INLE LAKE 26th and 27th JAN 2015

On the road again from Bagan to Inle lake . We left Bagan at 8am in a minibus with 10 other passengers and arrived  at 5pm. On the way the driver stopped to let us take a photograph of a floating  Pagoda, it looks the same as that of Mandalay but this time it is not a restaurant !

Going through villages we saw as usual the Myanmar ladies balancing  their wares on their heads.  

Or carrying them around in two baskets hanging to a pole that they put on their shoulders. the men also carry goods like this but you will never see one carrying goods on their heads. 

As soon as we arrived anywhere our van was immediately surrounded by women and children selling oranges , watermelon, nuts and any other edible item you can imagine , and some of them very inedible for us ...

The women work like the men and they are often to be seen on the roads. They earn the equivalent of 1,5€ per day and work a 12 hour shift. This was a new bridge under construction. 

Arriving in Inle Lake we had to pay a tourist tax of 10$ each , Paul got very annoyed but we still had to pay ! ( The money goes directly to the central government, i is the locals who pay for the roads etc with money they collect at the side of the street!). We stay in Nyang Shwe (north) at Royal Luxury Hotel 30$/ night
( cheap for the area, and yes there is also a tourist tax of 8$ per foreigner per night )   !

and today the 27th we are on the boat around the lake.  We are with Dee Dee and Andres and also with Dominique a really nice Parisien who Andres and DeeDee met on their bus from Bagan.

Hear the fishermen row with one hand and one leg. They have the other hand free to hold onto  this strange fishing net with a 3 pronged fork  inside it. When he sees a big fish he sends his net with his 3 pronged fork in order to catch it. 

We visit a local village where they make pottery and are invited into the headman's  house to drink tea.
The houses here are built on stilts so upstairs we find  the kitchen the living room and the bedroom. 

A big textile factory producing silk and cotton... with fibre from a special lotus plant.
Look on you tube  http://youtu.be/w1OAafvTaYA

                                     http://youtu.be/yux974a1lg0 

Multi-coloured cottons dry outside and the girls use weaving machins counterbalanced with buckets of stones. 

Even an old bike wheel is put to work to fill the bobbins !

DeeDee watching the lady extract the fibers from the lotus stem

Pagodas even on the lake side 

The ovens that they use to cook the pottery in. 

A stove in construction

A typical village scene, the cattle , pigs , hens are kept just next to the houses.  

 Kids of 4 and 7 years old come back from the school by themselves paddling their own small boat 

Women make cigars with kids all around, some of the women are around 12 years old . 

Flowers being taken to market , normally made into chains for offrands 

Our fisherman again but this time at sunset on the way back to our hotel.   

We think that he would make a real good climber with such dexterity

Sunset over the lake. 

Arriving on shore , always as busy