MM: Do you, or anyone else here, have a link or info on what days of the week that Indein market takes place?

We found out the market days for all of the villages from Santa Maria and structured our tour accordingly. I was not successful finding this information on line, although I did try.

Craig: Am I correct that there is a market every day someplace around the Lake?

We will probably arrive on the first flight of the day from Mandalay and have the reminder of that day;, and the whole of the following day, in the Inle area. I hope that we can visit at least one market on the full day.

Where is Gloria, who used to post so much about Burma?

Kathie - there is a possibility I might be able to help with a connection with a monastery in Yangon - difficult to say given what's happened since I was there. If you're interested, email me at kmwilhelm at ekit dot com.

I'm not sure about everything you do in Myanmar being observed. If you work for the World Bank, no doubt! But I spent two weeks being driven around in a nondescript car in a big loop from Yangon (I actually most enjoyed driving through the countryside and stopping for lunch in the middle of nowhere), and even though I'm not very observant, I really don't think I was being followed! No doubt it also helped that I wasn't staying in upmarket hotels. eks mentioned on her thread getting a quote of $300 for a hotel - the places I stayed were a fraction of that. I didn't try and visit any of the more sensitive areas, though.

eks - I think the chances of there being a market day on Inle Lake or nearby when you are there are good and I'm pretty sure there's one almost every day. We actually went to 4 markets while we were at Inle Lake:

1) Aung Ban, not too far from the airport (not on the lake) on the way to Pindaya - no other Westerners there

2) Indein on Inle Lake - touristy

3) Samka on the reservoir connected to and south of Inle Lake - fairly small but interesting

4) Khaung Dine - this is the small village next to Inle Lake Resort - we went there early one morning before heading out on our boat and wish we had had more time to see it (this one was on the same day as Indein)

There really is no issue in the cities, re: observation by the government. On the well-beaten tourist path it really isn't that Big Brother-ish, of course. It doesn't have to be. You're already being controlled.

If you do get off the track, you'll know it. People will look at you as if you've just fallen from the sky. Little children will run screaming to their parents. The man from Planet Mongo has arrived. Within two minutes the head of the village will hurtle to your side... best you have a little chat before you wander around.

And the knee-bone is connected to the thigh-bone is connected to the...

That's more how it works.

a beautiful (and heart-wrenching) book about burma is "the lizard cage" a great, sad read about the country and its people

Eks,

From memory I recall that the car ride from He Ho airport to the Inle lake pier takes over an hour and then the boat ride to my hotel take another 30 - 45 minutes. So if you have an early morning flight from Mandalay, often there are delays due to fog and the flying time is something like only 20 minutes, you'll not get to your resort until early afternoon. IMO you will not have time to do much after you arrive at your hotel/resort.

My thanks to all of you for this great information. I'm going to refine the itinerary and get some quotes. I'll be back later with more questions.