Inle Lake: Go Fish

Yesterday we arrived at Lake Inle after a six hour taxi ride from Mandalay.  It was a beautiful ride and we were happy to find a nice hotel in the nearby town of Nyaung Shwe.  Pagodas, canal and long boats could be seen from our hotel on the canal.  This town has a good vibe with very friendly people, great restaurants and I finally found several places with cappuccino and wine.  And, naturally a beautiful Pagoda and Monastery right across the canal.

Today we took a day-long tour of the lake by long boat and saw several very interesting sights: Nampan floating city, silk weaving, boat making, pagodas, floating gardens and the Nga Phe Kyaung Monastery.   The most interesting was a demonstration of the old fishing technique with basket, net and fisherman acrobats.  Fisherman can still be found rowing by wrapping their leg around a pole in the water.  Very interesting. The boat ride was very relaxing despite the loud percolating boat motor.  The monastery is known for its jumping cats.  The wooden and old  monastery was beautiful, and was my image of what a monastery would look like.  We did not however see the jumping cats to my disappointment.  An excellent day with perfect weather and sights.

Met some wonderful travelers along the way.  We met two couples from the Netherlands who were traveling together through Asia for two months.  They never traveled together before and we traveling on the fly without reservations.  

Also, they were going very low budget and even found a third class train for $3.  It was such a treat chatting with them about travel.  I love the one saying they passed on:  

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift, which is why we call it the present."   

View from our hotel

View from our hotel