Myanmar : Inle Lake

The road to Inle was closed so we took a propeller plane to Heho airport, only an hours flight. The airport was tiny, just a single building and they gave us a sticker as a boarding pass. My litre bottle of water was allowed through security if I promised to finish it before boarding the plane 🙂

We sat and waited until we saw the plane come in to land – when it did, there was a bit of a free for all as everyone ran to the doors to be the first onboard – there was no reserved seating but apparently everyone had a ticket so I wasn’t sure what happens if you end up back of the queue 🤔 I was happy to find they served coffee and snacks onboard – less happy when one of the group warned the snack was durian cake, so don’t eat it. This fruit is an acquired taste that stinks – I’m not a fan 🤢

The advantage of being in a GAdventures group is that everything is organised, so I could simply step off the plane onto a waiting bus which is a really nice change from bargaining with taxi drivers or riding in the back of a tuktuk and being pleasantly surprised when he drops you at your hostel instead of kidnapping you 😂

This hotel continued the hospitality with cold drink, wet towel and a pair of slippers to wear 😂

The main reason to come here is to see the lake – or life on the lake. Everyone takes a day trip by longboat to visit several places. Several times it crossed my mind what idiot tourists we must look, wearing bright life jackets and talking photos, as local fishermen, water gardeners or women hopping between villages passed by. Still, most of them waved.

Surprisingly the water is crystal clear and below the surface are bright green plants (a bit like those mum fishes out of my pond at home!!) which local men harvest, transporting them to their village and turning them into floating gardens on which vegetables are grown. This looked like extremely hard work 🤔

On the lake are floating villages, with restaurants and shops in between the tiny houses. We transfered to canoes, rowed by women, for a closer look and to support the project. I just liked holding a parasol!

A highlight was visiting the Nyaumg Shew monastery and the ruins of Shwe Inn Dein pagodas someway down the river system. The rivers have crude damns, essentially just sticks in the water which we raced through without slowing down – a lot of fun when you’re at the front of the boat!

It’s fascinating to imagine daily life here, hopping in a boat to pop across to your neighbour or to buy food.

The surprising favorite activity was having a go at making cigars, flavoured with banana, rum, pineapple, mint and more… It’s much harder than it looks to roll! Almost everyone, including me, bought some, although apparently nobody smokes 🤔

Also here are the Long Neck ladies. I’ve seen these before in Thailand and Laos – our guide Leo explained that they are actually from the remote villages and are working here in tourism to earn money. I wasn’t sure about taking a photo with them as it felt either contrived or exploitative, but since we gave a decent donation and there is currently no infrastructure to visit them otherwise, I decided it was OK.

There are a lot of crafts to be had on Inle, including hand made silver jewellery and lacquered bamboo items (cups, bowls etc), as well as weaving by hand which was actually really interest. Tiny old ladies and one old man were perched on wooden benches turning thread from lotus flowers into beautiful designs. There goes my budget…

I really enjoyed a visit to our local guides house for a cup of tea, who confusingly is also known as T. We had an interesting chat about tourism in Myanmar – there are so many beautiful areas which are not accessible right now, supposedly due to lack of safe roads. I’m personally not if it’s more about limiting foreigner movement. It’s important to remember that Myanmar is a small country, under control of China in many ways and lacking crucial funds to fight back in the international press. Tourism numbers have dropped so low that many many people have lost their jobs. This reminded me of the sad situation in Nicaragua right now, a country that is close to my heart.

I also got to try a Burmese massage, which is amazing! It’s so cheap that Inke and I had a whole afternoon at the spa, indulging in a full body massage (thankfully this time fully clothed and no blindfold involved) and foot scrub / mask. Here are some more food photos to finish this post 😀

However, while Inle Lake was fascinating, it had nothing on Bagan…