On our way out of Kalaw we stopped at the railway station,
not really sure why as the only thing of note were the scales which had been
made in Birmingham and as with all our railway sightings there was no sign of
any trains. We also walked round another
market, beautiful fruit and veg and a lady selling my pet hate of sticky rice.
Our drive to the Inle Lake took us through some absolutely
glorious countryside, it reminded us of Tuscany but without the cypress trees.
About 70% of the population still work the land and we passed many farm workers going about their
business. I finally got my ride in an ox cart – it was about the only form
of transport we hadn’t yet used and I’d been teasing Nylon about it, so as we
were stopped to look at a tea plantation an ox cart duly came along the road so
Nylon just asked the guy if I could have a ride – Ian didn’t get a photo but maybe
one of the group did.
We saw a lot of bee hives (Alastair - very simple design but nowhere near as photogenic as your hives)
Most of these were snaps through the coach window so not very
clear
After about 2 hours we reached Pindaya Caves. It’s a stiff walk up the 200 step pathway but,
luckily for us, there was an elevator (amazing just how much thought and money
goes into anything connected with their beloved Buddha).
The spider at the entrance recalls the legend of the giant
spider that captured 7 princesses who were bathing in a nearby lake and imprisoned
them in a cave. A prince from Inle Lake
bravely battled the outsized arachnid shooting it with a single, deadly arrow
(except I forgot to photograph the prince).
The view from the top was pretty amazing too.
The caves are filled with some 8,000 Buddha statues, an astonishing
sight, dating from the 1700s they come in all shapes and sizes. Considerably more impressive than the cave we saw on the Mekong River in Laos earlier this year.
To reach this little Meditation Cave you had to crawl through a small tunnel less than 1m x 1m - needless to say Ian didn't and I did but was worried I'd get stuck in it.
We then had lunch in a lovely lakeside restaurant, a sister
restaurant to the Green Elephant in Mandalay which had an amazing display of carnivorous pitcher plants (Nepenthes or "Monkey Cups")
Another 1 1/2 hours or so in the coach and we reached Nyaung
Shwe where we boarded our little dragon boats that would ferry us around for
the next couple of days. The boats seat
5 people in one line, but they have proper little wooden chairs, seat pads,
life jackets, blankets, umbrellas – all mod cons. And we rotated our position after each stop
so that no one was stuck either at the front (quite chilly) or at the back (very noisy).
A fairly wide canal runs from Nyaung Shwe out to the actual
lake and as soon as we were on “open water” we saw the famous Intha one legged rowers, fishermen so called for their curious habit of locking one leg around an oar and using it to propel themselves along.
They also do amazing tricks with their crab fish nets.
Over the course of the next 3 days I would take some 500 pictures of these fishermen in an attempt to get the perfect shot - I didn't!
The sun had almost set as we reached our hotel for the
next 2 nights, the Pristine Lotus Spa Resort and it was so lovely. The rooms are built like little wooden boats
with the prows sticking out over water.
And inside, wow
Yes, that really is a boat shaped bath in the bedroom but neither of us used it as the shower was easier.