We get up at 4.40 a.m., the reception has prepared breakfast for us to take away. Our boatman is waiting for us, we follow him to the canal. We get on the boat, only our engine is heard. It is cool and sparkling but in less than an hour we are in the middle of the lake and it is dawn. It's beautiful, it's surrounded by mountains. It's quite cloudy but still beautiful. The first fishermen appear, they are gathering the nets and they move the oar with their feet, they don't lose their balance while they work.
Fisherman in Inle Lake
We have breakfast in the middle of the lake, we eat a chocolate and watermelon pancake, delicious, impossible to improve the view.
There are floating gardens and orchards, some boatmen collect seaweed for sale.
Harvesting the crop
We cross the village of Iwama, with the teak houses built on stilts. It is very interesting to see them doing their daily chores and how they handle the boats, even the little ones.
We make a stop at a shop selling silver objects, a bit of theater, then we stop at another one where three long-necked women work, I am shocked. We had heard about them and we even wanted to visit their place of origin, Loikaw, but when you see them they are quite impressive. They are very kind and they tell us about their land and traditions.
Kayan woman
Next stop Inthein. The way to get there is spectacular, it seems you are in a movie, bamboo bridges, everywhere, temples, villages ... We arrive at Inthein and visit the centuries-old stupas of Nyaung Ohak whose access is by the river.
Inthein
Suddenly a dozen children harass us to buy them, buf... we find it hard to get rid of them really, they are very insistent. We manage to throw them off and go into the stupas.
Walking among them is fascinating, they still have original stucco sculptures. Another monastery is integrated, suddenly we hear the children again and then we see a monk leaning out of a window throwing stones at them with a slingshot while they run around laughing. They complain that they are rude.
We go up to Shwe Inn Thein Paya with thousands of zedis, many of them reconstructed. The views from above are breathtaking. There is a covered corridor that leads you to the top.
Shwe Inn Thein Paya
Next stop Phaung Daw Oo Paya in Tha Lay Village, one of the holiest religious sites in Shan State. In a nearby pavilion a huge golden barge in the shape of Hintha (swan) Many devotees of different ethnic groups visit this Paya. The Buddhas are completely deformed from the amount of gold leaf they have. Some women try to sell us souvenirs in their boats.
Phaung Daw Oo Paya
We eat at the Royal Palace restaurant, a very nice place in a house on stilts on the river.
We stop at In Phaw Khone village, famous for its weaving workshops. They weave garments with the fiber they get from splitting the reed from the lotus flower, impressive.
In Nampan they explain us how they build the wooden boats and make the cigars with different types of tobacco.
The Alodaw Pauk pagoda is one of the oldest sanctuaries.
We visit the Jumping Cat Monastery (Nga Hpe Kyaung), a beautiful teak monastery where cats no longer perform acrobatics.
We return to the centre of the lake and approach the fishermen again, this time they balance not only with the oar but also with the basket they used in the past for fishing, we are speechless.
Fisherman in Inle Lake
Last stop Maing Thauk village, half of the village is on the mainland and the other half on the lake joined by a long wooden bridge, beautiful.
We return to Nyaungshwe, we meet some Spanish women who visit the lake tomorrow.
In the hotel they tell us that they do not sell us the bus tickets to Hsipaw because the area is closed for tours, what a disappointment goodbye to our trek. So we decided to go to Kakku tomorrow and travel by night bus to Mandalay.
We are going to visit the Yadana Man Aung Paya, and we start to hear music. An entourage of about ten people accompany an elephant that dances to the music. While receiving donations. Very funny.
La Paya has a golden stupa inside the Mingala market where you can buy anything from souvenirs to food to clothes. We also visited another monastery near the night market.
Hpaung Daw Pagoda en Nyaungshwe
Today we have dinner at the Sin Yaw restaurant, delicious, both the Shan Noodle Soup and the glutinous rice with pork, a real hit.
Next to our hotel there's a supermarket, we bought a little something.
Accommodation: Strand Hotel triple room with bathroom and breakfast included $25
Food: Royal Palace restaurant 25.900 MMK 3 pax
Boat to visit the lake: 25.000 MMK 3 pax
Dinner at Sin Yaw restaurant: 20.000 MMK (glutinous rice with pork shan style, delicious)
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