We wake in the morning to pancakes with pineapple, condensed milk and strong Burmese coffee. Delicious. As I eat my breakfast I was the villagers going about their morning jobs - oxen drawn carts with loads of cabbages, pumpkins carried on heads, buckets of water tied to the ends of a bamboo pole and carried over shoulder.
We trek for a couple of hours through more and more rugged landscape - not Dartmoor rugged, but there are no fields or lanes, just dusty tracks up and over ridges. Eventually we join the 'main road' to Inle Lake, a gravel track about a lane and a half wide. It is along this road that we reach the highest point of the trek and get catch my first glimpse of Inle Lake.
We stop at a Nepal style tea house for samosas and green tea. It is very busy as this is where all the trekkers who have been doing different routes converge for the last couple of hours of down hill. Whilst we cool off and rest our feet Sao joins a group of young men who are playing a mixture of hacky-sac and volley ball. Showing incredible flexibility and coordination they use their heads/knees/feet/chests to pass a reed ball over a high net. At times they launch themselves completley in the air to hit a head height ball with their foot, landing in a pile on the floor, but managing to get the ball over the net. It looks very energeic and I am happy just watching with the occasional 'ooooh', 'wow' or 'ouch!'.
Full of samosas and the sun getting hotter we march on, eager to get to the lake. Its literally all down hill now and although its not steep, the path is narrow and rutted. The deepley trodden track and high bushes mean there is not much to see, so I put my head down and concentrate on the path. Before I know it we're at the ticket booth for the 'Inle Zone'. We all pay the required $5 (whether we're staying for two days or two weeks) which unfortunately goes to the government. Once inside 'the zone' we stop at a little tea house where Kin Kin makes noodle soup. We're all relieved to hear that its only a three minute walk from here to the boat which will take us across the lake to the town of Nyaugshwe. It seems the trek is ober, although I'm surprised, as from the hill the lake looked at lot further way than three minutes.
As I settle into the little wooden boat it all makes sense, the boat is docked in a tiny reed lined waterway. What looked like land from a distance is actually a swam which surrounds, and is almost as big as, the lake itself. At points it hard to tell where the lake stops and the mash begins. Locals use boats to carve their way between the reeds in order to bridge the gap between soild ground and the lake, as well as to acess their stilt homes inbetween.
With a t-shirt on my head to protect me from the beating sun, we pass floating gardens of tomatoes and cucumbers, complete with a reed hedge and gate suspended in the water. Eventually we break out onto the actual lake, which is vast - 13 by 7 miles (I don't think anyone knows if this includes the swamp ot not). I can see Nyaunhshwe in the distance, covered by a huge grey sky. We motor along for about twenty minutes before it starts pouring with rain. I swap the t-shirt on my head for a rain coat and try to keep my bag dry without much luck.
Half an hour later we apparenly arrive at the town jetty. I haven't seen any of our approach as my heas had been in my lap, protecting my face from the driving onslaught of rain and spray from the boat. Thankfully our bags are already at our guest house, having been delivered by the trekking company the day before. I shower and go and sit on the porch to watch the rain and enjoy my complementary tea, biscuits and fruit platter - needless to say I am very impressed with Burmese hospitality when it comes to food.
We trek for a couple of hours through more and more rugged landscape - not Dartmoor rugged, but there are no fields or lanes, just dusty tracks up and over ridges. Eventually we join the 'main road' to Inle Lake, a gravel track about a lane and a half wide. It is along this road that we reach the highest point of the trek and get catch my first glimpse of Inle Lake.
Sandal-wood sun cream
We stop at a Nepal style tea house for samosas and green tea. It is very busy as this is where all the trekkers who have been doing different routes converge for the last couple of hours of down hill. Whilst we cool off and rest our feet Sao joins a group of young men who are playing a mixture of hacky-sac and volley ball. Showing incredible flexibility and coordination they use their heads/knees/feet/chests to pass a reed ball over a high net. At times they launch themselves completley in the air to hit a head height ball with their foot, landing in a pile on the floor, but managing to get the ball over the net. It looks very energeic and I am happy just watching with the occasional 'ooooh', 'wow' or 'ouch!'.
Full of samosas and the sun getting hotter we march on, eager to get to the lake. Its literally all down hill now and although its not steep, the path is narrow and rutted. The deepley trodden track and high bushes mean there is not much to see, so I put my head down and concentrate on the path. Before I know it we're at the ticket booth for the 'Inle Zone'. We all pay the required $5 (whether we're staying for two days or two weeks) which unfortunately goes to the government. Once inside 'the zone' we stop at a little tea house where Kin Kin makes noodle soup. We're all relieved to hear that its only a three minute walk from here to the boat which will take us across the lake to the town of Nyaugshwe. It seems the trek is ober, although I'm surprised, as from the hill the lake looked at lot further way than three minutes.
As I settle into the little wooden boat it all makes sense, the boat is docked in a tiny reed lined waterway. What looked like land from a distance is actually a swam which surrounds, and is almost as big as, the lake itself. At points it hard to tell where the lake stops and the mash begins. Locals use boats to carve their way between the reeds in order to bridge the gap between soild ground and the lake, as well as to acess their stilt homes inbetween.
With a t-shirt on my head to protect me from the beating sun, we pass floating gardens of tomatoes and cucumbers, complete with a reed hedge and gate suspended in the water. Eventually we break out onto the actual lake, which is vast - 13 by 7 miles (I don't think anyone knows if this includes the swamp ot not). I can see Nyaunhshwe in the distance, covered by a huge grey sky. We motor along for about twenty minutes before it starts pouring with rain. I swap the t-shirt on my head for a rain coat and try to keep my bag dry without much luck.
Half an hour later we apparenly arrive at the town jetty. I haven't seen any of our approach as my heas had been in my lap, protecting my face from the driving onslaught of rain and spray from the boat. Thankfully our bags are already at our guest house, having been delivered by the trekking company the day before. I shower and go and sit on the porch to watch the rain and enjoy my complementary tea, biscuits and fruit platter - needless to say I am very impressed with Burmese hospitality when it comes to food.
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