Day 145. Kalaw - Taunggyi via Inle lake

An easy day on the bike today. It is beautifully fine and the dual carriageway is perfect. Our morning drive was 1.5 hrs and we arrived at Lake Inle. We traded the bike for a longboat and set off for a day of sightseeing. 

The lake itself is quite beautiful and with a background of hills looks a real picture. The lake is now a very popular tourist attraction with many villages dotted around and also in it. Innit. 

We saw traditional fishing going on with men in their dugouts setting nets then splashing the water with a paddle hoping scare the fish into the net. When they are setting the net they need to use two hands so to propel themselves the jam the end under their armpit then move the paddle back and forth by wrapping a leg around it. Amazing, so they are setting a net and paddling while balancing in one leg!

Another really interesting thing was men collecting boatloads of weed from the lake bed. Their piles are so big and must weigh a ton. 

They then take the weed to their village where it is arranged into long rows sitting on the water, held together by bamboo. Into this is planted crops, mainly tomatoes. Acres and acres of them. Apparently 30% of all the tomatoes in Myanmar originate here. The original hydroponics I guess. 

We were then lucky enough to catch part of the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda festival. Four out of the five over 800 year old Buddha are taken from the main pagoda by special boats to fourteen villages on the lake. They stay for one night at each village. It was a lovely family atmosphere with lots of  food stalls. Inside the Pagoda men were adding gold leaf to the Buddha’s , apparently so much gold leaf has been added that the Buddhas shapes are unrecognisable. Donations of food etc are made as well. Families came to pray and enjoy each other’s company. 

This is the boat that transports the Buddha, it is towed by long boats manned by up to a hundred leg rowers dressed in colourful costumes.

We then visited a village that specialises in making cheroots. So research was needed to check out the various flavours on offer. Rum was my favourite followed closely by star anise. 

Then it was off to the fabric village where women  were busy weaving bolts of colourful cottons. Very beautiful and very tempting but we have no space for shopping. 

We had a nice lunch in one of the many restaurants catering to the growing number of tourists. It is very early season so thankfully not too many about today. 

Finally it was a visit to the obligatory souvenir shop where there was a couple of long necked ladies as they are known here. A wee bit contrived but we made a small donation for a photo op. 

On the way back we noticed a really long long boat so our driver took us over for a closer look. This is the racing version (paddle power) and they were preparing themselves and waiting for their opponents to turn up for a race. Unfortunately the race wasn’t due to begin for over an hour. This is also part of the Pagoda festival. 

So a thoroughly enjoyable and relaxing day. Back to the bike and the 30km ride to our hotel.