t’s morning at the pier in Nyaung Shwe, and boats are already being loaded with foreign tourists in a flurry of dark sunglasses, bright t-shirts and backpacks. Powerful engines are ignited and the flotilla sets off on another daily lake tour, the boats trailing yellowish sprays in their wakes.
Nearby, Yone Gyi Street is also abuzz. Here you can drink a beer or an espresso, book airline tickets or get a pre-tour shave at “Hair Cat.” If you are a local, there are stores selling construction tools and pesticides, both much in use these days. A recently built hotel, the Inn Star, stands immediately next to — and one story higher than — a Buddhist pagoda, something regarded as a sacrilege. Piles of sand and pebbles lie in front of a still unnamed hotel under construction, where Ko Loon Aung passes a cement-filled bucket to a fellow worker above him laying bricks.