Two days at Inle Lake

Day one

10am. Yesterday, having arrived mid afternoon from our trek, we soon realised that unless you book an expensive hotel on the lake, you can't actually see the water from the main town. So today, given rain is forecast, we decide to rent bikes and cycle into the hills around the lake in the hope that tomorrow will be dry for a boat tour. We expect there will be great views, our guidebook certainly thinks so.

10.30am. Primed with two pristine mountain bikes (they really do look like new) we set off following the tour set out in our Rough Guide to Myanmar. The man at the bike rental tried to persuade us to take an alternative route, but who needs advice from a local when you have a guidebook, right?

11am. We cycle through local villages, waving to children who race beside us, before pausing in a bamboo forest to shelter from light rain. 

 

11.10am. Standing at a crossroads, our choices are clear: straight on over the bridge or right along the river bank. Sofia studies the map. So does an old man who rises from his resting place under a tree to peer over Sofia's shoulder. "Guidebook says right," Sofia says. The old man grasps the map, studies it, then points over the bridge. We go right. Who needs advice from a local when you have a guidebook, right?

11.15am. It's pleasant. People work the fields as we trundle by. The path is a little muddy and thin but perfectly rideable. Sofia is very pleased with our choice.

11.20am. The path is becoming thinner. There's quite a bit of mud too, at one point I'm forced to carry the bike over a particularly mean looking puddle - don't want to get these new bikes too dirty.

11.25am. We hit a field full of corn, it's as tall as me. There is a trace of a path through, so we enter carrying the bikes.

11.27am. Emerging into a clearing we are covered in mud and scratched by the corn. I pause to clear a few twigs and clumps of mud from our brakes. The path ahead is a sea of deep, squelching mud. At this point, and only this point, do we decide we may have gone the wrong way.

11.28am. We turn around, heading back the way we came.

11.45am. Crossing the bridge, we ride on a flat gravel road. I start diverting through big puddles in an attempt to clean the bike. Thankfully, the old man is no where to be seen.

11.46am. Sofia rides up beside me, "Those people in the field could have told us we were going the wrong way, couldn't they?" she says.

12pm. It looks like rain. A huge storm cloud hangs above us, the wind is picking up. We pull up at a roadside restaurant, order two cokes and hope the rain will wash the bikes. 

12.10pm. No rain. The sun comes out. 

12.11pm. Back on the bikes I realise that somewhere in the mud infused mayhem of the past hour I lost my sunglasses.

12.12pm. The sun disappears behind a cloud never to return for the rest of the day.

12.40pm. After a long ride up hill, we prepare ourselves for breathtaking views of Inle Lake.

12.41pm. No lake. Just plantations and trees.

1pm. Still no lake.

1.30pm. We reach a small village with a walkway that heads out into the lake. This will make a great place for a spot of lunch, I think. And it probably would have done if we didn't have to have the bikes back by 3pm.

 

 

2pm. Our bikes are still caked in mud, there's no way we can take them back looking like this. "We just need a quick rain shower to clean them," I say to Sofia.

2.10pm. I get my wish, although it's a little more than I bargained for. The rain pelts us ferociously, we can't see where we're going. If only I had those sunglasses to protect my eyes. 

2.20pm. Amazingly, apart from the tyres, the bikes are still muddy.

3pm. We return the bikes. The man at the rental shop stares at them for a while then turns his attention to us, both drenched from head to toe. Without saying a word he hands us a wet wipe.

Day two

8am. It's raining. Hard. The weather forecast says it will have stopped by 10am.

10am. It's still raining, so we cut our losses and hire a boat guide to take us on a day long tour of the Lake. Hopefully, the sky will be clear over the water.

10.05am. Our young guide hands us both umbrellas and pulls on a purple poncho. He then helps us into the wobbly boat. Things are not looking good.

10.15am. We zoom along the lake through the beating rain. Our umbrellas keep us partially dry but make it impossible to see where we are going. 

 

10.45am. First stop of the day, the floating market, which roughly translates as 'gift shop'. It stops raining the moment we remove our shoes to go go inside. There are three ladies waiting for us, they have large golden rings going up their necks. A small exhibition explains that they are from the Padaung tribe. They first start wearing 13 rings at 9 years of age, with a maximum of 25 rings by the time they're 20. At this point the ladies are carrying 10kg around and twist they're necks as though in a brace. All of the ladies are tiny in stature, although it's not immediately obvious. At least not until will look at a photo of Sofia sitting with them.

 

11am. We leave, put on our shoes, and climb into the boat, just as it starts to rain.

11.15am. Next stop is the silversmiths, which roughly translates as 'gift shop'. The rain ceases while a smiley lady takes us on a brief tour of how the silver is purified and then grafted into jewellery. She then follows us around the extensive shop at the distance of precisely 20cm. At one point I think I've lost her after I peal away from Sofia and go it alone. My glee soon turns to dismay  when a different shop assistant pops out from behind a cabinet and offers to show me a necklace. 

11.40am. Lunch time, apparently. We're shown to our outside seats; the wonderful view in one direction of the small floating village is balanced by the pig sty on the other side. It starts to rain.

12.40pm. Time for a visit to the textiles factory, which roughly translates as 'gift shop'. Although, to be fair, the tour this time is very extensive. We learn that the traditional Burmese clothes of the region are made from fibres from the Lotus plant and an old lady shows us how to extract it. It's still raining.

1.30pm. The tobacco factory. I remove my wet shoes and a lady shows us how they roll the tobacco before directing us to the gift shop. 

2pm. A visit to the pagoda, naturally. With extensive gift shop, naturally. The shop becomes a useful place to shelter from a rain so hard it comes down like a waterfall. 

2.20pm. It stops raining. We leave the small village and head out into the lake.

2.40pm. We watch as the famous Inle lake fishermen pull nets into their boats. I'm elated to have seen them at work.

 

 

2.50pm. The boat trundles through the floating garden, where fields of tomatoes and aubergines are being harvested. We're in awe of how the local people have achieved so much while living on a lake.

 

3.15pm. Last stop of the day is the monastery. After a complete loop of the impressive floating architecture, during which we learn the story of the Buddha, I'm stunned to find no gift shop. The rain is heavy so we decide to wander round again.

3.17pm. There's a door we never went through. Inside is an entire market, each stall sells the same things. 

4pm. We arrive home in pouring rain. Our shoes take 4 days to dry out, but it's been a remarkable day all the same.