It was a hive of activity as we at set out along the main canal that leads from NgweShe to the main lake. Produce from the lake villages and people were being ferried into the town. Only long boats of various sizes can be seen presumably because of the shallowness of the water. The muddy canal that we started on merged to crystal clear water with freshwater plants as we made it out to the lake proper. Traditional fisherman were waiting on queue to have their photo taken, promptly putting themselves into the perfect positions and displaying their fish without been asked. This is probably an easier way to make their living by taking a tourists dollar for a photo rather than actually fishing. However this was only a handful of people and as we headed further into the lake we could see plenty of people fishing out with their nets or large bamboo baskets. They are famous for being able to fish but at the same time manoeuvre their boats with one leg whilst balancing on the other. Quite amazing to watch. They fish either by net, or as the water is quite shallow lowering large cane baskets into the water capturing fish inside and then spearing them. Unlike other areas of Myanmar presumably the fishing by this way makes it sustainable as only relatively small amounts of fish are caught.
The water is a still inky grey as we head across the lake and into the floating gardens which are literally that. Huge gardens growing tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, flowers and presumably other produce depending on the season are being grown on floating masses of land. This is surrounded by what looks like large water lilies however, there appears to be no flowers presumably because it is winter. Farmers can be seen tending their gardens on their boats as well as standing on the land masses. As we come into the end of the gardens we enter the village which is completely above water on huge stilts. Each house is separated by water and small wooden boats used to move between the houses and around the village are docked underneath. All the shops are on stilts, including the post offices and there is a myriad of cottage industries taking place in larger buildings. The houses and buildings appear to be made of either bamboo or teak wood with the occasional brick building. Schools are also made of large teak buildings with platforms between the classrooms. Some appear to have some solid land that the children can use as a playground. Huge power lines bring electricity to the houses with cable running between the houses. Satellite dishes can also be seen on some houses, and many of the houses are quite large. We motor quietly down the water streets where daily life of washing, bathing and cooking is taking place and visit some of the cottage industries. It feels quite invasive weaving our way though the houses and there are quite a few tourist boats cruising up and down but the villagers seem to accept it.
We stop to see some women weaving out of the fibre of lotus flowers. A very time consuming and complicated process which means a simple scarf can take up to a month to make. Needless to say they seem pricey compared to other items one can buy, but when seeing the effort it takes to produce the fibre it also seems ridiculously cheap. The lotus produces a very durable fibre that the villages dye with barks from local trees. Mostly, when not producing items for the tourist industry, they create the robes for the local months.
From the weavers we visited the blacksmith who makes primarily knives, bells for cattle and gongs for the monastery. Luke was in heaven with the selection of knives available and fascinated watching the men create the required temperature in the fire to be able to heat the metal sufficiently that 3 of them could then beat it into shape before it cooled down. All very manual, but time is something these people appear to have. From the blacksmith we headed to see the long boats being made. Again being made very manually out of single pieces of wood, very beautiful objects. Our next stop was to see the long necked ladies which felt a bit like a circus. 2 older women with incredibly long necks created from wearing very heavy brass coils were weaving and posing for photos at a souvenir shop. We refrained from photos but then found an umbrella making shop next door which was quite interesting. Although we were being taken from shop to shop, the people were not hassling us to buy which was nice but felt we were very much on the tourist trail which we are not used to. It's surprising how many tourists are here and how they have adapted their businesses so effectively to cater for them.
We headed to lunch where some young girls were making and selling cigars in a room next to the restaurant. We had a lovely vista over the lake ( still in the water) with the fishermen and locals cruising by on their boats. We were then taken to another factory, this time where silverware was being made and we were shown how they extract the silver from the rock, along with a number of other metals, smelter it and make the jewellery and other ornaments, all by hand. Nothing really appealed and we moved on to our final destination the jumping cat monastery, apparently named as the monks used to train cats to jump. However although there were cats they showed no signs of intending to jump. It was however a beautiful teak monastery set high above the water with its fair share of golden Buddha images and souvenir vendors.
From here we headed back out through the floating gardens, across the lake past the fishermen and down the still busy canal. We made our own way back to our hotel, where the boys immediately headed off to buy a pizza whilst Mandy and Liam did some photo comparisons. We had dinner in the hotel where we were suitably humbled by a French man travelling around on a wheel chair.
Location:Inle Lake
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