TRAVEL

Home & Away with Robert WalsheLiving

From Wednesday, 18th to Saturday 21st September 2013, Aer Lingus will host the first ever International Hurl-ing Festival, in association with The Gathering, and sup-ported by the GAA and Eti-had Airways inviting teams from all over the world to compete in this unique fes-tival. Together with part-ner airline, Etihad Airways, Ireland national airline will bring teams from New York, San Francisco, Canada, Asia, the UK, Continental Europe, the Gulf and Australia. Aer Lingus and the GAA are also using the tournament as an opportunity to promote the game of hurling in develop-ing regions by including teams such as Buenos Aires, Milwaukee, Indianapolis and a Europe team made up of non-Irish nationals. www.aerlingus.com & www.eti-had.com

Holiday Hotspot –Inle Lake, Myanmar

Inle Lake is Myanmar’s sec-ond largest lake situated in Shan State in the eastern part of Myanmar. The 22 km long and 10 km wide lake, has a population of 150,000 and is bordered by more than 200 villages, home to a number of ethnic minority tribes, no-tably the Intha people. Many have built their houses on the lake itself, raised on stilts above its waters. Life revolves around various cottage industries, from silk weaving to silver production with fishing playing a central role too.

The locals demonstrate a unique rowing style, using their legs to propel them forward as they stand at the stern of their long narrow boats. The largest village on the lake is Ywana; its streets a web of canals. Here you see beautiful teak houses built on large wooden piles driven into the lake bed. The main activity and attraction is at the floating market where

you can visit goldsmith workshops & also observe the sculpture and umbrella industries. The Phaung Daw pagoda houses five small Buddha images, which are much revered by lake-dwellers. Once a year, in late September there is a pagoda festival during which, four of the five Buddha images tour around the lake in a colour-ful barge. Nga Phe Kyaung is an attractive wooden mon-astery built on stilts over the lake at the end of the 1850s and another popular attrac-tion. There’s also Indein lo-cated on the western bank of the lake which is narrow with many twist and turns. Since both sides are paddy fields you can see the farmers ploughing and harrowing by water buffalo. Shwe Yaung-hwe Kyaung, a 200 year old monastery perched on solid teak logs to keep it safe from the floods was filled with young Buddha priests chant-ing and swaying, as they recited their books off by heart. Inle Lake offers a vari-ety of accommodation suited to every budget & our choice Paramount Inle Resort was perfect for those with more to spend but who still wanted a ‘real travel’ experience. Set on the side of Inle with beau-tiful landscaped gardens, at first glance the resort could be compared to many in the area. The difference is the quality of rooms and furnish-ings, the attention to detail and the warm personalised service.

The superior teak rooms our accommodation choice had sturdy, comfortable beds and were surprisingly equipped with satellite TV and tea/coffee making fa-cilities. The location is in the middle of all the attrac-tions and a 45 minutes boat transfer from Nyaung Shwe, the nearest town. The lobby provides you with plenty of room to relax and enjoy the surroundings. You also can climb the View Tower

to appreciate the stunning and dramatic scenery of Inle Lake. The most convenient way to get here is to fly from Yangon, Bagan or Mandalay to Heho, which is the nearest airport as other transport options are long & tedious and the road network under-developed. One Stop Travel & Tours based in Yangon with branch offices at Man-dalay, Bagan, Inle, Nay-Pyi-Taw offers a reliable and professional service and will organise your tours, hotels & domestic airline transfers which are next to impossible to organise independently.

Once we arrived in Heho, One Stop met us at the air-port, confirmed our next flights to Bagan and re-mained in contact with us during our trip to ensure that all was going to plan. Due to Myanmar’s infrastructure it’s really important to en-gage the services of an agent and “One Stop “deliver on all counts. www.onestop-my-anmar.com Award winning Australian photographer John Baltaks has travelled to many places throughout the world and capturing many intimate pictures including those included in this feature on my trip to Myanmar www.johnbaltaks.com There is something so very exciting to be in Myanmar – it feels as if it is awakening, alive, brim-ming with possibilities. Go

Now before it’s becomes too westernised!

