The next stop in our Myanmar adventure was to Inle Lake. It is the largest lake in Myanmar, and lots of local people depend on it for their livelihood. There are even towns built on stilts on the lake, and we hired a guy, Mr. T, to take us out on the lake and see all the goings-ons of this busy lake.
The Intha people of Inle Lake have a leg-rowing technique where they wrap the paddle handle around their leg and bury the end of the handle in their armpit, rowing by moving their leg. This frees up both hands to work with their nets, throwing them out and pulling them back in.
I think it's super impressive how they can balance on the end of their boats and not tip them over.
Our first stop was to the 'village' of Ywama to a silver smith.
Then some long-necked Karen ladies weaving on a hand loom
Then we took a twisty 'river' road to Indein. There are little channels that have been cut into the thick marsh grass to get from village to village, and sometimes even little dams to drive the boat over. Sometimes there was a foot of difference in the water level and we actually boated 'upwards.'
At Indein we walked up a slight slope with vendors selling souvenirs the whole way up to a collection of shrines at a pagoda- Shwe In Thein. It was nice being here in low season because there really weren't that many vendors to harass us- and the pagoda was quite peaceful at the top.
Our lunch spot
Cigar making
Then Mr T took us to Inbawkon where we toured around a silk and lotus weaving factory. So I had no idea, but you can weave cloth out of lotus, it just takes one month and 4000 lotus plants! They break the lotus stalk in 2-3 inch sections, pull out this thin wisp, and roll about 2-3 wisps together and just keep doing that continuously, off-setting the wisps so they interlock and you end up with a string. Then a processing step I didn't quite catch and then it gets woven on the loom- sometimes with silk and sometimes on it's own. The crazy thing is that adding silk actually makes it cheaper. I saw a scarf of pure lotus cloth for $450 USD! If that were made in Canada, accounting for even just minimum wage, can you imagine what that would have cost?!
As we were driving the boat back up the small channel we were on, I got Mr. T to pull over at a cat sign I had seen on the way in. He didn't have any idea what I was trying to ask for, but a student taking hospitality came up to the dock and explained that there is a colony of Burmese cats here!! They are all just chilling out here in cat heaven.
We learned that all of the original Burmese cats of old had been bred with other breeds or died out so there were no true/purebred Burmese cats left in Burma! So a Chinese fellow brought some purebred stock back from the UK, and they started breeding Burmese cats here in 2008. By 2009 (no joke), the breeding program had become too successful so they had to expand their facilities and this is how they came to be here, near the tourists so they can be appreciated- and man did I appreciate them! We cuddled with kitties for a while, there was a particularly lovely Lilac colored one just lounging on the bridge in the sun. They had such a cute little 'cat village.' I was sad to leave.
Back in the boat, Mr. T drove us past the floating gardens and the fishermen again, doing their thing out on the open water.
The next morning we started a two day trek out in the countryside around Inle Lake. We had made a friend from France while on the bus ride to Bagan, and we ran into him while here. We joined up with him and four other people to do this trek- one couple from France and another from Spain.
We walked through a cave while on the trek, it had a bunch of Buddha statues in it, and there was a monk meditating in there.
Further along the trail we met some kids leading their water buffalo
We had brought some plastic animal toys with us to give to any kids we saw along the way, here they are going absolutely bonkers, loving the toys. They were so happy- their energy was quite contagious.
In the late afternoon, we came upon the monastery we were staying at. There are about 15 novice monks staying at this monastery- yup that's right, novice monks! Aged 7-8, they were just so cute in their little robes. When we got there, they were playing soccer and we joined in. Well, I didn't, because I am so brutal at sports- I just took some pictures and explored our digs for the night.
A cat photo-bombed my pic of the monastery
That night we were all laid down for bed and the novice monks came in to say their evening prayers. It was a very memorable experience, being in the dark as they chanted away. Our two tour guides that were about 18-20 told us that they had each spent time as novice monks at a monastery. It's very common for young boys and sometimes young girls to spend time at a monastery, learning about Buddhist doctrine. It's like a nice little summer camp for tiny Buddhists in the making. They explained that most of these novice monks would go back to their families in a few months, but were free to return to a monastery later in life if they decided on the life of a monk. They also explained that having the monastery put the kids up for a few months helped the poorer families get by as they had one less child to feed for that time.
Eating breakfast in the morning
This was on the walk back. I thought it was pretty bad ass this little guy was carrying around a machete.
Nicholas, our travel buddy, posing with one of the kids along the trail. He bought a longyi and wore it all over Myanmar. It's what most men wear here. It's a big loop of fabric that you fasten around the waist and it looks like a long skirt. It's super practical for this hot climate, and when people need to get it out of the way they pull it up between their legs and tie it out of the way. It kind of ends up looking like pantaloon shorts. That makes total sense, right??
Views from the top before we started walking down. That's Inle Lake to the left.
Until Next Time!
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