So, back in Yangon ... I tried a stupid internet place last night, but all was futile.
Our day around Inle Lake was amazing, luckily the rain held off, the sun stayed in the clouds so all day in an open canoe/boat was safe from sunstroke, windburn and getting drenched.
Inle Lake is kinda like Bagan ... you can see a bunch of pictures, but until you are there, there really isn't any comparison. We started off at our town dock, followed the river inlet, then finally as we entered the lake proper, perfectly placed was a few fishermen with their traditional nets and boats. Like the hand of God put them there as we were going by, just to make them happy.
We sped off, heading south and passed through a series of narrow rivers, amongst the reeds along the coasts where the villages are. We first stop off at one village, looked at some very impressive ruins of .... wait for it .... more temples and stupas !! and met a bunch of interesting villagers along the way back on our walk. Despite seeing houses on stilts in A LOT of places, these villages are not that much more special. Can't figure out why .... maybe it's just because the lake is soooooo large, and pretty much all the houses have to be like that. Some stilts are short, but some are very, very tall; even the workshops and other industries that are at the lake are on stilts too.
Sliversmith workshops, a cigar factory, a silk weaving/loom factory were more stops, and then the most ridiculous temple tourist trap you've ever seen. Once upon a time, there were these five magnificent tiny golden Buddha statues, as since they were so holy, followers were expected to take extra gold leaf and put them on top of their bodies. So, after decades later, they resemble something in between marshmallows or the Michelin man.
Next stop was lunch ... and then in the late afternoon was the grand finale ..... the Leaping Cats Monastery. A few decades ago, some monks at a large temple/monastery were bored and they decided it would be fun to train cats to jump through hoops. So they did .... I thought it would be either something amazing, or something completely anti-climatic. I had seen pictures before, and talks about it from a lady at a Travel Cuts Talk. The latter case won. They basically jump through the hoops just for food and after one trick for each cat, that's pretty much about it. Even worse, it wasn't even a monk who led the silliness, but instead an older women.
So much for getting all excited over nothing. Remember that rule about keeping expectations lower than a snake ??? Then again, I finished the day off with around 600 pictures ... edited them down to around 300. All of them are of the pretty good variety. Cheaper than shopping of course :o)
Well, as I said in the beginning, I'm back in Yangon, the one hour flight was again a much better alternative to a 15 hour bumpy bus ride. Feeling fine still ... for now. But being back in the big city and his heat and humidity will be different from what these old bones have been used to for a week. A few things to do in the next few days ... but nothing compared to the tour. We have our final group dinner tonight and then we all scatter back to where most of us belong.
Talk to you soon .... maybe tomorrow, but don't count on it. Have to have something useful to say first.
:o)
Our day around Inle Lake was amazing, luckily the rain held off, the sun stayed in the clouds so all day in an open canoe/boat was safe from sunstroke, windburn and getting drenched.
Inle Lake is kinda like Bagan ... you can see a bunch of pictures, but until you are there, there really isn't any comparison. We started off at our town dock, followed the river inlet, then finally as we entered the lake proper, perfectly placed was a few fishermen with their traditional nets and boats. Like the hand of God put them there as we were going by, just to make them happy.
We sped off, heading south and passed through a series of narrow rivers, amongst the reeds along the coasts where the villages are. We first stop off at one village, looked at some very impressive ruins of .... wait for it .... more temples and stupas !! and met a bunch of interesting villagers along the way back on our walk. Despite seeing houses on stilts in A LOT of places, these villages are not that much more special. Can't figure out why .... maybe it's just because the lake is soooooo large, and pretty much all the houses have to be like that. Some stilts are short, but some are very, very tall; even the workshops and other industries that are at the lake are on stilts too.
Sliversmith workshops, a cigar factory, a silk weaving/loom factory were more stops, and then the most ridiculous temple tourist trap you've ever seen. Once upon a time, there were these five magnificent tiny golden Buddha statues, as since they were so holy, followers were expected to take extra gold leaf and put them on top of their bodies. So, after decades later, they resemble something in between marshmallows or the Michelin man.
Next stop was lunch ... and then in the late afternoon was the grand finale ..... the Leaping Cats Monastery. A few decades ago, some monks at a large temple/monastery were bored and they decided it would be fun to train cats to jump through hoops. So they did .... I thought it would be either something amazing, or something completely anti-climatic. I had seen pictures before, and talks about it from a lady at a Travel Cuts Talk. The latter case won. They basically jump through the hoops just for food and after one trick for each cat, that's pretty much about it. Even worse, it wasn't even a monk who led the silliness, but instead an older women.
So much for getting all excited over nothing. Remember that rule about keeping expectations lower than a snake ??? Then again, I finished the day off with around 600 pictures ... edited them down to around 300. All of them are of the pretty good variety. Cheaper than shopping of course :o)
Well, as I said in the beginning, I'm back in Yangon, the one hour flight was again a much better alternative to a 15 hour bumpy bus ride. Feeling fine still ... for now. But being back in the big city and his heat and humidity will be different from what these old bones have been used to for a week. A few things to do in the next few days ... but nothing compared to the tour. We have our final group dinner tonight and then we all scatter back to where most of us belong.
Talk to you soon .... maybe tomorrow, but don't count on it. Have to have something useful to say first.
:o)
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