Inle Lake...que maravilla!!!

Today is October 21st, 9am.
I am sitting at a street tea shop nearby the Sule Pagoda circle in Yangon, waiting for the 24/7 ATM to open at 9:30am so I can finally withdraw some cash before the rest of my journey.

I arrived at Shwe Nyaung junction, about a half hour outside of Nyaung Shwe, after a 17 hour bus ride. Very long ride indeed, but strangely enough, when I got out of the bus, I felt so energized...probably because of the good energy coming from the lake and from what I was so looking forward to seeing for so long.

Inle Lake might be one of the top two tourist spot in the country, but gosh it is so worth it and tourism hasn't really invaded the place just yet. So the magic still remains...

Right off thew bus, a trishaw (like a pickup truck but driven by a moto) picks me up. The back was full, for I had to seat on a little plank of metal/wood screwed somehow just next to his seat. It was actually the perfect place to seat given how superb the view was all along until we reached the hotel name I had given him: Joy Hotel, located right on the canal where the local traders come load and unload their merchandize and produce everyday. Beautiful scenes, and much more tranquil and quiet than being on the river shore where all the speed boats come and go all da long starting at 5 am every day. :-) so the perfect choice, and for only $12 a night in luring breakfast, WiFi, and a shared bath with super hot shower and strong water pressure. Lol

It is 9am when I hit the streets to take a lil tour of reconnaissance of the town. Such a small village with tons of tea shops, restaurants, and hotels. But still, spread out enough that you don't feel to choked off by the tourists.

After a while, some local, or so I think, heils at me from the other side of the street "have you booked a boat trip yet?". Come on! Another boatman trying to sell his deal. So many of them all over town. Just like the locals hassling you all over downtown yangon, trying to sell you local currency at supposedly competitive rates. Anyhow, I try to dodge him, but he quickly replies that he is looking for someone to share a boat to lower the cost. Alright!!!! Let's chat then. :-) I felt so bad I took him for a local.

His name is Ho, he is a Vietnamese/Canadian/American. He moved to the US when he was a teenager. He contracted polio while hiding in the swamps in Vietnam during the Vietnam-France war of independence. But he does not hate the French at all. He is a fascinating person. He met his wife, also Vietnamese, while backpacking through Germany, after he ran away from the US because they wanted to draft him to fight as a US citizen in the Vietnam-US war! And aside from being a professeur of mathematics and economics in Maryland, he is also teaching a Master's class about the sex trade economy at the university of Chiang Mai. Oh, and did I mention that because of polio he could not really walk much normally, so he got an artificial knee, which allowed him to walk the 800km Camino De Santiago De Compostelle...in 33 days. Ha! Clement and Ho, you guys should meet someday. Clement, I actually talked a lot about you to Ho. :-)

Ho and I ended up spending the rest of the day hanging out together and chatting non stop about life, religion, health, politics...
We found a third guy to share the next day's boat ride. Tom, a young British guy who just graduated and does not really know what to do with his life...I guess we all went through that.

Next morning, departure at 5:30am, in order to see the very popular and timely floating Buddha procession happening this month.

The lake in itself is nothing special at all. It is just a big lake with lots of plants floating o it here and there kind of like the river in bangkok.

After an hour of cruising, we get to a place where numerous long boats are gathered and parked...standing by, and waiting for something to happen. Surprisingly, there are more locals than foreigners...it is a budhist celebration after all. After a bit of a wait, many smiles and waving to kids and their parents on newarby boats, the celebration seems to be starting. And then, wow! A spectacle!

A good dozen of long, long and decorated boats. Each with a different color code. And each with a good 50 men of all ages, really, all ages, dressed identically and aligned with the boat's color code. And all these men, start rowing in sync...but holding the paddle with their leg. Yes, strange process, but Inle Lake is quite famous for this process, mostly used and spread out by the local fishermen of the lake. Such dexterity is required when trying to maintain balance, and haul Avery long and intricated fishing net out of the water.

In any case, all the colorful boats are tied to each other by a long rope. All of them until the final three boats. These are the special ones, all in gold, and carrying the monks, other officials, but most importantly, the four budha statues which are being carried from one village to another all along the lake during this procession period. The whole thing is so festive, and the men rowing are also singing and dansing for some, just to express their happiness to be priviledge to represent their village during this procession.

We followed the procession as far as we were allowed to.

Then we headed out to the five day rotating market at the far south end of the first lake. Not as impressive as expected...I mean, after the friday markets in Marrakesh and the night markets in Malaysia borneo, hard to amaze me now...there we mostly dis people watching while being glutonous on whatever strange foods we could find. Yummmmmy! While asking prices of goods out of shopper's curiosity I became aware that the retail prices there were much higher, much much higher than in Yangon or Mandalay. I deducted that these rotating markets are geared toward local people who do not have access to mainland or main cities markets given how far remote they are. So it takes effort and resources to get these goods all the way there...and well...the tourists floading such markets have simply also increased all the prices. Hopeyfuly this has not impacted to negatively the poor locals who do not have any other options for their purchases, whether food or anything else.

And then, quite a discovery...we were showed how to extract fibers out of lotus stems. I had absolutely no idea that lotus stems were so incredibly finery. Unbelievable! And such a simple process. It was fascinating watching these women in a few seconds, transforming a few lortus stems into a whole silky/cottony roll of thread ready to weave. I guess just like people living on land and  hearding animals to use their fur and/or silk, people living on water have managed to adapt with whatever mean they could.

A few other interesting stops followed, until we got to the town of Indein. Slightly higher above the lake level, located atop a few hills, this town is famous for its hundreds of stupas which have been donated over the years from people from countries all over the world. The whole is creating a huge assemble of stupas, kind of in the forest. And it looks very impressive from atop one of the nearby higher hills. This site must be a dream at sunset, as the landscape, aside from the group of stupas, is actually quite green and flat, and its horizon plunges into the lake shores.

