Taking to the long-boat around Inle Lake

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And so to one of the more interesting days I’ve had in my entire travels - taking most of the day cruising in a powered long-boat around Inle Lake, which is about 200km SE of Mandalay. By way of intro, Inle Lake is some 20km long and 10km wide, with the lakeshore and lake islands home to 17 separate villages on stilts, that are home for some 70,000 people, primarily of Intha origin. The lake actually doesn’t have a defined shoreline - the water just gets shallower and the tangled hyacinths and marsh paddies get denser until the obstacle course becomes unnavigable and you are in effect on solid land.

Almost the entire surrounds of the lake comprise floating islands, on which the locals cultivate crops, with tomatoes and other vegetables being particularly prevalent. Basically the islands comprise a very fertile solid mass of marsh, soil and water hyacinths that are staked to the bottom of the lake with bamboo poles. Eat your heart out, you drought-ridden Sydneysiders - no need to water these vege gardens regularly! Among these various islands and peninsulas there has formed a complex network of canals and side streams that provide the main avenues of transportation for the local Intha, not to mention all the tourists.

The two somewhat unique features of this ethnic group are the cone-shaped nets stretched over bamboo poles that they use for fishing, and the use of one leg wrapped around the oar to propel themselves along. This is called leg-rowing and is intended both to give the rower relief to the arms during a long row across the lake, and also to allow him to check out water hyacinth or fish much more clearly. And between these dugout canoes, and the much longer motorboats, powered by enormous lawn-mower engines with extended propellers, which are used primarily to ferry either tourists or goods around the lake, it felt at times like George Street at 5pm.

So there I was for the day in my long boat, travelling with all my friends, strutted up in a chair like Lord Muck, as my hardworking driver navigated me in and out of the canals with all their hidden obstacles. During the course of the day, we visited quite a number of craftspeople, ranging from those making silk from lotus stems and then weaving it into fabrics; a blacksmith, who somewhat manually crafted a range of tools; a gold and silversmith, who made a wide range of silver and gold trinkets, as well as the conventional rings, earrings, necklaces etc; a ‘production line’ making a mix of cigars and cheroots; and a paper umbrella manufacturer, who first made their own paper from the roots of a local tree. The last visit of the day was to the Nga Hpe Chaung Monastery, to view the famed cats that have been trained to leap through small hoops. However when I arrived there, the cats (mainly pretty feral-looking, I’ve got to say) were all taking a nap, and the monk in charge appeared to share their enthusiasm level, so as a lone tourist I didn’t press my luck, and as such I missed that little sideshow. Incidentally, for those potential travellers, the cost of this round trip ex Nyaungshwe (at the northern end of the lake) was USD30, regardless of how long you take. As in most of Asia, people here don’t put any monetary value at all on their time, so the rate purely depends on what distance you travel, and as such how much valuable fuel you burn up.

My accommodation was an interesting experience too. It was at a place called Sky Lake Resort, which was situated totally ‘offshore’ halfway down the lake, and is only accessible via a 30 minute boat trip from Nyaungshwe. It shared some of the features of my Bagan accommodation in that it had no internet or newspapers, but added a couple more, like having no television, no air-conditioning (not fun at these current temperatures), and not even any power between 9am and 6pm. So lots of reading, and writing travel blogs, but when am I ever going to hear those football scores! At nightfall, it was a matter of opening all windows and doors and looking for the breeze off the lake to cool down the 40+ temperatures.

Next stop is Yangon, the old Rangoon, which like Mandalay is a bit of an administrative stop only, since I will be flying out from there the following day to Bangkok, later connecting to an onward flight back to Sydney. I’ll sum up some of my impressions of my brief stay in Burma then.

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Comments

[Jill Fitzhenry]

Leg-Rowing
Crikey! that leg-rowing looks to be a bit of an art. Great workout for the inner thighs I'd imagine. Luv the water views from the Sky Lake hotel but I'm guessing room service was not availabile. Another enjoyable read - Thank you!

[Boat Wax]

http://www.boatwaxandaccessories.com/
This boat looks so amazing! You're so lucky to have gotten a chance to ride and play around with it! This is definitely something some people would like to construct for fun. Great post!