Etihad operates 10 flights a week from Dublin and daily flights from Manchester and Heathrow to Abu Dhabi and over 85 destinations includ-ing numerous daily con-nections to Bangkok and onwards to Yangon with its code share partner Bangkok Airways. In business class to Bangkok expect award-winning fully flat beds in an innovative 1-2-1 layout – all seats have aisle access and are forward facing. Expect the services of a dedicated Food & Beverage Manager offering restaurant quality dining-on-demand, boutique wines, and a unique “kitchen anytime option “. Enjoy over 600 hours of on-demand en-tertainment on some of the largest personal screens in the sky – as well as MP3

player connectivity and uni-versal power sockets. For best fares visit www.etihad.com

Weekly Best Buy If you are looking for a

weekend break away this February then look no fur-ther than the city of Derry, celebrating its City of Cul-ture title this year. Recently placed fourth in the Lonely Planet’s Top 10 Cities for 2013, there is plenty to see and do in Northern Ireland’s second largest city. Visitors can enjoy the picturesque riverside setting, several fascinating historical sites, a number of museums, gal-leries and theatres, as well as a thriving musical and literary scene. Derry’s year-long programme of cultural

activities now includes over 270 events with something to suit young or old, locals and visitors, music lovers, dance enthusiasts, sports fans and literary buffs. To celebrate this year-long festival, Hast-ings Hotels has put together some great value deals so you won’t miss any of the action at their splendid Ever-glades property on the out-skirts of the city with prices starting from €102 per room per night. www.hastingho-tels.com

Robert Walshe is a travel broadcaster with Q Radio Network and Travel Editor for River Media newspaper titles across the island of Ireland. www.robertw-alshe.com

Pet’s Corner... with Kathleen Murray

Home and Away ExtraHotelier Paul Flavin (pictured right) has been

appointed general manager of Hilton Dublin. He has been part of the Hilton Worldwide sta-ble since 2006, most recently spending over four years as general manager at Hilton Dub-lin Airport. Prior to Hilton Dublin Airport, he spent three years at Hilton Limerick and six years at Jury’s Limerick, where he worked at senior management level. Flavin also held sen-ior management positions at Jury’s Cork Inn, Jury’s Christchurch and Jury’s Customs House. Home & Away wishes him well.

n Stilt House Lake Inle Myanmar(Pictures courtesy of John Baltaks Photography)

n Local Intha people on Lake Inle Myanmar fishing

IN many houses the dog is put outside because the owners find it too time consuming, too dirty or too much hard work... some end up in the pound.

It’s always good to ask your-self why you have a dog. Unless it was a stray, the dog did not suddenly appear in your life on it’s own. Someone spoke to it, fed it or bought it and took it in.

A person is the reason why the dog is there, so why does the dog become the one to pay for that? So many dogs have good lives and as with everything there will be the ups and downs.

There will be days where things go well and days where it all goes wrong but in general most people give their dogs a reasonable life.

Unfortunately, it’s not that way for all dogs. Enjoying a dog

is about the little things. Like every relationship it’s the little things that help with the bond-ing and the memories. Big things are not as important, so buying your dog an expensive bed is not as important as knowing what he likes and what he doesn’t like.

It’s about being interested in your dog. My old dog won’t be around for much longer. She’s nearly 15 years old and the times that I have had with her have been great. I wouldn’t change a thing.

She has been like my right arm since I first met her. She’s a col-lie and has worked with me all her life. She was the most obedi-ent, wise, intelligent and pushy little creature I ever met.

Once when I was training a sheepdog pup years ago, I was using ducks to teach it the com-

mands. I had already trained my dog to work with sheep and the

ducks were her pals. I told my dog to stay at the house (bot-

tom of the field) so that the pup could learn without dis-traction.

As we worked, the pup scat-tered the ducks and was over excited so I went to regroup the ducks and settle the pup down when all of a sudden my dog jumped out of the hedge (where she was hiding), rounded up the ducks and left them at my feet and then jumped back into the hedge again so I wouldn’t send her back to the house.

Today she is kept going on heart tablets, and attention. She is in the early stages of demen-tia, she is half deaf, half blind, and swaying at the back end now and then when she gets a bit dizzy from circulation prob-lems (like myself), but when I open the fridge door she’s right there beside me. She’s no less

intelligent or pushy when she’s in tune with the rest of the world and she still makes me smile when I see the things she comes up with.

If she’s not hungry she puts a lot of effort into hiding her food in case one of the other dogs gets it. She has raided waste paper bins and covered the food bowl with papers or has taken the blanket off her bed and covered the bowl with that.

Parts of her are only half there but she’s still on her feet and staying a step ahead of the posse. She’s actually very healthy, doesn’t have any joint problems or arthritis, but she’s winding down as the months go by. She’s great company. It’s important to enjoy your dog. It won’t always be there.

Do you enjoy your dog?