Note: I just tried twice to post pictures and got a "server error" message, so you are stuck with my deathless prose for a while. Will keep trying. The following was written after we left Bagan and flew to Inle Lake.
It is such a short flight from Bagan that we barely had time to achieve full altitude before we began our descent into Heho (Heh-ho), the airport that services Inle Lake. To go overland would have taken at least eight hours by bus even though it is not very far. We drove about an hour more through peaceful countryside dotted with swampy waterways and farmers working the land. And the ever present pagodas dominating it all.
I didn’t know what to expect from Inle Lake, but just thought it would be a beautiful lake which attracted tourists and those few Burmese who could afford a holiday there. When we arrived at the boat dock, we found out that we would be going by longboat to our hotel which was thirty or forty minutes away. Each boat, very long indeed, holds four passengers who sit in upright padded chairs and it is quite comfortable. There is no cover, but there are four umbrellas on each boat, one for each passenger for sun protection. I didn’t discover them at first and I was concerned about being under the relentless sun without protection. Of course, our every need was anticipated and there were locals selling hats with brims for a thousand khat--less than a dollar.
After boarding, we motored down a long canal flanked by wooden houses on stilts and got our first sight of the famous “leg polers,“ fishermen who stand on the prow of their boats with long oars that they propel with one leg so that they can stand up to spot fish. Some of the leg polers were not fishing, but were instead transporting all sorts of cargo from huge piles of seaweed to cartons and bags of various goods. On some of the empty boats, the boatman would be crouched down on the very tip of the long narrow vessel and it looked like he should either fall off or the boat should flip him over due to the imbalance, but neither happened.
After a few minutes, we left the canal where we had boarded our boats and entered the main body of the lake where we could see fishermen and other locals conducting their business. Surrounded on all sides by mountains, it is beautiful on one hand, but eerily other-worldly on the other. It’s like a scene out of another century where no modern contrivances have yet made their way. So while it is a tourist attraction and there are a number of hotels and restaurants which have been built around it, Inle Lake is very much a working lake and the main sustenance of its some 70,000 residents.
The lake is one of the most unusual sights we have seen in all of our travels. There is barely a ripple on its glassy surface except for the wake created by the boats, and it is ringed by misty hills on all sides. It is also an outstanding example of the ingenuity of man. In order to sustain themselves, the people have created over the years “floating islands” which, when stabilized, can support crops to feed the people. That was the purpose of the boats piled with seaweed. The men take long hooks and dredge the bottom of the lake bringing up huge clumps of soaking seaweed (back-breaking work from the looks of it). They then collect equal amounts of water hyacinth which is floating on the surface, chop it all up, and mix the two together with some amount of clay. The clay and the seaweed give the resultant mass stability, while the water hyacinth keeps the whole blob from sinking. The thickness of the mass determines its quality, the thicker the better. They do this right there on the water adding and building and adding and building until they have a land mass which did not exist before. When it is complete, they can grow flowers or fruits or vegetables on it. The floating islands are anchored to the bottom by long bamboo poles so that they don’t float away. Nu Nu said that they can be moved by removing the poles, but I can’t imagine how difficult that must be since most of them are quite large. They are about six feet wide and many feet long so that the crops can be picked by boat from either side. The effect is kind of like a series of canals right in the middle of the lake. Brilliant, yes? Oh, and just like ordinary tillable land, crops will grow for three years in a row and then must rest for two years before replanting.
The lake itself is about thirteen miles long and ten miles wide, not the biggest lake in Myanmar, but quite large nonetheless. In the body of the lake we could see buildings of all kinds, from dilapidated shacks to substantial commercial establishments like restaurants and factories. Some of them are situated on the floating islands and others are built right in the lake and supported by stilts, since the lake is not very deep. All business is thus conducted right out there in the water with no need to go onto the mainland at all, although I’m sure the locals do from time to time.
As we got closer to our hotel--which again we had no pre-conceived ideas about--the boatman cut the motor at a floating island and picked up another local and the two of them poled us the rest of the way through the “quiet zone” to the hotel.
The hotel, called the Inle Princess Resort, is out of this world--literally and figuratively. From a distance it is a dark wood structure surrounded on all sides by cottages and jungle swamp. When we arrived we disembarked and we could see that the hotel too was built right in the water. There is a "jetty" area where you embark and disembark and next to that is a large building which houses the restaurant and the bar and a beautiful deck overlooking the water.
After checking in at the jetty, we were directed to our rooms, each of which is a free standing cottage set in a garden alive with flowers. Walking to our cottage we crossed a pond spanned by a curved teak bridge whose railings were dripping with bougainvillea and other exotic plants I can't name.
Our room was quite a distance from the main building. The stone path literally wound its way through a thick jungle flanked by palm trees and flowering plants, went over a pond dotted with water lilies and finally ended at our cottage made of teak and bamboo with thatched roof and protective teak-carved cranes at each corner.
The room itself was high ceilinged with teak floors and bamboo walls and ceiling. The bed had a mosquito net on a canopy above the bed, drawn back to the wall. Later when we returned from dinner, the bed was shrouded under the mosquito net and you had to literally crawl in from the bottom where the only opening was pretty well hidden. We actually had no problem with mosquitoes, so this may be more for effect than anything else, and in fact the second night we pushed back the net and slept without it to no ill effects.
In the bathroom, the tub was encased in river rock and the shower was outside, very private and well-equipped. The lighting was very dim and moody, almost to the point where we couldn't see, but that was all part of the total effect. We watched the sunset from our deck overlooking a pond with water lilies and hyacinth covering the water and fish jumping lazily here and there.
More about ethereal Inle Lake later.
No comments:
Post a Comment