Finally it is lunch time, with the sun already high up, it would be a good idea to seek some shelter and have lunch at the same time. Fortunately, our boatman has the same idea. We asked him to bring us to a cheap and good place. Despite being a tourist magnet, Inle Lake still has places like that. He brought us to the Shwe Hintha Restaurant. Just like the other establishments in the area, the Shwe Hintha Restaurant is also built on the lake itself. And like every self respecting Inle Lake structure, it has its own dock.
In any other place, having a dock at your own place would sound strange, however, this is Inle Lake and this is the rule rather than the exception. Our boatman brought us to the restaurant area. Though this is no tourist trap it still has an English menu. Unfortunately, the Chinese food was still the cheaper option for me since I was low on funds. I went for fried noodles – again. I really feel bad about not being able to have much local food but I really needed to save on the kyats.
The fried noodles was nothing special since I have had this all over South East Asia. The restaurant itself is made of wood and is quite cool since the place was very open. Normally in these kinds of places, you’d expect a lot of insects, mercifully enough there weren’t any here. Probably because the lake it not stagnant. We took our time to relax at Shwe Hintha Restaurant since it was really hot outside. There was a terrace where you can see life pass by.
Near the entrance of the restaurant is a large store selling local garments. It was like some warehouse sale here, and fortunately for me, the sales people weren’t the pushy type. I guess I didn’t look like the type who would buy such things.
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