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| Famous leg-rowing at Inle. Looks like a LOT of balance to me! |
As we continued to cross the lake – all of a sudden, the clouds
parted, and the sun came out. Suba and I
were elated – not only were we significantly warmer, but the lake sparkled with
the sun, and everything lit up. As
Lonely Planet describes it, “Mountains tumble down towards the lakeshore,
blurring the distinction between heaven and earth.” It was absolutely breathtaking.
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| Playing with the cute cat although he did NOT jump for us... |
What is fascinating is the history of Inle. Essentially - thousands of years ago, a
Burmese King banned one tribe from "living on the land of
Myanmar." Like the true lawyers they were (which is perhaps why I
like them so much!) - they interpreted the King's words literally, and instead
of occupying "land" in Myanmar - they decided to occupy the waters of
Inle Lake. They built entire villages ON the Lake. Today, over 120,000 tribesmen and women live on
this lake. It was truly spectacular to witness. The people at Inle were
unforgettable. Never before had I seen
so many genuine, straight-from-the-heart smiles in such a short amount of time.
For reasons beyond my cynical mind, people here were always happy to see
me, always joyful in the present moment, and always waved as we passed by in
our boat.
We walked around floating markets where locals were selling
everything from Buddhist meditation items, to vegetables, to tourist t-shirts
to the pungent-smelling early catches of the day. We had a tour of a small silver shop and
learned about the process of how silver is made at Inle. We visited a weaving shop and watched women
weave silk, lotus flower, and cotton together for longyis and scarves. We went to an umbrella shop and learned how
the umbrella paper is made and visited the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda, situated in the middle of the lake. We passed the floating villages and saw the
floating gardens growing tomatoes and vegetables. We visited the jumping cat monastery where
monks have taught enlightened cats to
jump through hoops at high heights.
However, if you look at my pictures…you will notice that we were
thoroughly disappointed with the cats as they seemed to be basking in the sun
as oppose to jumping!
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| Aung Traditional Puppet Show Puppets!!! |
After our all-day trek on the lake, we
came back, and treated ourselves to a delicious dinner at our hostel. We stayed at the Queen’s Inn and the woman in
charge took great care of her customers.
I called her “Big Momma” because she reminded me of a Burmese Queen
Latifah in the movie Chicago. It was
very clear she ran the business and ran it well. We ordered (and devoured) her dried chili
pork, avocado salad, and potato and chicken curry. It was the best meal I had in Myanmar. Delicious!
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| My favorite puppet :) |
After dinner, we headed out to see the traditional Myanmar Puppet Show. I absolutely love puppets as their costumes always remind me of The King and I which to this day is still one of my favorite musicals and was anxious to see the show. On the way, we met a few travelers and convinced them to tag along with us to the Aung Traditional Puppet Show. We had a private performance by Mr. Aung who was a third-generation puppeteer. The performance and the puppets were great – but for me, the best part of the show was watching Mr. Aung behind the puppet’s he was directing.
Although he mentioned that the tradition of
puppets has largely lost popularity in Myanmar and is dwindling, his enthusiasm
and sincerity in his puppet performance showed me how much he appreciated the
art and made me appreciate it even more!
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