Nyaungshwe is the town closest to Inle Lake with affordable accommodation. I arrived from Hsipaw on a nightbus. I was lucky to find the PYI Guesthouse with it’s friendly owner Joe. Unfortunately it wasn’t a great start as I got food poisoning probably from the Nepalese next doors. Good that the Guesthouse was nice and close to shops.
After recovering I ventured out to find a boat for an Inle Lake sightseeing. The town is very small so after some five minutes walking I arrived at the jetty. Some other tourists were looking for boats so we decided to split the cost and started our sightseeing tour together. It was a cloudy early morning and we set off to the lake. The view was very dramatic with dark rain clouds hovering heavy above us. Some fishermen were rowing there boat in this unique way only seen on Inle Lake. They propell themselves forward with a paddle around their leg.
We got to see the market, floating village, some monastries, lotus clothing, cigar making and other things along the way. For the first time in Myanmar I had the feeling that people weren’t very happy about our presence, but this could have also been my skewed perception (recovering from the food poisoning).
Oh, and one mistery has been solved; Plastic bags filled with water hanging on walls or ceilings – this is to keep the mosquitos away.
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