Float, float on.

We arrived at Inle Lake in the early evening- too late to enjoy the spectacular views of the lake but they were waiting for us the following morning – my birthday! We had breakfast & I opened my presents from Mr L and from our guide Khet, before heading out on one of the long wooden boats across the lake  to visit  the local market. We have visited a few markets on our travels but this was by far the best. So bright & vibrant & full of an amazing mixture of smells & of locals from different villages/ ethnic groups in their own traditional dress selling the sort of  produce that we had seen growing  in the fields the previous day,  as well as fish from the lake. 
The lake is 22km long & 10km at its widest & not particularly deep – max 12ft in the rainy season & is home to more than 40,000 people who reside in the 4 villages that are built on the lake; homes, huts, schools, shops, workshops - all built on stilts above the water & only accessible by boat. It was incredible going up & down the waterways in between these villages. More amazing are the crops of tomatoes & other vegetables/fruit they grow on the lake. They do this by adding soil and seaweed to the floating water hyacinth to create a floating piece of land & then anchor it to the bottom of the lake with long sticks of bamboo & plant the crop – vast quantities of it. Genius 

In the afternoon we headed back to the hotel & following a “discussion” with the tour company we were moved to a deluxe waterfront bungalow which afforded us amazing views of the beautiful lake. Perfect. Well it was my birthday! In the evening, on Khet’s recommendation we headed into downtown Nyaung Shwe 4km away but  30mins drive due to terrible roads, to a restaurant that had live music. When we arrived we were shown to a table with birthday balloons on each of the 6 chairs. For the two of us. It was v kind of them but looked like the saddest birthday ever. Everyone was so sweet though & after we had eaten the lights went out & they brought over a plate of fresh fruit with candles in it & all the staff, customers & the band Sang happy birthday – lovely but hugely embarrassing. After a delicious g&t & several Myanmar beers I decided it was time for me to sing with the band.
They were initially delighted & my rendition of ‘country roads’ went down well but after I slaughtered ‘wonderful tonight’ they wrestled the microphone off me & my short lived career with the band was over. Ah well their loss. 

The following morning the promise of seeing a beautiful sunrise from our bed didn’t materialise as there was a thick fog but it still looked amazing. Back on the boat we visited a small village where, up until 10 yrs ago no-one was allowed to enter – even people from Myanmar. They still resist elements of the outside though & it's people are very poor and uneducated. The area attracts tourists because it has a hundreds of pagodas  clustered together; many in a poor state of repair, some even  have trees growing out of the middle of them & most have been robbed of any valuables by treasure hunters over the centuries. A few have been renovated. It was like Bagan but crammed into a small space. 

As our time in Inle Lake came to an end we headed to the tiny  Heho airport where we were given a sticker (not sure why) & our flight was announced by a lady carrying a board around like they do at the start of each round of a boxing match. Our flight with Nok Airways back to Yangon took a little over 1hr –plenty of time to enjoy our complimentary rice crackers.