Magical Inle Lake

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We　headed next to big, beautiful Inle Lake, about 22 km long and 11 km wide, and surrounded by misty high hills. The road there is dreadful, but it's worth making the trip. The main town on the lake is Nyaung Shwe, where we stayed at the Au Mingala Hotel for $18/night, breakfast included. The hotel bungalows are clean, quiet, and you can catch up on the news on the hotel's one English channel, Al-Jazeera (that is, betwen 6 p.m.and 10:00 p.m., at which time the power goes off as it does throughout most of the rest of the town).

One of our first snacking stops was the Golden Kite restaurant, which prides itself on its pizza and pasta. Who knew that Italians taught English to the local people in the mountains of Burma? We were escorted into the kitchen by one of the brothers who own the place to admire the hand crank pasta machine which had been sent to them by a friend in Italy. The friend seems also to have taught the brothers their English because they all speak it with a faint and charming Italian cadence, e.g. "You are a-welcome". Somehow, over oohs and aahs about the pasta machine and the wood burning pizza oven, and without really knowing how it happened, we agreed to have one of the brothers, Wim, arrange a tour of the lake for us. But, first, Wim took us to a money changer who gave us a good rate on our semi-acceptable U.S. currency. One thing we would like to note is that, although we were travelling with a lot of cash, at no time did we feel concerned about theft in Myanmar.　

The next day we hired a taxi to take us 30 kilomters further into the mountains to visit the sole winery in Burma, owned by some　mad yet suitably wealthy German. The Aytthayya winery is located in a beautiful mountain valley at about 1,400 meters. We were fortunate to spend a half hour with the German winemaker - Hans, of course - discussing wines, grapes he is trying to grow and all the other matters the winery is involved with (aquaculture, supporting an orphanage, settuing up a school, etc.). Though they are trying to grow some 20 varieties they only bottle 3. We purchased the Shiraz and a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc as they appear the most promising. Labels are gorgeous but the grape vines require several more years in our view. After leaving the winery we continued on to the market in Taunggyyi before returning late in the day to　Inle Lake.

The following morning we headed out with Wim and his friend Nam Pew in one of the long, narrow teak boats that ply the lake, which is home to a large number of minorities: Danaw, Danu, Intha, Kayah, Pa-O, Shan, and Taung-yo peoples, among others. Many of these people live in the 17 stilt-house villages around the lake. The men fish the lake with cone-shaped nets from their narrow high prowed, flat-bottomed boats which they paddle from the stern with one leg, so that they can watch for shoals of fish, and avoid the large clumps of water hyacinth and low-lying islands that are scattered about Inle. It's quite a feat to watch.

The lake also supports a thriving farming community that produces a wide range of vegetables and flowers cultivated on extremely fertile floating islands in the shallow edges of the lake. The men add to the islands by driving bamboo stakes into the lake bottom and piling up mud and lake vegetation. We stopped at Se Khaung to watch the local blacksmiths using pedal-powered billows and the teams of smiths who hammer out knives, gongs, and fabulous swords (Matthew really wanted one) you name it, around a blazing fire. They also produce some silver and brassware. The womenfolk are highly skilled weavers of silk and of lotus plant fiber, which is even more labour intensive than silk production. At the workshops around Inpaw Kone we watched one old man pulling fibers from lotus plants and hand rolling them together to be spun. It looked like to would take forever to get enough to make a hanky. The final product resembles heavy linen and is often used to make monks' robes. Very durable and very pricey. The silk is an excellent deal.

Also stopped off at the market that changes location around the lake throughout the week. Decided once again that it is much harder to be a woman in Asia than a man. Most of the vendors and purchasers are hill women, who leave their homes before first light to walk4 hours down the mountains to the market balancing heavy loads on their heads and then have to make the return trip home at the end of the hot day; but at least, they have each other's company and their life belongs to that place. This seems much prefereable to the existence of the sole Padaung woman (one of the so-called giraffe-necked women) on the lake who spends her whole day being photographed by onlookers due to the 6 heavy brass rings around her neck.

We visited one of the most revered temples in the country, Phaung Daw U Pagoda. The temple isn't very grand in comparison to others in the country, but it is home to five sacred Buddha images dating back a thousand years. Unfortunately, we weren't there for one of the festivals when the statues are rowed around the lake on a gilded barge to bless the local monasteries and bring prosperity to the lake communities, but we did hear in great detail about the accidental sinking of one of the Buddhas. Definitely one of the kitchy highlights of the lake is the old Nga Phe Monastery which is more fondly known as the Jumping Cats Monastery. The monastery is all rustic dark wood and quite atmospheric. The big draw is the cats, which are famous for having been trained by the monks to jump through hoops for little treats. Considering how lazy and coopertaive our own cat is, we were prepared to be impressed. Unfortunately, there were no cat antics on view when we arrived. We were variously informed that 1) a mysterious illness had stricken most of the cats (those there did look pretty sickly) and 2) that the government had forbidden the monks to engage in this tourist draw.

We had so much fun going from community to community with Wim that we decided to do another tour of the villages that are located on the streams that feed the lake. We also booked accomadations at the Golden Island Cottages, one of two complexes built and owned coopertatively by the Pa-O tribal people. Complex No. 2 is defintely the one to stay at. It commands the best vistas on the lake, with gorgeous sunrises and sunsets. The cottages are built on stilts over the water and rock gently when boats go by - a very lovely way to fall asleep. Very rustic but clean and the views are so stunning that it would be tempting not to budge and just to read a book all day or watch the flocks of water birds that skim the lake. But we had hikes to take in the nearby hills that you reach over bamboo walkways across the water, and another tour with Wim.

This time our goal was In Dein, on the western side of the lake, with its ancient stupas partly covered by vegetation. We boated up a long narrow stream that rose towards the mountains by a series of primitive locks, basically bamboo poles pounded into both sides of the streambed with an opening just wide enough to accomodate one boat. You take a run at each lock and rise up about a foot, with the water getting greener and greener as you approach the mountains. Along the way you can watch children out tending water buffalo or people working in the fields. To reach the stupas, you climb a long covered walkway lined with energetic vendors. Many of the stupas have wind chimes; close your eyes and you'll hear Kipling's tinkly temple bells. Also found two giggling two little boys who didn't give a hoot about religion or imperialist poetry, and who just found stupas the best place to play hide and seek.

We spent our last night in Nyaung Shwe at the View Point, which is down by the main jetty. It's balcony has a superb view of the river and of the silvery temple, covered in mirror pieces, across the bridge. If you're there at dusk, the bridge looks like a scene from a wild west movie as cattle are herded across it. The View Point serves delicious Shan food, and has a small number of rooms for rent. We stayed in one that looked out over the rice paddies. It was about $20 and included an excellent breakfast. Power out at 10:00 again.

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