Life on Inle Lake
Inle Lake, Myanmar - Life slows to a snail’s grind on Inle Lake. Spanning some 23 by 11 kilometres at amost 900m above sea level, Inle is peaceful and its serene waters stand still in stark contrast with the peaks at the side. It’s home to 17 villages, each with its own distinct trade/industry - some are fishermen villages, some are weaving villages, and some are metalsmith villages.
We had a wonderful guide to bring us around, a lovely lady by the name of Thu Thu. She was very friendly, and we ended up chatting about her love life among other things. Hehe. That was interesting. 
Surprisingly, the lake has no distinct shoreline. The water just gets shallower, and the tangled hyacinths and marsh paddies denser until it becomes land. We zoomed off the shore on a motorized sampan and the first thing we saw as we entered the lake was a traditional fisherman, who was only too happy to show us how he does leg-rowing (for a fee already included in the tour price, of course). Also included was a complete demonstration of how that triangular-oval cane structure was used to catch fish when coupled with a spear. I have a video which I might post up later on.
So the whole day was spend cruising around the lake, visiting several villages that were out of the typical tourist route, floating gardens, temples, monasteries, and a rotating local market! Lovely. The villages on Inle are unique in the sense that each village has a unique trade - some are fishermen villages, some are weavers (silk, etc), and some are metalworkers. We drove past a fisherman village and we were giving out sweets (we bought some for this purpose) to the kids on canoes! And before we knew it… all the kids in the village were swarming to our boat as we went past! Some jumped in the water and swam towards us, some jumped on canoes and paddled hard, it was SUCH a hilarious sight! It was as though they had telepathy… haha! 
Local market! We had tofu salad, yummyyyyy!
Some houses in the fisherman village… The kids all swarmed towards our boat for sweets
We also met a Padaung family living on Inle Lake! These are the “giraffe women” of Myanmar… pretty cool! The young girl really liked Christine! Here’s a picture of me with the grandma.
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