Serenity at Inle Lake

As I said in the last blog, our 3 day trek ended at Inle Lake. The lake is 22km long and is surrounded by many different tribes, which sell their wares at the many markets and in boats on the river. It is gorgeous and relaxing and a major tourist draw. Luckily, the lake is so big that there isn't too much foreign congestion.

The guesthouse we found was the best so far - it had the most delightful cobblestone garden full of blooming pink flowers. We spent many hours relaxing there, reading and talking and taking in a few Myanmar beers.

We chartered a boat for 6 people, Pere, Maria, Jan, the French couple, and I, for the day. The towns around Inle all use boats for transportation, and as it was the end of the dry season, the water was only inches deep in places! We even got stuck a few times, but the neighbors were all very good natured and helpful about coming to give us a push - it was obvious they experience this every year.

One of the big draws of Inle lake is the fishermen, who use an eccentric, traditional style of of rowing their boats with one leg. The stand at the stern and wrap one leg around the oar to push it out. I heard that this is because the lake is covered with reeds and floating plants that are difficult to see above while sitting. So, they decided to stand to see above the reeds. Our boat captain was great and slowed down whenever we saw a few boatmen so we could take pictures.
I became a little suspicious, however, when I noticed that the fishermen appeared to be waiting for boats to approach; then, they'd strike a pose. Their boats were also pretty empty. Hm...being paid by the government?? Possibly. Either way, it was still interesting to observe.

Then we went past the floating gardens, which are rows and rows of tomatoes and other vegetables just above the water level. The farmers walk in knee-deep water between the rows or they paddle small boats. It was very lovely, but I would have liked to get a closer look. Another aspect of the floating gardens is the small huts on stilts that dot the landscape. The captain confirmed that people do live in them, which concerned me since some looked hardly more that a decrepit box balancing on chop sticks.

The next stop was the 5 day market. Usually, it's a floating market, but the water was too low for all the boats, unfortunately. It was pretty insane; at least 10 times the size of the market in Kalaw, and a lot more geared towards the tourists. We managed to wade through the masses of duplicated products to the back of the market where the locals were shopping for food and other everyday goods. We had to sit down and have a cold drink after that!

We found out way back to our boat and went to a weaving factory that made silk products. It was pretty cool to see how they extracted the raw silk from the reeds and then refined it into beautiful scarves and dresses. I bought a lovely turquoise scarf! We also went to a cigar factory, where the cigars and cigarettes are made with banana leaves and include ingredients like dried banana and strawberries in addition to the tobacco.

After a nice lunch, we went to "Jumping Cat" monestary, which is famous because the monks there trained cats to jump through hoops. It was pretty hokey, and the monestary itself was no great beauty. Very underwhelmed, we decided to head back on a slow track so that we could enjoy the sunset just before arriving back at our dock. The sunset was grand, and we arrived exhausted!

The next day we took a lazy day and found some brick oven pizza with cheese imported from Europe! Oh my! I was in heaven, I have to say. Sometimes you just need western food. A little more relaxation, then I climbed on a 15 hour bus back to Yangon. Thank God I finally learned to sleep on those roads! Then I hung out in the airport for a few hours and finally caught a plane back to Bangkok. Good times, Myanmar.