We caught another small plane from Bagan to Inle Lake and once we settled into our new temporary home, set out to adventure around the area on push bikes.
We stumbled onto this old monastery in the middle of the farm fields. We thought it was a tourist attraction as we read the maps wrong but we soon realised it was actually private property.
There was rice out for the cats and kittens.
We soon heard a noise where a boy rode his buffalo over to one of the doorways to see what we were doing. When he realised we were harmless and in fact just curious explorers, he hustled me over to have a go at the buffalo.
Let’s just say I’ve never been on a buffalo before. There was no elegant way about getting on to a wide buffalo. I was just surprised that he wasn’t phased at all at me trying to clamber my way onto him with my whole body weight.
They were laughing at how scared I was – so they decided to show me how unafraid they were and flaunted their trickery.
The old monastery turned cat haven
Locals were scattered throughout the hillside across the road to watch games of ‘Sepak Takraw’ or better understood as kick volleyball. The rules are basically like volleyball except feet are used as opposed to hands which means there were some crazy impressive moves out on the floor.
We saw a lady making tofu at her home. She let us try some too for free!
As we reached the end of the circuit, we hired a boat to take ourselves and bikes over to the other side of Inle Lake.
Here we got to watch the fishermen at work. Their balancing and motor skills were crazy.
This man yelled at us to show of his catch of the day and waved two large fish in the air while laughing with his mates!
This fisherman was collecting his net whilst balancing on one foot at the edge of his boat and using the other to row forward.
These two worked together to stun the fish into one area by whacking a large bamboo stick into the water.
Spot the little boy at the end of his mother’s boat haha
Everyday lives and travel
Ladies carrying tar to fix roadworks
The next day we hired the same mate to take us around to different villages on Inle Lake.
These guys were scooping up seaweed from the lake. Their balancing act was crazy, the boat was literally upright and on the brink of capsizing as they heaved the heavy seaweed. Everyone was adding extra pressure by all standing on the edge but they knew what they were doing.
The seaweed is actually not for eating or drying but to build floating islands as you can see below. Once the seaweed is in place, they slot bamboo sticks into the river bed to stop it from moving. From there, soil is placed on top and vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers etc. were planted on top. Below you can see the ladies in their boats prepping the plants for the next season crop.
A local school
Early into our trip, I was busting. I know, I’m so troublesome. I told our boat driver and he had no idea where to let me pee. He asked a local if it was okay if I used their toilet and they were more than happy to. Everyone’s homes were made out of bamboo above the river. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was just simple technology. I tiptoed across the bamboos with trepidation. The locals weren’t bothered at all that some of their floors bowed so willingly with gravity. As I got to the toilet, I realised… it wasn’t the usual types of simple toilets I’ve experienced. This was literally, two bamboo slacks for each of my feet to part ways and then letting go straight into the river.. except I was 3 metres high. I almost had too much fun. Can you also see that little pen to my right??
Well it had piggies in it!! I couldn’t believe how big and fat they were and that they were just hanging out 3 metres above the river as well in their little bamboo pen. They seemed happy as they chowed through some gruel.
One man was left to his own as he had to get his boat out of sinking into the river.
These people were building a floating island using the seaweed they got from the lake.
We visited a hand weaving factory where we got to see them weave sheets of water lily silk, silk, cotton and more. I really wanted to bring something home but it was a bit over my budget (they were cheap for what they were though).
We then visited some ladies that were making cheroot cigars. You know the ones that I kept saying the men were smoking in my previous posts? We decided to buy some and try them, I won’t be coming back here again anytime soon! We went with the sweet ones that had tamarind, pineapples, star anise, tobacco and other herbs inside. I guess you could call them all organic as even the wrapping was a leaf and it was all glued together by rice.
In all these Buddhist temples across Myanmar, the locals bought a gold leaf to then stick onto a Buddha or whatever these might be. The weird thing was, in Myanmar they had distinct places where only men were allowed. I had no idea and got into trouble at Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda but then I was almost furious. Why were only men allowed? Well, one man with his poor English kind of explained that men were on a higher reincarnation level and one day I would get my turn.. but I don’t know if that’s exactly why but that’s all I got. I was a little mad.
I loved that whenever you bought something from anywhere at Inle Lake, they would give it to you in a handweaved bag. Even if it was something as cheap as $1 – I guess lake living requires a conscious effort towards sustainability.. or maybe they haven’t been too exposed to the over processed plastic and polymers we depend on.
Bamboo everything.
We then headed into a small silversmith workshop where the guy showed me how they extracted silver from rocks that were shared with other minerals. You never really find a straight up block of silver. The above jar is when they are able to separate it into copper and silver – the blue water being copper.
They then drain it to find the little silver pebbles, heat that up into silver liquid to then form it into silver bars.
From there, a whole variety of skills which have since left my mind are used to make different types of jewelry.
It looked like very tedious and steady work. I don’t think I would have the patience or the surgical hands for it.
We then stopped off at a home which housed a lady from the Kayan tribe (long neck giraffe ladies) which are usually up north near the border mountains of Thailand. There were also two young girls that had just started their process. One girl was 17 and she had been wearing them for 2 years. Obviously they were here more for tourist reasons as it wasn’t a tradition to the Inle Lake people. We saw a lady from the Kayan tribe back in Bagan as well, and they both specialised in hand weaving without a stepping machine.
Headgear of teeth
We then drove the boat upstream through Indein creek to Indein Village which housed many new and old stupas. On the way, we noticed that the farmers dam up the water using bamboo barriers to help irrigate the paddy fields. We also saw monks, buffalo boys and village ladies bathe in the river or do their washing.
I love that this tree is breaking through to grow at the top of the stupa.
Once we got there, the sun was already beginning to set so there was not a human in sight. We were left to roam to our own will amongst families of dogs and puppies.
Cute little pot bellies!
Crazy twisted tree!
Speeding home in the boat at dusk. The full moon was so bright making it easy to navigate home.
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