Friday, April 18, 2014

Inle Lake

After getting wet in Yangon for a day or so we headed off to Inle lake for the rest of the Water Festival holiday.

An example of why internal flights in Myanmar aren’t necessarily the safest in the world… for some reason a Golden Myanmar plane appears to have ploughed into the back of a Myanmar Airways International plane… on the runway.

The lake was beautiful, and it was much cooler than Yangon up in the Shan hills.

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We spent a day out on the lake in long boats, with noisy engines, equipped with umbrellas to protect against sun… and rain…

 

Past floating gardens, where the people that live on the lake grow tomatoes, aubergines, gourds etc. on long floating beds staked to the lake bed – it’s a very shallow lake.

 

Up a side river to the incredible temples at Indein.

Leave your flip flops at the entrance.

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We visited another temple on a hill and were invited inside for cups of green tea, plates of Myanmar pickled tea leaf salad with crunchy fried beans and popadoms. Us ladies got to hang out with some cheroot toking, towel clad women, whilst the men sat separately next to a monk.

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After that we all started to look like the locals…

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Pit latrine lesson #1: Wearing a romper suit is not advised.

mmm coconuts…

These Kayan ladies were at a handicraft shop… I think to help drum up business. Not quite sure how I feel about that, but it was amazing to see the way they wear their beautiful neck rings.

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Shan market. Green veggie paradise.

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Grandchildren of a fishmonger, enjoying a Myanmar fish market…

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