Day 172: Boat Tour on Inle Lake

Following our day of rest, we decided to get out on the lake today. It's one of the largest lakes in Myanmar, very long north to south, not particularly wide, and very shallow (only 2-3 metres deep in dry season and 3-5 metres in wet season).

So we had our hotel breakfast and wandered down to the canal area where the first guy offered us a boat for 15,000 kyat - we'd been expecting 20,000 and he answered our questions fairly well so off we went.

Although it's a nice environment, the lake tour itself tends to be a bit of a tourist trap. You visit "workshops" where they demonstrate how various products are made - laquerware, silver jewellery, Shan paper, silk, lotus thread, cigars and so on, before you then get ushered into the shop. There are loads of each type of workshop, and the boat guy gets commission from the stores based on what you buy. We didn't buy anything.

It was interesting to see various products being made, but I'm fairly sure the actual purchasable products are made elsewhere, probably in China, because they're all exactly the same with essentially no variation. The hour or so we spent heading out on the lake was quite cold as it was overcast and still a bit early (8am-ish), but after a couple of hours the clouds cleared and it heated up again.

I didn't mind the workshops, but the stores bored me to tears, and the prices were pretty high for what the items actually were. Especially considering you have no real guarantee that the craftsman you've just seen has actually made that item, and it wasn't done by someone in Chengdu using imitation materials.

We also visited a local market where about half the stalls were locals going about their business, buying meat and vegetables and betel nut, and the remaining stalls were people selling the exact same tourist junk. Buddha figurines, fridge magnets, Japanese swords for some reason, pipes, and the same earrings, necklaces, bracelets and scarves we'd seen at every other store. Shandos ending up buying two scarves for 8000 kyat, which originally started as one for 8000! I wonder what the actual cost price was.

Had lunch at a restaurant on the water next to the cigar "factory". Was expecting another tourist trap but the prices actually weren't too bad, and our cashew nut chicken dish was pretty good!

After lunch we went through the floating gardens area, which is a huge area of the lake where the gardens are, well, floating. Row after row of what looked like tomato plants, though how they actually grow without soil is beyond me!

Last stop was then a monastery built out over the lake. Nothing particularly exciting about it that I could see aside from a large collection of teak Buddhas, though there was a large group of kittens in one corner! It used to be the Jumping Cat monastery, where a monk had taught the cats to jump through hoops, but he's since died and nobody has picked up the hoop, so to speak.

And then it was time to pile back into the boat for the long ride back into town, nearly 45 minutes! Nice day spent on the lake, but it really felt like the biggest tourist trap in Myanmar. We also went past some local fishermen - they have a unique technique where they paddle their boats with their leg wrapped around an oar and balancing one-legged on the prow, leaving both hands free to manipulate nets and fishing line. It looked quite beautiful, though there were more of them standing around posing for photos (and demanding tips) than actually fishing.

Back to the hotel where we chilled out for a bit, then headed off for dinner around 6pm. Decided on a cheap local place for dinner, where we both had bowls of Shan noodle for dinner. 3500 kyat including a longneck of beer; good price but not the best example of the cuisine we've had!

Last full day at Inle tomorrow, before our long bus ride back to Yangon!Read more