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Inle, Burma
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This place was Amazing
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The natural beauty of Myanmar didn't falter one bit when we reached Inle. The lake is set in a valley amidst a ring of mountains. The water of the lake is clean and clear owing to the fact that there is no industry nearby. In some places, we could see down to the bottom (10 feet in most places.) We managed to hire a longboat driver for the whole day. People here actually live on the lake because the lake is so shallow. They build houses on stilts to accommodate the flooding during the monsoons, but it helps to give the lake an otherworldly feel. The houses are made of a combination of wood and bamboo. They even keep pets, mostly cats due to the limited space. There's a monastery on the lake where the monks taught their cats to jump through hoops on command. We didn't get to see them since the monastery was closed by the time we showed up. The people here have an amazing lifestyle adapted to the lake. On the floating islands they made, they've created everything from floating farms to floating flower gardens so they can grow their own vegetables and flowers. They also make rice noodles and hang them out in the sun on stilts to dry. For meat, most of them fish. We ate lunch with a family that specializes in making paper umbrellas that are waterproof, owing to a lacquer extracted from a fruit. They served us the best food we had in Myanmar, probably because everything they gave us was fresh from the floating gardens or the lake itself. We left after purchasing several of their paper umbrellas as gifts to Mika's family in Japan.
The next morning, we had to catch a bus from a nearby town at 11:00 AM. We left at 9:45 in order to walk to the truck that would take us to our bus in the town which was only 6 miles away. After walking for 20 minutes with our now bulging backpacks, we sweatily arrived to find the truck sitting on the side of the road with a few passengers sitting in back. We climbed aboard and began to wait. After 10 minutes we still hadn't left. The 6 miles was beginning to feel like 60. Mark asked the driver when the truck would leave. 'We go when truck full,' he laughed. At this point, there were maybe 8 people sitting down. Up to now, we had repeatedly seen trucks of similar size (think of a small Ford Ranger) with easily 50 people crammed inside or hanging from the back, so we knew we were in trouble. We did the only thing we could think of in the situation. We bribed the driver and paid 2 ½ times the fare for both of us (about 2 dollars in all) and off we went. After a 40 minute sardine-can ride, we reached the town to find that our bus was nowhere in site. No, it hadn't left yet. It hadn't even arrived yet and wouldn't for another two hours. Once again, schedules mean nothing.
Posted
Feb 26, 2006
by Mr.Anderson
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