SUN 05 MAR 2017 MANDALAY - HEHO - INLE LAKE
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| Parasols made from hand made paper |
Today we fly from Mandalay to Heho from where we continue by road to Inle Lake. Its strange how 4 flights going to the same place leave within 20 minutes of each other, but it seems to be the way in Myanmar. After the short 30 minute flight we board the bus for a 1.5 hour bus ride to pick up our boats to get to our hotel, only reachable by boat. We stop at a local paper making shop for a demonstration.
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| Traveling by fisherman's boat |
Inle Lake actually has two meanings: little lake and four lake because there are four big villages on the lake. There are also many small settlements to make 200 around the lake. People began migrating to the lake area as early as the 14th Century, completing their resettlement during the 18th Century. They became fishermen and developed their unique style of leg-rowing and catching fish in conical traps. Since the land fronting the lake belonged to the Shans, the new settlers were forced to build their homes and villages on the water itself.
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| Fishermen on Inle Lake |
We reach our hotel the Serenity Resort Lodge where we're are the only guests. It is quite charming with our bungalows on stilts over the water. We take in a bit of R&R before a most amusing dinner where each person's order is taken, then the dinners come out 1 at a time or not at all. We all share our meals and have a great time.
Hopefully, no one was overly hungry! I guess we are spoiled here in the US, to actually get the food we order in a restaurant. I wonder if there's a reason the fishermen wear such wide-legged pants...do you know??
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