Inle Lake and the leg-rowing fishermen

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Another truck day of breathtaking scenery and sometimes scary (and often bumpy) roads took us to Nyaung Shwe on Inle Lake. I had heard of Inle Lake which is famous for its leg-rowing fishermen, but nothing had prepared me for the boat trip we took through the stilted villages and the other sights.

19 of us were told we would be collected from the hotel and taken to the pier - hmm - to us westerners that meant a mini-bus or similar but this is Asia and they meant it literally. A man arrived and then we walked about 1km along the main road to the boats! Each long boat took 4 or 5 of us seated in quite comfortable wooden chairs out onto the lake. We first encountered the 'professional' fisherman who would pose for a fee - later we saw 'real' fishermen doing their daily job. From there we steered through a stilted village, seeing the residents going about their lives. There are so many tourist boats out on the lake that they must be used to people armed with cameras snapping photos of them, although you do feel you are being a bit nosy.

Next stop was a Silk/Cotton/Lotus weaving workshop which was very interesting. I had no idea that the stems of Lotus Flowers were used for weaving, but they demonstrated how the stems are cut and the sap fibres are pulled and rolled into strands. From there we had a bit of a market/sales experience visiting a silversmith, blacksmith and finally Cheroot making. After lunch we were taken to the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda where men were adding gold leaf to Buddhas (women not allowed) and then a chance to stretch our legs visiting some more Stupas. We had mixed feelings about our next visit to a weaving demonstration by the long-necked ladies. We were told that the origin of the neck rings was to protect them from attacks from tigers - not sure how true that is. The rings don't stretch the necks, they press the collarbone down. Not many tigers around now but the tradition continues. Our last visit was to a monastery where the monks train cats to jump through hoops - thus the local name of the Jumping Cat Monastery. Lots of cats but didn't see any jumping! Finally another sunset, over the lake this time.

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