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Published: December 22nd 2006
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Inle Lake
Nunny was all smiles, at least until the inevitable occurred... After an extensive decision making process the previous night as to what time we should head onto a boat for a trip around Inle Lake itself, we don't make it onto a vessel till midday despite promises of mid morning.
So, because we are all cacthing buses that arvie - the three aussies - the two of us and Melbournite Matt - climb aboard our long boat and settle in for the luxurious comfort of a plasitc chair with life jackets as cushions and giant golf umbrellas to protect ourselves from the sun.
We first have to travel down a canal to reach the lake and were mighty impressed when a woman sat bout 2m high from the water and overtook us at at least 40km/h. But this was nothing in comparison to the hidden and not so hidden treasures that the mighty Inle has to offer the spectator.
It was a gorgeous sunny clear-skied day and all three were taken aback by the natural beauty of endless blue as the sky and lake merged into one and the mountaineous ridges running alongside both sides of the lake doubled in size when mirrored at their watery base. Just
Inle Lake
Local 'pirates' had a tougher than usual plank to walk then a flock of gulls starting flying alongside us, seemingly guiding the way forward much to Nunny's delight and Matt's ammusement. It wasn't till Nunny looked back to grin manically at Richard's that she realised that he'd been feeding the 'wild' birds his corn chips and was the reason of such unusual friendliness.
The lake is massive, with the majority of inhabitants basing their livelihood on fishing, working the floating garden or haggling with tourists over trinkets and age-old crafts such as weaving, paper making and handmade jewellery. The boat driver, not surprising us really, proceeded to take us to a number of 'unique' retail outlets and would wait an appropriate amount of time for us to admire and ultimately to purchase said items regardless of whether or not the entire group just sat outside and never even set a foot in the door.
This aside though, we were able to admire the crafty villages that were set entirely on water - I think - and included all the same structures that one would find on a land-held village. Houses, gardens, monestaries, temples.. the works. The difference being that it seemed to be so much more peaceful, and
Inle Lake
This woman was overheard shouting a local version of
"Who ate all the pies"
to the driver of the boat. one had to admire a life set entirely on water.
After visiting weaving, paper and jewellery we stopped for a bite to eat then headed to the infamous "Jumping Cats Monestary" where the monks play host to around 20 cats who it seems earn their food by learning to jump through hoops and put up with heaps of tourists coming through their habitat. All in all though it was a lovely teak building that mixed the dark earthy tones of a teak forest with beams of sunlight and a backdrop of blue. A really lovely place that would have been great to stay for a substanial period of time if it weren't for our pressing deadline.
And on that note the three Aussies made a hasty retreat past the gardens growing flowers, cauliflower and tomatos; onwards past the fishermen that row standing on one leg and using the other to row leaving both hands free for the net; and away from the setting sun to collect our bags and jump on a pick up.
The boys jumped quickly on the roof (Nunny not being allowed) and enjoyed the half hour dusty, bumpy ride through the countryside while
Inle Lake
The local cone fisherman really knew how to smoke a kipper Nunny entertained the locals below with her 5 words of Burmese and her natural witty charm.
We arrive at the junction of the main road and sit drinking Coffee mix and listening to Iron Cross (Myanmar's FAVOURITE band that sing many many English cover songs in Burmese) while we waited for our separate buses to Mandalay. It was only a 12 hour trip ahead of us so we weren't overly fussed and looked forward to once again waking an unsuspecting guesthouse at an unsociable time of the morning.
Strangely enough about 4hrs into our trip we arrive back at those very same bends that we'd come up almost a week ago to find that a truck (initially resembling a bus) had overturned on one of the corners spilling its cargo everywhere and limiting all other traffic to a seemingly dodgy bypass that crept treacherously close to the edge of a steep drop. Hearts never left mouths as the front corner wheel left the road but safely returned again some 2m later. Meanwhile we glanced to our left to notice them repacking another truck to the very same height of the previous one with the boxes spilt from the
Inle Lake
Where the blue of the sky meets the water first payload. Must've been the worst bend in the road we thought??!! 😉
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dr ash
non-member comment
where the bloody hell are ya?
hey trekers just wonder wher on earth ya are now? hope you are well. dr ash...