Myanmar Trip 2014 - Part 4 (Inle Lake)
Apologies for the hiatus and now it's about time I start writing about the last part of our trip to Inle Lake!
Click for Part 1 - Yangon, Part 2 - Bagan and Part 3 - Mandalay
Click for Part 1 - Yangon, Part 2 - Bagan and Part 3 - Mandalay
We had a short overnight ride from Mandalay (around 5ish hours) and was dropped off near Inle Lake at around 4.30am in the morning. It was really dark and so cold that I could see my breath. For the first time throughout the trip I was glad I brought a heavy duty jacket.
When you get off the bus, someone will approach you to request for payment US$10 for an Inle Lake pass. It's not a scam so do pay for it and you will be given a ticket - keep it well.
It was so cold we decided to hide out at one of the eateries since we didn't book any accommodation for this day trip. Good that the shops here open early (remember their culture of early rest and early rise). We ordered some warm food and look what we got! Fried dough sticks, some fried samosa and coffee with milk! That's such a Singaporean breakfast.
Always good to find that little piece of home when you are away :)
It was a lot brighter after we were done with breakfast so we headed out with our backpacks and all. It was still very cold although the sun is up and most of the residents are up and ready for business.
While we didn't want to spend money for accommodation on a day trip, we were also not keen to carry all our bags for the whole day trip either. So we decided to try our luck at one of the hotels to see if they are willing to help look after our belongings until we return at the end of the day. We were really lucky - the first hotel we approached was willing to care for our luggage and for free (we gave him a small tip for his kind gesture though!)
The area at Inle Lake is no different from the other cities of Myanmar that we have visited. Monks typically start their rounds at 6am - where locals gives them food (usually rice and some vegetables).
The usual (or rather, only) form of transport in Inle Lake - each boat takes about 4 people. Can't remember exactly how much we paid for the boat (counted as per boat, not per head) - but it should be less than USD25.
As as a piece of advice for those going to Inle Lake - always go early (they start at 6.30am) because it will be less crowded and you won't have to brave much of the noon and afternoon heat since you will end the tour early.
That being said, it's freezing in the morning. It was cold on land, it was crazily cold when we were on the boat. I'm so glad I wore track pants instead of the leggings. Opt for waterproof outfits because you will definitely not appreciate having wet pants in that kind of cold!
Weihao took the first seat (because, duh, he's the guy!) and he told us his toes felt like they were falling off because it was so darn cold. The boats are motorized so imagine that wind chill..
Not sure if it is misty because of the cold or that it was too early in the morning! Haha. Photos time!
Lovely shot of the sun peeking from behind the clouds :)
After a really long (narrow) ride out, the lake opens up to a larger area. Fishermen! It's amazing how they can paddle with one leg, stand with the other and collect their net all at the same time.
Loads of seagulls! And they fly really near you.
An entire community of people living on the lake - we saw many houses on stilts and floating markets. There's even a school with a small floating field. Amazing.
Our first stop was a shop - selling mainly handicrafts like woven scarfs and shawls, cloth bags, hand-made jewelry and the mainstream tourist souvenirs like keychains and fridge magnets. The shawls were gorgeous and you can tell the material is of great quality. But they were a little out of my budget and I had no more space in my backpack.
These neck rings were heavy! I have no idea how their necks and shoulders can take the weight over the years.
We were dropped off at a marketplace and given around 1.5 hours to roam around before coming back to our boat.
Yup we stopped by for a second serving of breakfast. Man, one sure gets hungry fast when the weather is cold!
It looks and tastes like roti prata - but it's most certainly not called roti prata.
We were directed by our boatman to stop by the lotus thread shop - every piece of cloth/shawl/hand woven bags were made from lotus thread. What is lotus thread you may ask - it's actually created from the fibre from lotus stems. Not only is it time consuming to make, it is also seasonal. So you can imagine how precious these threads are!
Read more about them here.
Here the lady is removing the fibre from the lotus stems:
Lady #2 weaving them into balls of thread.
A house of ladies weaving them into cloths to be made into other sale-able products:
We popped by a cigar making store on our way to lunch.
I was really tempted to buy them for gifts but Singapore is really strict with such goods so I gave it a miss. If you are from other countries who are less strict about stuff, I think they make really nice presents!
The cigar making place was our last stop and by then it was around 2 - 3pm already. The heat was getting unbearable and we decided to just pop by one temple (honestly really tired of temples by this part of our trip) just to ensure we covered all grounds.
This temple is comparatively more run down than the ones we saw earlier on in the trip. We don't see locals there and not many tourists were there either. It was really quiet and in some sense, tranquil. .
We made our way back to the shores at around 4pm and had to prepare to ourselves for the overnight ride back to Yangon. My camera died after this point so there ain't any more photos for mad rush to the bus terminal and eventually the extremely long overnight ride on JJ Express.
Will I recommend Myanmar as a travelling destination to my friends? For sure! But I will not recommend my itinerary as I find it extremely packed although kudos to us we spent less than 900 Singapore dollars for our 7 days there, including airfare and accommodation.
So this wraps up my Myanmar trip and I'm totally counting down to my trip to Shanghai to meet the boy in May!
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