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Published: June 12th 2011
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After a wonderful 15 hour journey that started at 4am and consisted of sitting on a plastic stool in the aisle (bus seats were booked out), we rolled into Inle Lake. On our way to the main town, we passed by beautiful rice paddies and scenic landscape with mountains looming in the background. On our first day, we hired out two bikes and went for a loop around Inle Lake, to look at all the small villages along the way. In this high-altitude area beholding a cooler climate (a great relief from Bagan's hellish heat), we had a pleasant day wandering and stopping to take pictures or saying hello to many of the locals. Afterwards, we cycled down to a monastery and checked out a lotus-lake and a giant Buddha. In search of another temple, we cycled through a tiny village and thinking that we had to go right, ended up cycling into someone's garden. It was only when we saw the outhouse, that we realised that we were cycling around someone's herb bush. We were pretty embarrassed, which wasn't helped by having the whole family coming out to laugh and to help guide us the right way.
The next
day, we hired out a boatman and went out onto the lake itself. The lake is huge and has many rivers and estuaries that flows out and into the main bulk. Motoring down the canal, it suddenly opened up to the main massive swell of the lake where life has flourished for centuries. It was a sublime sight as the lake stretched out like a sea and was surrounded by small mountainous ridges. As we went along, we saw the famous leg-rowing boatman. A lot of the boatmen use the traditional and unique technique of using their legs to peddle an oar. It was quite a sight to see lots of them doing it as they start hauling their fishing nets in the early morning. We went along to a village that lives on sticks on the river and saw a jewelry-making workshop before stopping at a local temple, which was pretty and loomed out of the lake. After stopping for lunch at a lovely restaurant at a lake-river-side town, we tucked into rice and we checked out locals rowing along. We went to a village famous for its weaving and as you drive through, all you can hear is
the clicking of huge old-fashioned weaving looms. It was quite interesting to see how the women work the old traditional machines effortlessly. Our boatman knew another temple that was used by villagers and was not so visited by tourists, so we put ourselves in his hands and saw a quaint small temple situated in the east of the lake. As our boatman navigated us through the area, we passed a few villages or towns that consisted of many buildings built on sticks. It was really interesting to see how the people adapted their lives on the water. All families owned a boat or two! We were led to the Floating Gardens which was a magical sight to behold. The Floating Gardens consists of rows and rows of vegetables and crops that are grown on floating trellises. Farmers gently move between the rows by boat and you can watch them tending their plants in the late afternoon sun. Our last stop was at the nicknamed 'Jumping Cat Monestry', which although was very nice with its wooden antique charm, Gabrielle especially was much more interested in the enlightened cats who have been taught by monks to jump through hoops. It was too
sweet with the little cats getting treats for looking up and then jumping through a ring. There was also kittens as well, which made it the cutest temple we have visited so far.
That evening, we went to see a traditional 'Marionette' theatre which shows performances of traditional Burmese puppeteering. We headed to the small theatre (it was actually someone's living room) and spoke to the puppeteer about how he learned the art of Marionette. It has been a family tradition passed down from generation to generation through the males. His father taught him how to do it and he has already taught his young son. Being a puppeteer is not just a case of pulling strings but the art of becoming the puppet and moving with the music - in effect, moving or dancing as the puppet does - so as to possess the realistic movements onto the puppet. Some of the most advance puppets have hundreds of strings attached to every body part, including eyebrows and ears. We watched the show and then afterwards, we got invited to try it out. The puppets are surprisingly heavy and tricky to move - we only succeeded in swaying the
puppets in a rudimentary jig.
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