Inle Lake

Inle Lake is 22km long, roughly 11km wide, 875m above sea level.
Its size is one-fifth the size of Singapore.
It is a very nice lake with different lake islands of villages.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inle_Lake)
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I am surprised to know that the deepest depth is around 4m only.
It looks much deeper than that!
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The bus ride to Inle Lake was quite an experience.

Burmese Karaoke MTV was played on the bus non-stop, and not surprisingly, the MTV production looks really simple and bare (like the kinda pirated english MTV you sing in KTV). More interestingly, all the Burmese tunes sounded very familiar, because they are pop songs in Chinese and English, but they sang it in Burmese.

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Despite Inle Lake is 600+ km away from Yangon, we took 20 freaking hours to reach there.

A simple math calculation shows that the bus is traveling on average 30+ km/h, as the road condition in Myanmar is bad especially Inle Lake is at a higher elevation.

This is the longest single bus ride that I ever taken.

(My India trip still hold the longest bus rideS record- around 26hours from Darjeeling to Bodhgaya)

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There was another record for this bus ride.

The bus started at 12noon, and the next toilet break was 6pm!!!

6 hours for a toilet break. Along the ride, I kept telling myself that the bus was going to stop for toilet break. And I won't want to be the inconsiderate passenger to stop the whole bus for my relief.

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Another interesting experience.

Along the way and in the middle of the night, all passenger had to get down the bus to pass through the military checkpoint. Everybody gotta provide their IDs or Passports for clearance. Sometime, foreigners would have another queue, where our passport details were recorded.

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We had a pleasant surprise on the bus.

It was a full-moon night, and we saw the rise of a PINKISH- ORANGE full-moon over the horizon. I have never seen anything like that before.

It was BEAUTIFUL.

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I am surprised that I could write so much on a simple bus ride.

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On the boat to explore Inle Lake

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Fishermen at the lake

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Fishing by the kids.

The small little boy was leg-rowing the boat. Damn Cool!

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Another group of kids

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This is what i call Multi-tasking!!

Balance your weight with one leg

Row the boat with the other leg

Fish with both hands

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Young Girl selling water-lily @ Floating Market

This floating market is definitely more authentic than the touristy one in Bangkok

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Never knew that Water-Lily is so fragrance (light & refreshing).

It is amazing that something grow out of the dirty mud can be so pure and untainted.
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Another Leg-Rower

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Another One...

As you can see, I am fascinated by their rowing ability.

I can hardly balance myself with 2 legs on the boat.
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Village on Inle Lake

The water was calm and clear.

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Reflection of Boon

(In one of the handicraft shops)

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A kinda of Lalang?

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Puppet Monks

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Ruins around Inle Lake
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Closeup

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Stupas
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Stupas
(I have never seen so many stupas in my life)
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New & Old Stupas
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Glittering Stupas
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Reflection of Stupas
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Monastery on the Lake
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Floating Garden
Yes. They grow tomatos and other vegetables on the lake.
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Sunset @ Inle Lake
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Jumping Cat Monastery

Sun-bathing
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The next day after the boat trip, we just cycled around aimlessly.
It was quite a nice experience.


Small House
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Reflection
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Boy playing alone

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