No rest for the wicked. We had to be at the school by eight so that we could see the classes with the little kids. Foolish us! We were pressed into service again, and taught the little ones for about 90 minutes before we had to take off to make our plane. The kids were really sweet, and had learned a lot in a very short time. Their outlook on life was much more hopeful, and much broader, than that of their older peers. We really enjoyed working with them.
We then took a few pictures of the kids reading in the center’s library space as well as a shot of the whole crew.
We said our farewells and headed back to the hotel, where Teddy and Cynthia put us in the jitney and followed on their motorbike. They had been tremendously generous hosts, and we parted from then with real regret—and with promises that we’d be back to help more. Andrew and I couldn’t have been more wrong about the visit to Kyaing Teng: it was the highlight of this and really just about any trip one could imagine!
The flight to Heho was pleasant and we were soon on the ground and in a taxi headed for the lake. After about thirty minutes we reached Nyaungshwe, the biggest town on the lake. A few more turns brought us to the road along the eastern shore. Fifteen minutes on we turned into an unprepossessing road with no indication that our hotel lay at the end. Even once we had passed through two sets of gates and into the resort, we were slightly nervous about what we were seeing. It later turned out that this was just the maintenance facility and staff housing (120 staff members live and eat on site)–most guests arrive by boat.
We were soon on a teak walkway amid verdant vegetation: it passed by the biggest structure at the resort, the dining hall, then along a covered walkway and into the reception building.
The place was incredibly lovely, and we got our first good look down the jetty at the lake. We had been very lucky: our bungalows were among the first six along the shore of the lagoon (the shore turned north at that point, and the remaining “villas” didn’t have the sunset view that we had).
Our little home was magnificent: all done in dark woods, it had a large living room with sofa and chairs, a huge bath area, with sinks in the open, a closed toilet room, and a huge shower room with a rainfall shower head and glass on three walls. The bedroom was striking for the pure white bed coverings and the white mosquito netting gathered at the ceiling.
What luxury for a couple of peasants!
It was three o’clock when we arrived. We unpacked, showered, and relaxed for a while, then proceeded to one of the two large decks overlooking the lake for even more serious relaxing. After wrestling one of the tilting, form-fitting teak chaise lounges to the ground with the help of an accommodating Frenchman, we ordered some drinks (Sue was delighted to find half bottles of Red Mountain Sauvignon Blanc here, too), and read and wrote until Andrew appeared.
The bar by the lake closes at six, but the bar near the dining room–the Mingala Bar (a play on the Burmese greeting Mingalaba)==is open most of the day and into the night. The sunset over the lake was spectacular. We watched boats bringing guests back to the resort after a day on the lake, and lights coming on across the lake in the villages on the western shore.
We decided on an early dinner since we really hadn’t eaten lunch (except for the tuna salad pasty on Bagan Air!). We had heard that the food was good, but after our experience at the Governor’s Residence we expected it to be very pricy. Far from it! We started with the European menu: five courses for $23. Soup, salad, a lovely poached butterfish, and a very nice glazed chicken scallopini. Dessert of the day was a fruit tart, which we supplemented with irresistible profiteroles: our first ice cream since we left home. The meal got a bit more expensive when Andrew reverted to his primary wine prejudice: a little Bordeaux for a lot of moolah…which was probably not as good as the Red Mountain cabernet! We vowed to try the bar one of these nights…but our beds were too enticing, and we never did.