Inle Lake, Myanmar
Inle Lake is south-east of Mandalay a quick flight over a patchwork quilt of colourful fields, small villages and of course golden pagodas…
I love the little airports here, everything is done by hand and printed sheets. Personal service from the time you get to the desk, a little sticker so people know what plane you are on and bags hand delivered to you at the other end of your flight!
A 50-minute drive on windy roads through the mountain with a very nice but very nervous driver, I was going to offer to drive for him, I don’t think he liked the mountains bends much… The first view of the lake from the top gives you an idea of how big it is -116km2 surrounded by soft rolling hills and mountains.
Nyaungshwe, where most of the hotels are, is a small town with not a lot going on. People stay here to go on the lake, hike and mountain bike around the area.
As usual, I wasted no time and started exploring the countryside around the town. I love walking around the little villages, everyone is so friendly, it really is, so nice to walk about without having to look over your shoulder.
After my walk, I hired one of the 100s of long, very narrow boats used to transport people and goods across the lake to watch the sunset. Maybe, it’s not just a surname – I love being on the water…
The next day, I joined up with some other guys from the Backpackers for an all day tour of the lake. We started off in thick mist, which gave a bit of an eerie feeling to the lake before it was sucked back over the mountains. At one stage, the view from the left of the 1m boat was dark and moody on the right was blue and bright quite weird, almost like being in the no man’s land of parallel universes…
The lake is filled with little villages, most of the houses are built on stilts with a couple small pieces of land in between. The only way to get around is by boat, even over to the neighbours for a cuppa… As with most villages by water, the lake is used for everything – cleaning, drinking, washing….
The lake is famous for its unique fishermen who stand and row one legged. They use one leg to row the boat, which leaves both arms free to fish, it really is the most awkward, mesmerising looking movement, but works and makes sense to have both hands free to throw the nets. The water in the middle of the lake is warm and crystal clear.
The villagers grow crops on floating islands, we saw 1000s of rows of tomato plants, with space for the little boats to go up and down between the rows tending and harvesting – quite amazing.
Our tour took us to a number of local industries on the lake, silversmiths, weavers, cigar makers. At the cigar maker’s a toddler was already sucking on an unlit cigar, I suppose here they start young in the family business!
We headed back after sunset and about 10 hours on the water, I felt like I was still on the water for a good hour after we got back to the hotel.
Today, I flew back to Yangon for the night and will fly to Laos in the morning. I decided to stay in a residential area close to a huge lake and the airport for my early morning flight. I thought you could walk around the lake but they only have a small area landscaped available to walk. Hundreds of locals use this area, it is such a social hub. At one end, there are lots of little restaurants on the edge of the lake. Around the restaurants are also little food stalls selling lots of tempura veg and stalls selling – I’m really not sure what! I really have not idea what it was maybe offal but it was weird stuff. If I didn’t have a couple of flights to take tomorrow I might have tried something! I sat in one of the restaurants, and was served by children, four little guys whose combined age wouldn’t’ have made mine… We spoke in the language of “charades” for a long time, all of us really seemed to enjoy our conversation…
I have loved Myanmar it is such a great places with some really unique experiences, great people. It is not overcrowded by tourists, in some places, I was the only person, a very easy and hassle free place to travel around – as the t-shirts say – “I love Myanmar”