Later that evening, after a good shower and some rest, I went for a Burmese massage. A sort of mix between Thai massage and regular oil massage. Fantastic combo! The context/experience is as delightful and fun as the massage itself. The place is a little shack. Literally, about 10 meters long, by 5 large and 2.5 high. The room is split by a black curtain along its length. First side of the room is waiting room, where you can sit down and drink a tea. Second part is like a long flat sofa on which every client is laying Dow next to each other. No more than 40cm in between. And each receiving its massage at the same time without any curtain or separation between each other. This side of the room is only lit by a couple of candles. The ambiance is so soft and relaxing. Such a fantastic deal of only $7 for one hour!!!

The next day, I met this German guy during breakfast. Very interesting going guy, who, uniquely enough, works for a meteorology company who provides coaching and flood prevention management for developing countries around the world.  So we decided to rent bikes and hit the road to venture around, and keep on sharing more stories about our trip and the developing world. We head out to Maintauk. East of the lake. This town is supposed to be half on stilt way in the water, and half on ground. Why not?!
One hour of bike, interrupted by pouring rain, which made us to stop in a bamboo hut in the middle of a dragon fruit farm, and we finally made it to the town of Maintauk. We check out a beautiful monastery and a temple, end up sitting down with some Buddhist for half an hour to drink tea and observe what was going on...and play with the cutest cat. Then, we walk all the way to the end of the very very long wooden bridge. A going couple is flirting  while looking at the drizzling rain falling onto the surrounding lotus flowers...

The drizzle stops at last...we negotiate with an old villager for him to give us a long ride on his fishing (engine less) dug out flat canoe around the floating village. This was probably the highlight of my time in Inle. The moment was just stunningly beautiful. We were the unique foreigners around. People were smiling and waving at us right and left. The boat was so flat and shallow, one wrong move and water would flaw inside. Families of ducks were swimming along us, escorting us around. It was al so peaceful and serene. Such a dramatic contrast with the main route of the boat trips on the lake which are made with very loud motorized boats criss crossing each other from site to site over the lake. For a moment I caught myself wishing I had more time to actually spend a week in one of those floating houses and experience being part of this floating village. It must be a magical experience...oh well...one day...

On the way back to Nyaung Shwe, Mr Meteo and I quickly realized when looking at the sky that once again, we would have to race against the rain to make it back dry to town. Hmmm...an attractive stop over however was the winery which was conveniently located half way between Maintauk and the town. And well...sure enough, we just enough time to make it to the winery before the new down pour. But wow! The view from the winery was beyond all expectation. Two distinct rainbow were for one above the winery because of the fight between the sun and the rain. In the end, the rain won, but the resulting sun-blanketed fog floating over the lake was splendid. So we stayed there, tasting a few local wines and waiting for the rai to pass yet again...and a funny encounter was a group of older female English teachers from Canada who were also there on vacation. One of them was even from London, Ontario, ha! Small world...I guess the "eh" at the end of a sentence can't hide Canadians. Hahaha!

What a gorgeous day! Dynamic, colorful, tasteful, and relaxing, all at the me time.  :-)

Back in town, a quick shower, a bite to eat, and I had decide to check out the famous local puppet show. And who to I find on my way there...yet again, James, the Scottish I had met on the train to Hsipaw. Seemed like we actually bumped into each other about every day since that day. And stupidly enough, we never ended exchanging contact info, to bad. So I grab him and motivate him to tag along to the show. It wasn't the most incredible or entertaining show ever, but the place and the set up was just by far the most unique and fascinating ever. The third generation puppet master from Bagan had re-arranged his going garage into a puppet pop up curtained stage. Not more than 10 to 12 people could seat. The ceiling was covered in hanging puppets, so were the walls. While his son was cranking up the audio tapes into the player, the master was doing his show. A simple series of 6 particular Burmese dances acted up by 6 different characters. Poor music and dances, but fascinating experience that leaves you in awe and inspired about people's dedication to follow their dreams, no matter their actual talent...all based on their persona and charisma.

So yet another great evening.

The next day, my last day in town, I decide to go back to Indein, but biking this time...a two to two and half hour ride. Manageable I suppose...not the most beautiful or entertaining scenery or ride, but I was the absolute only biker, and every one in pick up trucks would wave at me with big smiles. Two very very old women even blew me kisses. It was adorable.

My bike was the worst I had every been on...but I made it...yet again, before the rain. Uffff...the last two days Inle were definitely rainy ones.

I park my ride and spot out a place to eat. I was starving and dying of thirst. One fried chicken noodle and one fresh coconut. The biggest coconut ever. Probably had two liters if water in it. Such a deliciousssssss lunch...and sure enough, I pay, get up, turn around, and who just makes it in the town riding a bike...James!!!!

We both crack up laughing. :-)

So we walk around and tour some more of the site. It starts raining. So some delicious chai tea with fried dough, playing with the tea stall owner's kids. An hour passes, the rain seems to stop. James and I decided 'it's now or never'. So we hit the road together...and soon enough, the rain starts pouring again. Two hours of pouring rain, while we were the only people on that road. So surreal, but thank god we were riding together. Would have bee hell of a wet boring ride otherwise.

It was so good to make it back to the hotel, and take a good hot shower. Ah!

Et voila, that's pretty much the bulk of my formidable time in Inle lake. 5 days of culturally, visually, athletically rich moments. I loved it.

The following day, in the late afternoon, I embarked a night bus to Yangon where I was to have a life changing spiritual experience...