Inle Lake - a night market and a winery

We arrived at Nyaungshwe, the 'gateway to Inle Lake', in good time for a small group of us to head out to the local night market. It is really more of an evening market, and is quite small, but the quality is good and the prices are very cheap.  We wandered our way along the street, looking at all of the foodstalls, before deciding on the very first one.

The guy here was friendly and helpful, and once we had settled ourselves somewhat gingerly onto the tiny low chairs, we soon tucked into a small feast of tempura vegetables, fried tofu, tea leaf salad, Shan noodle soup (non spicy for us), and a palata, which is basically a kind of pancake - a banana one in this case. All were very tasty.

We went back another time and tried the place at the other end, which some preferred, but we still liked the first one best.

If you aren't sure about street food - though to be honest if it is a popular stall and the food is served hot, then it is one of the best ways to eat - then I can vouch for a somewhat dubiously named place called Beyond Taste. We went there for a group meal, and whilst obviously more expensive than street food, it was still decent value and the food was good. The drinks were cheap too.

We also decided to try out the somewhat unlikely idea of Burmese wine, with a trip to Red Mountain, one of the two local wineries. You can do a quick tour of the process, and then you can sit out in the garden and either try a tasting flight, or just buy by the glass or bottle. It was a great place to sit and watch the sun set. As for the wine, some weren't too great, but we found a couple that were most enjoyable.