Nov 28, The lake again. My favourite thing.

I hired a long boat on my own this time so I could go to a few other places I'd heard about.

Here the boats are at the jetty. The seats are wooden and are like lawn chairs. They are removable so the boats can also be used to haul cargo. The seats are for tourists usually taking no more than 5 people. The locals pile in and sit on the cargo or the floor when they go.

This boat has so much seaweed it is barely above water in the middle.

The dugout canoes are also used for cargo. This one is full of white bags.


A view of the floating gardens where you can see plants in rows in the water. Those rows are made of seaweed and dirt from the bottom and they are floating. They are also the habitat for many water plants which the people also use but they plant vegetable crops on top. They tend and harvest the gardens all by boat. It seemed we went miles to get through it.

Side view of a row of tomatoes.

Did I mention I love these hills. Forget stupas, Lake Inle is now "Burma" to me.

I especially wanted to see this place where a local woman has set up a purebred Burmese cat breeding program to reestablish the breed again here. To do that she is bringing purebred cats in from other countries.

Here we are in the dry season enclosure. I bent over to pat one and this big one jumped on my back. They are very personable and friendly.

This is their area for night time or in the rainy season.

This is their exercise island. They are also in the process of building a mating house for them.

It is an amazing project for the cats but also painfully obvious that the cats have a much nicer home than many of the population.

However, in their defense they do contribute lots to their environment too. They have a water purification system and provide clean drinking water to their village. They are also setting up organic gardens and will be teaching that methodology to the villagers too.

Aside from all that they have a gourmet organic restaurant catering to tourists.

If you want to see it just ask the driver for the Burmese cat place.

Summer rice fields.

After the cat place I went walking in another village.

Here is a cultivator for rice fields.

A rice field close up and personal.

A farm with rice field.

I know.... stupas again! These ones are white.

The long neck people. The older one on the left is wearing about 35 pounds of metal. She started when she was 9 years old. The young ones now start with 5 rings when they are 15 or16 and add more rings every 5 years.

My boat driver is on the right.

A view in the canal on the way home.

This place is just naturally beautiful.

More life on the canal.