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Published: November 12th 2014
October 22nd, 2014
Our next stop on the adventure was to be Inle Lake, famous for its leg-rowing fishermen and stilt-house villages...decided to suck it up and take a minibus instead of flying, thereby saving a substantial amount of money...and while overland here is slow (was supposed to take 6 hours, took more than 8) it did provide some great vistas and views, worth it in the end...although the driver was a bit nuts and there were some white knuckle moments, especially on some of the narrow cliff-side roads in the mountains...gah...
Arrived at Nyaung Shwe, launch point for Inle Lake, and the first hotel we were aiming for was fully booked, so left our packs there and started the hunt for accommodations...checked out four or five before settling on PYI Guest House, great spot...nine bungalows in a great location, surrounded by all sorts of restaurants and best of all gracious and friendly hosts, highly recommend the place...
It was evening now so just grabbed a bite to eat after sorting out a boat tour for the following day with the hotel...at this point we had an extra day to play with so after looking at the things
Buddhas
...over 8000 of them in the Shwe Oo Min cave, absolutely crazy...to do here we decided to spend it in Nyaung Shwe...it was to be 2 days of boating around the lake, and the third day a tour out to this Buddha-filled cave at Pindaya...trekking is also a big activity, something we considered but just didn't have the time for...next time!
So after a great breakfast at the hotel it was off to the jetty to begin the day's adventure...unfortunately our guide for the day did not speak any English, which was a drag as we likely missed a couple of things, it was hard to figure out some of the stops and things we were seeing and there proved to be some miscommunication during the tour as well. To be expected in some ways, but we were approached several times after we got back by folks in the street offering the boat tours, and their English was superb...should have done one day with them in hindsight...ah vell...
Despite all that we had a fantastic day on the water...departed the jetty in our own private skiff, complete with those cool long-stemmed propeller motors...fun navigating the channel to get to the lake itself; all sorts of other tourist boats and
The Jetty
Finding our boat for the day's adventure... local traffic going about their daily routines...think it took about 15-20 minutes and then the channel opened up into the lake...awesome...
Beautiful: the lake is flanked on both sides by mountains, creating a breathtaking view...one of the first sights we came upon were the famous leg-rowing fishermen...cool! Standing in long, shallow skiffs they wrap their leg around an oar, and paddle like this while feeding out fishing nets, it's quite something to see...
A short time later we arrived at our first stop, one of the stilt-house villages that dot the lake...and of course the first building we were ushered into was a silversmith shop, where we were shown the method in which the silver is turned into jewelry before then being shown the shop...it was here that a little sign caught my eye "Visa Accepted Here"....what? Things have certainly changed since the guide books were published, wasn't supposed to be any Visa cards accepted beyond a few hotels in Mandalay and Yangon...and here we were in what seemed like the middle of nowhere...too funny...
As we weren't in a silver buying mood we decided to explore the village...quiet for the most part as we poked around;
some kids playing soccer and the odd monk wandering around...we were approached by one of the town elders and he showed us around the temples and houses, explaining the significance of various artifacts..very nice although he kept interjecting with "money?", a little forward I suppose but we did tip him for the tour...
Back to the boat and on our way, snaking through these "streets" of water in amongst the stilted houses, very cool...went from town to town, stopping at various shops along the way (textiles including silk and lotus stem fibers, looked like a lot of work!). I loved bopping around these water-street towns, watching the daily life unfold as we snaked our way between the houses...just before lunch we arrived at the town of Tha Lay and as we docked we could see the Phaung Daw Oo Paya, considered the holiest religious site in southern Shan State. There was quite a commotion going on, the place was packed both around the temple and with boats on the water; it was a holiday of some sort, never did find out what it was but into the fray we went to have a look...
Great fun, small groups
On Our Way...
...she's all mine folks...haha... of men were walking around with these crazy long drums on wheels, as well as other instruments, and as they were playing two or three other men would dance, at least I think that's what it was...it almost looked like a choreographed fight in slow motion, using what seemed like kung-fu style moves and the dancers playing off these moves...it also appeared as though the groups were in some sort of competition with each other, as they would get louder and more demonstrative if they approached another group...cool!
There were all sorts of food and ware vendors about the Paya, and on a field in behind was a stage with dance troupes in full costumes performing for the masses...crazy stuff, looked like everyone was having a blast...and then it was to the lake front, where a multitude of boats were full of folks and kids dancing and singing, awesome...
