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It was getting time to go to lunch and we were going to the Burmese Cat's Café at the Burmese Cats Village. On the way to the boats we passed one of the overpacked truck busses. We passed lots of boats carrying various kinds of goods; also passed a variety of buildings on stilts.

We were at the edge of the floating gardens. The floating gardens consist of large clumps of grass anchored in the lake by bamboo poles and various kinds of crops get grown here. This is a significant portion of Myanmarese agriculture.  It seems like a good system; irrigation is automatic; people can use boats to tend to the crops/  And since the lake height varies during the year because of intense rainy season and intense dry season  these fields can just rise and fall automatically.

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To market to market to buy a fat pig; but I saw no pigs there. We went to visit one of the 5-day markets in a village next to a pagoda on Inle Lake which we went to after this market. A number of the local ethnic inhabitants come to sell their wares; thus some of the different types of head gear. There was lots of food of all types for sale - some being cooked right there. Also cosmetics, pills, fabric, and doodads. And on the edge people were bathing and doing laundry in the water.

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Late in the day we visited a few more shop/factories where swords, fish traps, and cigars were being made. The first picture has Khun, our guide, demonstrating how the fish trap is used. At the sword forging shop everything was done by hand. Young boys were operating the bellows and teams of three people used sledge hammers to forge swords; these were ornamental swords. At the cigar factory young women were making cigars - I think this was a place for apprenticeship.

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Two videos at the sword forging shop





Two videos at the cigar factory

The above was the view from the deck at the rear of our room.

On one of the trips on the lake that first morning we went to a village - seen below. We toured a couple of shops, one of which is where they made longboats like ones we were riding around in. There were also some craft shops where they made miscellaneous kinds of wood carvings. In general there were a lot of small enterprises on this lake. A building like some of these housed our lunch restaurant. Note the final picture ws a paint store.

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Inle Lake (or Innlay as spelled on one sign) was to me the most fascinating place we visited in Myanmar - although every place was pretty fascinating. The lake is about 44 sq miles, between 5 ft and 12 feet deep but the water rises at least 5 feet in the rainy season. It is at 2,900 hundred feet of altitude. There were numerous villages with houses on stilts. We rode speedy longboats from the town nearest the airport to our hotel. Wherever we went it was by boat. There are little canals leading to villages. There is a huge floating garden with huge clumps of grass to hold the dirt anchored by bamboo stakes where they grow produce - among other crops a large percentage of Myanmar tomatoes are grown here. There was lots of fishing and we saw many instances of men standing on the back of a small boat on one leg with the other leg paddling the oar so that both hands were free to manipulate the nets and traps. The longboats were about 30 feet long powered by an inboard motor with a long shaft with a propeller and rudder on it so it can be used for power, steering and lifted up when necessary.  When we rode them there were just 5 of us in a boat but we saw other boats with more than 20 people or loaded with cargo.

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A view from the boat on the way to our hotel.

The U Bein teak bridge spans the Ayeyarwaddy river and is near Amarapura which was the royal capital at the time the bridge was built (1851). It is over 1.2 kilometers long and is the world's longest teak bridge (but how many teak bridges are there?). It is not in the greatest of shape but lots of people were crossing it or hanging about.  Below it were some rice fields, people fishing, herding ducks, and doing their laundry. Some simple housing structures were there as well.

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On the road from Mandalay we did get to see some flying fishes (hanging from the ceiling from our lunch restaurant). Here are several horse carts including one with a striking STOP sign, and a young woman washing something - laundry in the river? Also there is an empty truck bus. Several times we rode in them - perhaps 8 people in each one - quite different to some of the ones we saw that were filled with at least 30 people - some on the roof.

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On our trip to Inwa (former capital) we went by bus, ferry, and horse cart. Along the way we saw a wide variety of local civilization - a boat driver looking a bit like a ballet dancer, horse carts and other forms of transportation, and several village scenes and houses.  We passed were rice fields with Stupas in the background. We visited a monastery with some interesting wood carvings. At the monastery was  a school for very little kids and we saw some of them in the classroom and others hanging about doing various things. The Nanmyin Watch Tower which wasn't in great shape - I don't recall what its exact purpose was.

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On our way to and at this monastery where there was an elaborate ritual of people applying gold leaf to a large Buddha statue.

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We went to visit the newly renovated Mandalay Palace. Nearby was a village with among other things  a marionette show in progress. There was food to eat and stuff to buy; one shop was selling carpeting. Hamburgers at the Burger Queen, Foot massage, and a stop-smoking remedy. The palace was built in 1857-1859 as part of King Mindon's founding of Mandalay as the royal capitol. He and King Thibaw were the last two Burmese kings and they lived here. Photos of him and others were on the walls. There was this large cannon there - the sign said it was named Yan Pon Khwin which means can crush all enemies.

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