Lake Inle

It took an overnight bus 16 hours to reach lake Inle. The seats were tiny. Hermann couldn’t actually sit forwards at all, so the locals let us have a double seat each, even though the bus was quite full. Sleep was impossible because the road was so bumpy – like head banging for 16 hours. Luckily there was no durian fruit on this bus. We arrived at the lake at 7am and spent the day recovering. The next day we took a boat trip around the lake, visiting the markets and stilt villages. Even the gardens and commercial tomato farms float on the lake. We saw many different hill tribes in the market but had to visit one particular tourist shop to see the Paduang (the ladies have 27 rings which elongate their necks). They were very friendly but it was a bit of a human zoo. The next day we took a private taxi to Bagan – the alternative travel options did not bear thinking about.