Inle Lake (Inlay Lake), Shan State

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We had two fantastic days at Inle Lake (aka Inlay Lake). The lake is very large and is famous for its fishermen who row their boats standing up using one leg to balance and the other to row with as they lay or gather their nets or use their bamboo cone shaped fish traps and fork to stab, but not kill the fish (fish don't go off if they are still alive!).



We traveled about the lake in longboats powered by ridiculously large and noisey outboard motors. As well as seeing the fishermen at work, and farmers collecting weeds to use as fertiliser we visited various cottage industries at a couple of the villages on the lake. All the people were extremely friendly and did not seen to mind is trotting about nosing at them. The houses in the villages are generally built of wood and on stilts with some of them standing in the water. Drainage seems non-existent, straight into the river or lake.



At one place we saw some ladies with the neck rings which are added year by year to stretch their necks. They can never take them off as they will die as their neck muscles are not developed enough to hold up their heads. I thought the practice had been banned but it still seems to be going on as the girl we spoke to was only 12 years old.



We visited the Phaung DawOo Pagoda where there are only five monks in residence, and three of them were out when we called. They are fed and generally looked after by the local villagers.



We also visited the Indein Pagoda Complex where about 1000 stupas built in the 17th and 18th centuries cover the hillside. They had fallen into disrepair, but many are now being renovated with sponsorship from Westerners who I presume were unaware that unfortunately the stupas are being unsympathetically renovated by generally plastering over the stupa so that it looks brand new and not in the proper manner whereby you are able to tell afterwards which is the original and which is the repair. As a result UNESCO will not recognise this as a world heritage site which it surely should be.



Whilst whizzing about the lake and the rivers I spotted some interesting birds but we did not slow to look at them. I have to keep reminding myself that I am no longer on a wildlife trip but a culture trip to stop myself getting cross at missing viewing the birds properly and also missing the chance to play with my new x60 zoom!!



Nyaung She Township has a great feel about it and I was not the only one who likened it to a cowboy town in its appearance. There are a number of visitors here and as a result several nice little cafes and restaurants and shops selling tasteful craft type items. Lots of people get about on bicycle, including tourists, or scooters, with very few cars around. It is getting towards the end of the dry season so everything is dusty and I can only imagine what the dirt roads will be like once the rainy season gets going. The day starts early here and pretty much everything has closed by about 9.30pm. As it is much cooler here it is just lovely to sleep at night with no air conditioning and the windows wide open with the insect screens to keep the bugs out. Nyaung She Township definitely gets the thumbs up from me.

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Photos

gulls line upon the posts
Food is sold to feed them - not a wise move

Thanakar
Ladies everywhere smear their faces with a substance made from thanakar which is a root plant to protect themselves from the sun and to keep cool

neck ring ladies
The girl is only 12 and says that she will not have any more rings I like her 60 year old grandmother

spinning
This last is 75 years old and has been doing this job since she was 13