Damn tourists! The hotel had some early guests and put them into the dining room to hang until check-in time. And they promptly started a conversation, in the room right under mine, at 3:30 am! Even a call from me and visit from reception didn’t slow them down much. I pulled out my industrial strength earplugs, practiced slow breathing nd eventually fell asleep long enough to have a nightmare about being in a business office, mostly deserted, where the few people there were in cahoots to kill me and I knew it, but they didn’t know I knew, so I was doing my best to get out of there, to little avail. Aaah, the mind.
Up for real at 5:30 and a ride to the airport at 6:40 for my 8:05 plane. For the low-techiness of it all, the cattle call and bus ride to the prop plane had us off the ground only 5 minutes late. A brief stop in Mandalay, and off again to Heho, the Estes Park of Inle Lake. Along the way, I could easily look down into the countryside and see “mountain” peaks, with dirt roads and small villages dotted all over the green carpet. So obviously a fecund agricultural area. As I landed and walked into the terminal, I walked right into Ms. Valerie as we both exclaimed “OH” and threw our arms around each other. So nice. Whisked away by our guide, we make a brief stop at the market – it’s not officially a market day, so very quiet and sparsely populated – and provide the requisite “what’s that?”, “I’d like to sample some of those, please”,
and so forth, that we’ve all come to expect. Then to a nearby monastery and learn that there are two kinds: teaching and meditating. This is the former, and the young monks are about to break for lunch.
We check out the dining hall and a nice older monk is setting up tables – kind of like camp!
Oh, just before the tour, we need to use the toilets, and I/we encounter our first squat toilets of the trip. We are in neighboring stalls, and I engage first and yell out “it’s splashing everywhere – squat low”. Well, peals of laughter ring out immediately and we can’t get over how funny we are and how could we already have the best piece of advice on the trip so early in the game? Silly girls. Wanna see?
Back in the van, we head to jetty town (so named because this is where you catch a long boat to pretty much anywhere on the lake), slowing only to take a picture of Wilbur getting a ride in the back of a horse cart.
We hop into our boat
and take a one hour ride through grassy channels that gradually widen. We pass fishermen, engaged in their unique foot-style of rowing:
3 types of fishing are used on the lake: net, cage and bamboo poles (used in conjunction with nets).
All the fishermen are in the longboats (and yes, I was singing the appropriate Cat Stevens song). Some work 3 times/day and some work most of the day. They dot the waters everywhere and are so picturesque. As we make our way to more open water, the lake is not only grand in size, it is surrounded on all shores with craggy mountains (seems silly to call 4000+ hills mountains, but at a loss here), with clumps of lily pads and floating islands dotted the murky waters. We come upon a “field” or floating gardens: they actually are grassy strips that are held in place with long bamboo poles stuck into them down to the bottom of the lake.
These gardens are tended predominantly from a boat – although a farmer can step on them for about one minute if necessary. And these have huts on stilts sprinkled among them, as resting and processing spot from working in the boats.
We arrive at our hotel, situated right on the water,
and swear we’re not leaving for days (we could only get one night here…best place on the lake and in high demand). Hop out, check in, sign up for massages later
and then take off with our guide (whey is how we pronounce his name) for Inle Lake regional specialty lunch. Takes about 45 minutes to get there, and we walk up a flight from water level and sit out on a balcony.
Special stuffed fish, aubergine salad, smashed tomato salad and Inle rice salad.
Mmmmm… The aubergines, with their charcoal flavor and bits of fried peanuts and sliced shallots are a real winner, and I enjoy the fresh fried fish and piles of the concoction all over it. And of course, plenty of garlic sauce (as at most places, it’s a soy-like salty case with slices of garlic and HOT peppers in it) all around.
Back in the boat, (and here’s my wonderful view):
we’re off for the silk weaving site. Here’s an idea of how the villages are built on stilts over the lake:
A business that’s been in the same family for 3 generations, the looms must be 100 years old. Prepped silk thread is hanging outside to cure:
It’s amazing the patience they have to weave on roll of cloth; once with an intricate pattern might take 4 weeks.
We also see the only two family members who know how to weave string (and then cloth) with a fibery goo that comes out of the plant stems.
It’s incredible and we see an 8 inch wide by 3 inch high pile of it that has taken 6 months to collect. Way sustainable, but way intensive. The saffron of weaving materials! We purchase a couple of items and then it’s on to a silver shop.
We see the small bars they get from the country’s silver mines, and the beautifully patterned bowls they create for Buddhist offering bowls. We peruse the jewelry, but really rather rudimentary and no real bargains.
Time to get back to the hotel – must have a cocktail before spa begins! It starts raining on the way back and we huddle in the boat under our umbrellas, laughing at how safe and dry our raincoats are back in the room! It starts coming down pretty hard, so we duck into the bar instead of going back to our room. A lovely spot, with local and original games for whiling away the drinking hours. The rain starts pounding, and throwing a fair amount of hail to the ground, and the roof is leaking. What a change from earlier in the day! It feels and sounds like a monsoon. I run back to the room for my smart wool shirt and return in time to head over to the spa. It looks like the cleanup crew is going to be way busy tomorrow, clearing downed flowers and branches, methinks as I trot delicately over the bridge to the spa. We have a lovely cup of tea, a ginger lime foot bath,
and then we saddle up for our 90 minute massages (oh yes, it takes 4 hands to handle this girl),
followed by a honey facial scrub (me) and foot massage (V). By the end, I can hardly stay awake. The experience reminds me of others I have had in India and Indonesia – mistaking the beautiful space for the promise of a skilled and memorable experience. But a fun indulgence nonetheless (and so reasonably priced!).
Relax in our lovely room and plug in all the appliances to recharge for tomorrow’s picture taking opportunities tomorrow. Had many today, but the impending cloud cover did not provide optimal lighting. Pagodas ho!