes full of green, relaxing and watery landscapes. As the Inle Lake in Shan state. I was there in the hottest time of the year, April, when the temperatures almost 40 degrees but in the evening you could enjoy a certain coolness. My travel companion and I reached Nyaungshwe (Myanmar), the town at the gates of the lake, arriving by night bus from Mandalay and paying a mandatory fee of a few dollars as soon as you arrive. They will issue a receipt that is not lost, as it may be requested by the authorities when you least expect it.
Princess Garden Hotel in Myanmar
In Nyaungshwe you will find various accommodations to suit all budgets. We have chosen to pamper ourselves a little, given the scorching temperature, giving us a hotel with swimming pool and we have not regretted it! An ovation therefore to the Princess Garden Hotel (really cheap prices). We chose the bungalow and we were there three nights. It was without doubt the most expensive and most comfortable hotel on our trip. Clean, hearty breakfast, pool and bike rental.
The Princess is family owned and located on the Mong Li canal. If you're lucky, you may happen to see local ladies washing clothes in the lake.
The breakfast
Breakfast is served in a small terrace above the reception where it is preferable to go barefoot as are the smiling waitresses in their traditional dress. Every morning we woke up with our mouth watering because we didn't know if the banana or the was waiting for us chocolate pancake, accompanied by scrambled eggs or omelette of your choice, fruit juice, tea or coffee, toast and a plate of fresh fruit.
A comfortable facility
What to expect from the Princess Garden Hotel Myanmar
The bungalow is spacious, le basic mosquito nets and there are, the bathroom with shower clean, the balcony overlooking the enchanting fields ... the only noise we heard was that of the two Burmese peasants who sang while hoeing. But let's come to us… the swimming pool! What to say? Clean, equipped with deck chairs and towels for each guest; a real panacea when we returned from our bike rides and an excellent place to socialize with other guests but especially in the mid-afternoon the owners offer customers a very good fresh fruit smoothie.
This treatment is also reserved on the day of the check-out: you can continue to use the pool and a shower and a shared bathroom remain available. At this point, you will have forgotten that the only "flaw" was there lack of wi-fi but you would still like to be adopted by the owners. If you want to see the floating markets, you can ask at the reception.
The markets are shifted and you can choose the one that interests you most by booking with the owners of the Princess or by contacting a local agency directly.
You can also do one boat trip on the lake: the tour clearly includes some tourist stops, such as a visit to the fabric factory where women exhibit
dell 'Pdaung ethnicity, better known as "giraffe women“, As they weave. We asked to leave out this type of stop because our interest was mainly linked to the life that takes place along the canals.
The intha tribes
The lake is littered with rural villages on stilts of the intha tribes. Observing them is amazing… on the water they do everything! Their peculiarity is to have devised a system of floating gardens and with the boat you can pass through the rows of tomatoes or salad. A separate note deserve the intha fishermen. The image of these men rowing using only one foot and standing on the boat is perhaps the best known by travelers, the one that is placed in the “common imaginary” drawer of our brain.
However, I guarantee that seeing it live, in silence on the boat, at sunset, will be like watching a dance show. The fisherman is one with nature and the lake that surrounds him; her elegance as she moves the oar makes the image of Carla Fracci that you carry in your head as a child fade for a moment… for me it was like a spell of which I am still a victim.
Come back to pamper yourself in Princess Garden Hotel, after having explored the beauties of Myanmar, made this trip even more special.
