Kathleen
Inle Lake, Myanmar – February 3-6, 2016
Although quite a bustle in the little town of Nyaung Shwe where we stayed, Inle Lake, a resorty area in the middle of Myanamar, was a welcome departure from the heat and rush of the city. We arrived to find our hotel room was a little cottage on poles over a lake inlet, and we were just overjoyed to kick back and watch the ducks go by.
The next day we did what everyone does when they come to Inle, which is to say we took a boat tour. Fleets of long, narrow fishing boats ferry tourists of all nationalities to various sites around the lake. Amazingly, after the heat of Yangon, it was quite chilly on the lake in the morning and my three layers and two blankets weren’t doing the best job of keeping me warm as we sped across the lake. Mid-day temps were up close to 90 again, though, so I quickly warmed up. There are, of course, many pagodas to be seen and stupas to enjoy, along with traditional workshops where they make and sell goods that ostensibly they have been making and using or selling for centuries. We saw a place where they made cloth from lotus plants, a silvership shop, a boat yard, and oodles and oodles of trinket-sellers, weather in the shade of a temple, or floating along side of your boat. It was fascinating to see the agriculture on the lake, bits of dirt bilt up to form crop rows and the farmers on boats pruning and picking along the way. The tour lasted from 8:30 AM until 4:00 PM, and we happily enjoyed a delicious meal at our hotel, The Viewpoint Inn and Fine Cuisines. We had a lovely array of local dishes, somewhat like Thai, but less spicy and a bit more robust. We were quite happy with our hotel and restaurant.
The next day we rented bicycles and did our own tour around the lake, including a “ferry” across the lake in the middle. Our “ferry” was one guy with a long boat who hauled our bicycles aboard and shot us across the lake, but we thought this was absoultely delightful, and enjoyed covering new territory on the way back to town. We got to see some surrounding countryside and even happened upon a winery with completely passable wines to try and some more excellent local cuisine….Shan noodle soup and tomato peanut salad, yummm.
Our time in Inle went by quickly and although we loved it, we were excited to head to Bagan, the motherland of all stupas. Let me just take a quick moment to talk about the stupas…the stupas are the spires and domes that adorn the Buddhist temples that abound in this area of the world. They are fascinating in their diversity, their varying proximity and the multiples of colors and sizes….we took a LOT of pictures of stupas, A LOT. And we are just getting started here, so if you don’t like looking at stupas, you may want to pass over a few of these blog entries. I believe, however, that they are beautiful and amazing and you will enjoy seeing a fraction of the views that we saw. On the other hand, if you find yourself stupa-crazed, feel free to contact us for a more in depth slide show on stupas!