#rndtheworldn44 - Day 30 - Inle Lake

On December 19, we flew from Bagan to Inle Lake, a freshwater lake.  It is the second largest lake in Myanmar, with an estimated surface area of 44.9 square miles, and one of the highest at an elevation of 2,900 feet. The lake is very shallow.  During the dry season, the average water depth is 7 feet, with the deepest point being 12 feet, but during the rainy season this can increase by 5 feet (1.5 m).  In June 2015, it became Myanmar's first designated place participating in UNESCO's World Network of Biosphere Reserves.

When we awoke the next morning, the hillside above the lake was bathed in sunlight --

-- and the water on which individual cabins of the hotel sat seemed fresh and beckoning:

The day before, after we arrived, Kathy and Weina took a bicycle ride down the road from our hotel, and Weina made some unexpected friends!

But today was the major attraction for us - a day-long tour of the lake by boat.

Transportation on the lake is traditionally by small boats, or by somewhat larger boats fitted with single cylinder inboard diesel engines, such as the one we took.   Here's a photo of us with our boatman as we motored out and down the lake:

Because of the open diesel engine and the relatively high speeds of the narrow, tippy, flat-bottomed boats, a ride across the lake can be exciting, as this video of our boat navigating the canals near our hotel to get out onto the lake will show:

Once we got out onto the lake, we had a chance to watch the locals handling their boats and fishing.   Local fishermen are known for practicing a distinctive rowing style which involves standing at the stern on one leg and wrapping the other leg around the oar, freeing both hands to manage the large fishing nets and baskets. This unique style evolved out of necessity as the lake is covered by reeds and floating plants, making it difficult to see above them while sitting. Standing provides the rower with a view beyond the reeds. However, the leg rowing style is only practiced by the men.

The people of Inle Lake (called Intha), live on the lake as well as around it.  Most are devout Buddhists, and are largely self-sufficient farmers. Almost all the houses in the village on the lake itself sit on stilts and are made of wood and woven bamboo.

Women, who typically do not fish, row in the customary style, using the oar with their hands, sitting cross legged at the stern.  As we motored through one floating community past a house much like the one in the photo above, we even saw a little 5-year-old rowing her boat off, to shop at the market, under the watchful eye of her mother.

Fish are a staple of the local diet.  Lake residents also grow vegetables and fruit in large gardens that float on the surface of the lake. The floating garden beds are formed by extensive manual labor. The farmers gather up lake-bottom weeds from the deeper parts of the lake, bring them back in boats and make them into floating beds in their garden areas, anchored by bamboo poles. These gardens rise and fall with changes in the water level, and so are resistant to flooding. The constant availability of nutrient-laden water results in these gardens being incredibly fertile. Here is a photo of some boatmen tending to the vegetation along the edges of some extensive floating gardens:

We made a stop at one of the local markets, where local residents crowded in to off-load produce or other goods, or pick up what they needed for the coming week:

This local farmer had her produce laid out for inspection and, hopefully, purchase:

The small islands on the lake have whole communities, complete with all of the typical health and other services.  There are even temples on some of the larger islands:

The Inle Lake area is renowned for its weaving industry. Shan-bags, used daily by many Burmese as a tote-bag, are produced in large quantities here. Silk-weaving is another very important industry, producing high-quality hand-woven silk fabrics of distinctive design called Inle longyi. A unique fabric from the lotus plant fibers is produced only at Inle Lake and is used for weaving special robes for Buddha images called kya thingahn (lotus robe).  We had a chance to watch some of the weavers' skilled work:

Another tourist attraction is traditional silversmithing. The silver is brought in from the mines that line the hills surrounding the lake and is boated into the village.   One ofthe shops selling silver trinkets and woven products used the "long-necked ladies" of the Kayan people as a means of attracting tourists to their shop.  Below, Matt, who speaks Myanmar, chatted with two young Kayan women who had been hired to sit at the shop and be stared at and photographed:

Inle Lake is suffering from the environmental effects of increased population and rapid growth. During the 65-year period from 1935 to 2000, the net open water area of Inle Lake decreased 32.4%, in large part due to the cultivation of floating gardens, which were only introduced in the 1960s.  Lumber removal and unsustainable cultivation practices (slash and burn farming techniques) on the hills surrounding the lake are also causing ever-increasing amounts of silt and nutrients to run off into the lake.  The water hyacinth, a plant not native to the lake, also poses a major problem. It grows rapidly, filling up the smaller streams and large expanses of the lake, robbing native plants and animals of nutrients and sunlight. At one time, all boats coming into Nyaung Shwe were required to bring in a specified amount of water hyacinth. Over the past twenty years, large-scale use of dredges and pumps has been employed with some success in controlling the growth of this plant. While we were on the lake, we watched a number of boatsmen maneuver small boats among the water hyacinth, cut it, gather it and move it away from the key waterways through the villages.

The long day passed quickly, and our little boat turned to make its way back up the lake.  We passed some fishermen again on our way to our hotel:

It was almost dinner time, but before that, Matt, William and Weina took a short walk along the local lakeside road:

Sunset from the hotel deck, overlooking the infinity pool and the lake, was quite striking:

Yet, even here, Matt was occasionally on call for questions from the people he supervises.  He took a moment in the fading light to take one last call before we headed in to dinner:

Our tour of Inle Lake was one of the most interesting, unusual experiences we have had anywhere.  We fell into bed, exhausted, anticipating our flight home to Yangon to spend the holidays with our 6-year-old grandson and his parents.