Myanmar 5 – Inle Lake

From Bagan, we flew back to Mandalay and than on to Heho.  Our ultimate goal were the shores of lake Inle but on the way we stopped at a small paper umbrella shop.  It was a very small place where they make essentially everything themselves, including the paper that will eventually cover the wooden frame.  It starts out as a paste that gets beaten into submission – notice the double handed action for higher efficiency…

Later the pulp is dissolved in water and spread over a frame to make a thin layer – in this case, the paper is decorated with real flower petals

After drying, and a lot of assembly, this will become one umbrella …

We drove on to Inle and the Hupin Hotel which was going to be our headquarters for three days.  Each room was a bungalow that sat on stilts right on the lake.

We had four of these in a row, and Joan, just like me, quickly learned the benefits of going onto the balcony just to look at the view and what was going on around us.  There was always something.

Another tourist group left to explore the lake – we knew it would be our turn tomorrow.

From the balcony, I was already able to see a local fisherman on his boat, using the unique ‘leg rowing’ action which gives them such a very graceful pose on their small canoes.

We had a ‘free’ afternoon, so I went to explore the local village – it turns out that it was one photo opportunity after another.  Inle Lake is very shallow and the locals have developed a unique method of building floating gardens which allows them to grow fruits and vegetables right on the lake.  The few villages that are near the lake are surrounded by these floating islands as you can see in the front of the village in the background of this photo.

The village  itself has the obligatory stupas

and even a monastery with beautiful gardens

Once I moved away from the main street (a single lane of tarmac), the small village lanes were very colourful and quiet.

I discovered a small sawmill, which seemed to also double as the local pub (see people drinking in the back ground).  The large and unprotected saw blade is operated by a very noisy diesel engine and the person nearer to me was putting all his weight onto the piece of wood to cut it.  I did not dare to imagine what would happen if he lost his grip and slipped forward …  I also am not sure why he felt the need to have such a large knife on his back – personal protection? Tradition?

You quickly realise that life arounds here revolves around water, and the most valuable thing anybody can own is a boat.  They are everywhere, and come in many different sizes

Many houses are built right on the lake, on stilts – and the only way to get from one to another is using narrow planks that do not always look very solid or well anchored.

I decided to play it safe and stay on solid land…

The weather was not perfect, but at least it was nor raining.  The clouds provided very nice reflections into the perfectly still waters of the lake

In an environment like this one, you learn very early how to handle a boat

Another local industry, after the sawmill, seems to be the drying business – not of clothes, but fish cakes.  The smell around such a place was not always pleasant, depending on the stage of drying that most of the cakes were in…

I saw two people manually flipping over the cakes in one area – one by one…

There is also corn drying, right on the cob.  However, I am not quite so sure that it is a good idea to have chicken guarding the corn during this operation …

I was pretty much left alone while wandering through the village.  One gentleman did ask me if I wanted a boat to go on the lake, but did not insist at all when I declined.  The local children were more surprised than anything else

There were quite a few flying kites near the local school

There were dozens of signs in front of the school gates – the only one I could read (as it was written in English) said “Please keep our Campus Clean”.

That evening, there was rain all around the hotel and I was able to capture another rainbow, with its reflection on the lake this time…

The next day, it was our turn to get onto the boat and start our exploration

On the way to our first stop, we saw more fishermen, up close this time

The only way to move around is on a boat and there is occasional heavy traffic in the small canals that go in and out of villages.  This lady was on her way to the market to sell her vegetables

We stopped in a village to go to the local market.  Obviously, from the number of boats already there, the place would be crowded

The views around the landing remain spectacular – I usually did not know what to photograph first, and I am having a very hard time deciding which photos to put on my blog, and which ones I skip…

Members of the Pago tribe were in traditional dress also heading towards the market

It was quite a walk to the market and we were not alone heading that way.  Joan had accustomed us to great on-liners, but in this case, she did not quite get it right when she said “Oh look at the man riding on a pig!”  It was sort of pink, and looked naked (the animal, not the man), but when they turned around (both the man and the animal) it became obvious that this was not a large pig but a water buffalo …

At the market, some sold ginger and beans

others cooked food

A mixture of generations came to shop

On the way back, I captured this photo thinking that this view probably has not changed in hundreds of years

but then another view appears that is even better than the previous one

School children interrupted their class to say hello

on the way to lunch we had more spectacular views

and we encountered more locals going about their every day business

Of course there are temples and stupas

and more fishermen

we stopped at a silk weaving shop where they made their own yarn

This gentleman looked at us go by his house as if he we were extraterrestrials

This is the local school bus

We also stopped at a local cigar factory – these young ladies were assembling cigars, up to 1000 a day each.

 

would you start smoking if she asked you to?

Through our guide, we talked for a few minutes and the whole time she would continue to make cigars and just refused to make eye contact…

On the way back to the hotel, we went across a floating garden and could really see how these are ‘assembled’. There are successive layers of earth and weeds floating on water and held to the bottom of the lake by long bamboo sticks

This gives a totally new meaning to ‘garden shed’

but we ran into the local rush hour

Back at the hotel, we were able to relax with the lake views again, recharging for the next day.

Tomorrow, another full day on the lake…

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