This is the view from our hotel.

After checking in, we went on a short walk through the nearby town.

We took a one hour canoe ride from our hotel. Yes, we had a canoe pilot! The hotel is up a short inlet from the body of the lake.

One thing we noticed early on is that the method of rowing here is different. Notice how the driver of the on–coming canoe propels his boat with his foot on the oar.

Next morning we went out in a power boat with our guide. Here, a fisherman has one hand on his net and one foot on his oar.

At a large market—the local diet looks very healthy. Here are avocados, quite a few types of beans and a pile of tea. The merchant is using batteries on a balance to weigh the produce. Other common vegetables include cauliflower and potatoes. 

Here is a vendor of tasty fried food. Well, we didn’t eat it, but it looks tasty!

The market was near Hpaung Daw U Pagoda and its Buddha busts that have been rubbed with so much gold leaf the human features have been rubbed out. 

Our guide then took us to a fabric workshop in a village of fabric workshops. The process is driven by feet and hands, and is quite complicated. This device requires several workers, including one who sits in the middle of it.

There is a fiber in lotus stems that can be used to weave cloth. This woman is removing the fibers. Her take over about 90 minutes is in the white bowl in the lower left of the photo. 

This is another village we traveled through. A lot of the housing is built over the lake, and farms are sometimes “floating” on the lake.

Out next stop was at a boat works, where both canoes and power boats are made. Here two men with a huge saw are working quickly on a log. Note the bare feet.

We learned that a canoe costs about US$500.

Much of the farmed fruits and vegetables are grown on floating gardens. Tomatoes are a common sight.

The next morning, we went out again on our power boat. Our first stop was at the Jumping Cat Monastery. They don’t let the cats jump any longer, though.

Here we are approaching a village with pedestrian bridges across the waterway.

And we saw more fishing boats.

We are going to a market and a temple at Indein. As we got nearer to the settlement, the number of boats grew. The boats are scaled down versions of the long tail boats in Thailand. The engine has one cylinder (that’s a guess, based on how they turn over at low speed) and the propeller shaft is significantly shorter.

Here is the scene upon our arrival.

Today’s market is not quite as large as yesterday’s. All of the aisles are covered—tough on anyone who is tall.

There are large fields with ancient stupas near the market, and we went on a walk to them. There were lots of stupas.

These look authentically old!

Not the girl.

Another view.

And then we came upon one than had been “improved”.

Now we could see the extent of the improvements!

Here, a man is starting work on “improving” this ancient monument with an application of cement.

Ah, too bad.

We returned to our trusty boat and went back down the inlet towards the lake. Here a farmer (we saw only one powered farm machine in our time at Inle Lake) is washing his buffalo. Mutual trust in a fast moving stream.

There is a contest on the lake where row boats with one hundred rowers race against one another. This is the Royal Karaweik Barge, not a racing boat.

Next stop was a village where the specialty is making red rice crackers. After rolling out the wet paste, the crackers are set out to dry in the sun.

This is another industry where machines are not used. We learned that five people might work 12 hour days to get out a batch to market. This video shows how each cracker is made crispy.

The team makes 800 of these a day, and the sales revenue is about $24.

Our final stop today was to visit a Shan village picked by our guide. She hoped we would meet local people. She simply called out when we arrived in the village, found a family that was home, and they invited us to the second story of their humble farmhouse where they offered us tea and rice crackers. The poorest people are often the most generous. They had trouble with the concept that we had travelled almost 24 hours on an airplane to reach their country. It just wasn’t something they would envision. They told us about their life and their farm. When they told us they grew tomatoes, we showed them photos of our tomato garden and how we canned them to have in winter, finding a common thing between people of very different cultures.

In the morning, we’re off to Yangon.

We flew from Bagan and had a short flight to Inle Lake’s Heho Airport.

Next—Back to Yangon.