At a bit of a lull in the festivities we stopped for lunch at one of the canal-side restaurants and then it was back in the boat to continue exploring...it gets a little fuzzy here, the sun was starting to bake our brains and we were getting tired...did manage
Bridge
...arriving at our first village... to see some more canals, villages and pagodas but their names escape me...we then asked the driver to point us home, and managed to see more of the leg-rowing fishermen along the way which was great before reaching the jetty...said goodbye to our guide and told him we'd see him in the morning (we had him for two days).
Everything seemed fine at this point, walked from the jetty in the direction of our hotel...stopped for a couple of pints but as soon as we got back to our room I suddenly caught a chill and was down for the count...think it was heat exhaustion; we took the usual precautions of sunscreen, hat and tons of water, but it may have just been a cumulative effect of a week and a half of heat on a Canadian system not used to it...whatever the cause it kept me down and out the following day as well; got up and choked down some breakfast but after high-stepping it back to the bungalow I knew I couldn't spend a day on the water...dammit...
So the Lovely K took off for the day while I recuperated...after sleeping most of the morning managed
a one hour stroll around town but then it was back to bed for the afternoon...our hosts Taun-Taun and his wife were most concerned, asking myself and K how I was doing and if they could help...very sweet, but not much to do but rest, drink water and try to flush it out...*sigh*...managed some dinner that night and early to bed...K was able to take in some markets, an orphanage and more temples and villages with her tour of the lake, sounded like a more exciting day than mine!
Woke up feeling a bit better and after breakfast decided to proceed with the day, didn't want to waste another one lying in bed...before we left however our hosts asked us if we were interested in a traditional Shan meal for dinner that night...absolutely! We then had a driver that was to take us to the town of Pindaya, where there was supposed to be a cave containing over 8000 Buddhas, okay! So into the car we piled and set off on our two hour journey...
Countryside is beautiful here; plenty of farmland surrounded by the mountains...it was slow going in the car but that was fine as the
views were brilliant...after about two hours we started our ascent on this switchback road to get to the gates of the Shwe Oo Min Cave, home of all the Buddhas...greeted by a huge, bizarre spider sculpture we entered the site and rode the elevator up to the cave entrance...
Crazy place; you enter this massive cave and it is stuffed with Buddhas of all shapes and sizes...each one donated and with a small white marker in front detailing the donor, and there are just layers upon layers of these statues, it was quite something...the path inside winds its way deeper and deeper in the cave (about 500 feet), as you bob and weave around Buddha after Buddha, made from a variety of materials such as alabaster, marble, lacquer and cement, some perched on ledges high above the floor...the limestone cave is reputed to be about 200 million years old and is quite the sight to see...
Visit to the cave was great, and on our way back in the car we stopped at a tiny village to see how the paper lanterns and umbrellas were made, fascinating...they gave us a demonstration on the steps, and some of the
Jetty
...daily morning rush... techniques were really quite clever...picked up one of the ornate umbrellas and then headed home...
After relaxing for a bit we had made arrangements for the hotel to take us to a local vineyard for sunset, Red Mountain Estates...I don't usually associate wine with the name Myanmar so thought we should check it out...beautiful spot on the side of a hill, we entered the complex and were shown to an outdoor terrace where we settled in for the sunset and of course a wine-tasting...(was hoping to see more of the vineyard itself, and while you could see some of the grapevines in the distance the visit was restricted to the restaurant/terrace...). No matter, we tried four different wines; the red was not so good, but the whites and rose were pretty decent...ended up having a couple of glasses of the different wines as well, and chatted with a nice Austrian couple who joined us at the table...not too bad sipping vino watching the sun go down...ahhh....
Then it was back to PYI and our Shan meal, alright! I still wasn't feeling great and my appetite wasn't at its best but was able to enjoy the meal nonetheless...we had
On Our Way...
...the Lovely K ready to go! brought a bottle of the rose with us for dinner, and it was a pumpkin soup starter that was fantastic...next was a traditional dish that escapes me, it was wrapped in a leaf of some sort and very rich...then a whole bunch of dishes arrived at the same time, including rice, to pots of meat (one chicken, one meat as per our order in the morning) and a bunch of tiny bowls with all sorts of sauces and beans and things, very yummy...again I probably would have enjoyed it more had my appetite been better but it was so delicious just the same...
And with that our stay in Inle was over, it was up in the morning and off to the airport, next stop Ngapali Beach...
(Some photos copyright of Karen C., denoted by (KC)...used with kind permission)
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taracloud
Tara Cloud
Visas accepted--there's no escape!
Sad you were sick, but glad you were able to rally for the wine-tasting and Shan meal. The lake sounds lovely--amazing leg rowers and how lucky to come across a festival. Also great to hear that one can just show up and find a fine place to stay, so you have the freedom to decide at the last minute when it's time to leave.