Indein - Nov 30

We were on Inle Lake, or at least the outskirts of it. And today we were going to actually get a chance to explore some of the villages, Indein, in particular, that make up a large part of the commercial ventures surrounding the lake. Today I got to really appreciate how much a waterway can really enhance the exchange of goods and services between communities. There were the same fast longboats carrying goods and people back and forth that provided us with the chance to visit the tourist spots and photograph the famous fishermen, who row their boats one legged.

Early morning departure to catch the fishermen at sunrise. It took a surprisingly long time to reach the main part of the lake from our launch point in Nyaung Shwe. There were four of us in each longboat. I was in the front with the two nice ladies from Brazil (Jackie and Marcia) behind me, and Ko Ko in the last seat. When we reached the fishing area several of the fishermen came over and Nathan and Ko Ko negotiated and coordinated with them to get their photos. It was pretty obvious they had done this before because the fishermen pretty much knew how to position themselves and went through their repertoire of acrobatics on the bow of their boats, hoisting their fishing nets into various precarious positions. For me, the sunrise was a bit disappointing. We didn't get that nice golden glow. It was more a cold blue, but we worked with it. Finally when the sun was above the horizon we were able to get some nice silhouette shots.

Proceeding on we were taken to the village of Indein. The trip was somewhat reminiscent of Venice, as we zipped along past houses on stilts and little offshoots from the main channel. Of course the houses are quite modest and there was no where near the grandeur of Venice. People bathing, washing their clothes and dishes in the water are things you would never see in Italy.


Arriving in the village we had a coffee and potty break at Tony's Pizzeria (actually named the Golden Kite), where we planned to have lunch later. Then it was off to see this fantastic site with myriad ancient stupas all about, some overgrown with vegetation similar to what we found when visiting Angkor Wat in Cambodia. And of course we were plagued by young girls selling souvenirs. This one was so cute I had to take her picture.  Then as she followed us about, Nathan solicited her help for our overview shot of the site. If you expand the shot to the right you can see her walking down the path in the center.
There were so many of these stupas to photograph I started to concentrate on some of the details. I liked this photo because it reminded me of ET. Who knows, maybe he did visit Earth!

Eventually we came upon an area where the stupas were newer and in better shape. Here I waited for awhile for someone to come down the path. But no one did, so I moved on. On the way back to Tony's I walked  through the Burmese version of a mall, full of souvenirs. Came across this lady wearing what looked to me like a headdress out of "Conan the Barbarian".
















Back at Tony's I had a vegetable pizza, which was surprisingly good. That's Nathan with "Tony", who is obviously Italian!

Sorry, should have taken the shot first but I was hungry!

As we zipped about in our longboats we frequently passed under pedestrian bridges, which gave the opportunity to grab an interesting photo, such as the following, where some ladies are starting to ascend the bridge. Notice the umbrellas used as parasols. Myanmar women do not want to get tan. Fair skin is considered more beautiful.

First stop was a shop where they created handmade silver jewelry. We were instructed on how to tell is the jewelry was truly silver or fake, plated by rubbing it on a dark stone.

Next stop was to visit and photograph some of the "long neck women". They start wearing the heavy brass rings around their necks as early as age 2. The necks are not really elongated, rather their collar bones are pushed downward giving the impression of a longer neck, which is considered to be beautiful. While visiting them we were told that the jewelry was originally designed to protect against lion and tiger attacks. I had never heard that before.

A couple of teenage girls also posed for us with coils on their knees as well.

At another point in the "village on stilts", we visited a really unique weaving "factory", where textiles are fabricated from the stems of lotus plants peculiar to Inle Lake. The stems are cut open revealing stands of what looks like silk inside. These are the drawn across a wooden board and rolled together to form a filament, that then can be dried, dyed. and spun into thread for a textile loom.

The last stop as we left the village was at the Burmese Cat Sanctuary. Interestingly, the breed had to be obtained from the West and reintroduced, as none existed in the country. Here at the sanctuary they are treated like feline royalty. 

Then we were on our way back to get more pics of the fishermen but at sunset this time. To make things even more exciting we transferred from our longboats to individual fishing boats. Talk about getting up close and personal! Made for some great shots. Again, the fishermen for sure have done this before, because they just kept the poses and lighting orientations coming! I thought it would be difficult to move from the larger boat to the smaller one and back but that turned out not to be the case. Here is one of my favorites. 

Then as the shoot was nearly over I got the shot below, which I also like very much because the fisherman is doing something competely natural as he reaches down to put away his lighter after lighting up his cigarette.

Then on the way back to our point of departure we passed these friendly guys.