February 2016
Inle Lake, in eastern central Myanmar, is the second largest lake in Myanmar, and one of the highest, at almost 3000 feet. It’s really just a big puddle, with a depth not more than 12 feet, during the dry season, and up to 17-18 feet during the rainy season.
Its fame, and the reason it’s visited by so many tourists, is due to the unusual way in which the fishermen row their boats.
According to Wikipedia:
Local fishermen are known for practicing a distinctive rowing style which involves standing at the stern on one leg and wrapping the other leg around the oar. This unique style evolved out of necessity as the lake is covered by reeds and floating plants, making it difficult to see above them while sitting. Standing provides the rower with a view beyond the reeds. However, the leg rowing style is only practiced by the men. Women row in the customary style, using the oar with their hands, sitting cross legged at the stern.
Our hotel is in the little town of Nyaung Shwe, at the northern end of the lake, and a fair distance from it as there’s a large marshy area that floods in the wet season. We were keen to see the lake, so when we awoke on our first morning to yet another clear day, with promises of sun, we rented a couple of bicycles and set off down the road that would take us along east side of the lake.
We thought we might try to cycle right around the lake, a trip we’d heard might take 3 or 4 hours, and might be a little more strenuous, especially in the heat of the day, than we were ready – or fit - for.
The road was very quiet – almost no traffic – so we ambled along, making multiple stops for photographs. The first part of the ride was through the countryside.
Typical stilt houses made of woven mats, no glass in windows -
open and airy; often livestock - chickens, pigs - underneath
A gas station - gas sold by the litre
Loved the juxtaposition of wooden-wheeled cart and solar panel
One of the few vehicles we encountered on the road
After about an hour we got to Maing Thauk, a small settlement with a couple of places where you can get a drink or a meal. It’s also a place where you can hire a boatman to ferry you across the lake to Khaung Daing. That sounded like a good idea – better than trying to go around the lake, and more fun and interesting than retracing our steps. So we headed down to the little dock to ask about a ferry ride with bikes. That’s where we met Franco, a young French Canadian, who also wanted to cross the lake with his bike. But he wasn’t keen to pay the 8000 Kyats (around $9 Canadian) the boatman wanted for the trip. So we agreed to split it three ways and all go together.
Our boat, like so many of the small boats used throughout Southeast Asia, was a ‘long-tailed canoe’. They are very simple and basic craft, made of wood planks, long, narrow and shallow-drafted. They are propelled with oars, or gas motors mounted on the stern. The motors have very long shafts that project out well behind the boat. The propellers are quite shallow, which is necessary on a lake as shallow as this one, and teeming with plant life.
The boatman watched as we arranged our bikes and ourselves in the boat, distributing our weights as evenly as we could (these boats are not particularly ‘sea-worthy’). He was clearly keen to set off, make his fare, and hopefully collect another on the other side. He spoke no English, but the motors on these boats are anyway too loud to permit any kind of conversation.
The ride across the lake was wonderful. We saw lots of other boats, the famous fishermen with their legs wrapped around their oars (mostly just posing for tourists), farmers tending the many floating gardens, rickety pedestrian (and bicycle or motorcycle, if you dare) bridges across the lake, houses on stilts over the lake, and families going about their business.
We got to the other side of the lake, where a long dock pushed out past the reedy shoreline. The town on that side, Kaung Daing, was bigger than we'd anticipated. It wasn't a particularly pretty or photogenic town, but it was a good place for a drink and a snack.
From there we set off down the west side of the lake. The road was again quiet, and traveled mostly though a beautiful countryside of fields, forests and farms. And exceedingly photogenic.
Closer to town we saw a few interesting sights – a water buffalo bathing in the muddy river...
...and a couple of scary looking ‘bridges’ across the river. Amazingly, we have watched people ride motorcycles across bridges just like these....
We knew we were getting even closer to town when we started seeing more vehicles like this one, crammed with people and parcels. They were just as interested in us as we were in them.
What a wonderfult ride! Now what will we do tomorrow.....?
Note: for more info on cycling around Inle Lake go to:
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