Day 51 - 54 Legs, Lakes and Orange Umbrellas

It was another early start and armed with our packed breakfast and a few packets of the local tamarind pod sweets (The Taramind Tree produces pod like fruit, which is very sweet and tasty. Also good for indigestion, but too much can act as a laxative!) to keep us going, our taxi driver took us to Bagan Airport for our journey north east to Inle Lake and the home of the famous 'Leg Rowing' Fishermen. We persuaded him to drive us around Old Bagan town on the way, passing many more temples and we finally arrived at the extremely small Bagan Airport. The children were once again in a state of 'Aeroplane' excitement and the usual threats of abandoning them or exchanging them for a couple of goats and a mangostine, didn't carry any weight! ............... at one stage Freddie was on the rollers following the luggage into the x-ray machine, which in front of surly Burmese Officials was probably not the best move! ......... but that was all I could think of doing to keep him quite!! We were in desperate need of a coffee after eventually getting through immigration, but this involved Jo having to go back out of immigration to meet a lady with a flask of hot water and a 3in1 Nescafe coffee sachet!! .................... eat your heart out 'Cafe Nero'!

We eventually took off, ......... with all the children, .......... and as I did not have the pleasure of sitting next to Fred (my 9 year old) on the plane, both myself and other surrounding passengers were content that this fight would be successful and that nothing was likely to fall off the plane, such as wings or engines and that we were not about to be imminently chopped into small pieces by a loose flying propeller blade!! ...................... However, those sitting across the isle from us were not assured of such a successful mission!!

Amazingly the Plane was 25 minutes ahead of schedule and I think the pilots worked on the same basis as the 'refuse collectors' over in England, that the sooner they get finished the sooner they get home!

We landed, successfully, at Inle Lake Airport and hadn't quite appreciated that out Hotel was some distance away. Approximately 50 minutes by taxi, followed by an hour by boat!!! ............. Wow!! ..... I was hoping for a 10 minute jaunt down the road and a hot shower!! - Not only that, but as with Hotel prices in Yangon, the taxi fares had risen dramatically and were much greater than the Lonely Planet guide had suggested, .... about 400% greater! In a country where the only money you had was what was in your pocket, this was not good news. Although we tried to find another mode of transport after getting cross with the head honcho of the taxi monopoly for ripping us off, after 45 minutes, it was clear that everything went through him!! .... there was clearly no alternative but to eat humble pie and go in his 'best' car with his brother-in-law driving us. ............. mmmmmmh!!

It was a pleasant journey driving through the countryside, villages and towns, passing different landscapes, from fertile rice fields to undulating forests and passing large oxen pulling carts and pony and traps full of bamboo as well as people. We eventually arrive at the Town of Nyaungshwe, although on entering the Town we have to stop at a small Government Office to pay to enter the Inle Lake Zone. ...... more dollars!! Our taxi driver informs us that we have to pay $5.00 for adults but the children will be free, but when we get to the desk, the officious looking female Burmese Government Official, insists that we pay for each of the children. As it is getting closer to the point of running out of money before we actually reach our destination, every dollar now becomes extremely important and worth fighting for!! However, as tempers are getting high and Jo reluctantly hands over the $25.00, I manage to get her back in to the Taxi before she is arrested! ....... However, our friendly Taxi driver states that we should have asked to see the official government paperwork to show that children have to pay, but he emphasises that he cannot be seen to be getting involved or his life could be made difficult. With this ammunition in tow and feeling slightly wounded, it now becomes a huge matter of principle and we ask him to turn around and head back to the government kiosk. I am by now getting a little fed up with the Burmese way of seemingly extorting money out of tourists, for what appears to be, not a lot in return, when the country makes it so difficult for tourists to get hold of money in the first place. The Taxi pulls up, back at the road kiosk and I re-approach our officious uniformed lady and in an even more officious way, insist on seeing the Government paperwork that states children have to be charged to enter the town. As expected there is no paperwork evident and she informs me that her boss has the only copy. .. I insist on meeting her boss, so that he can show me the respective paperwork, but this, apparently, is not possible. .......... with an invisible sigh of relief,.... as I had visions of her Boss resembling Al Paccino in 'Scarface', ..... I explain, in no uncertain terms, that I am not leaving until she refunds the charge for the two younger children, but she flatly refuses ...... and I refuse to leave. ........ It's a Mexican Stand-off!! ................ It was like a scene from 'The Good The Bad and The Ugly' ........... Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef! ... I was The Good, she was The Bad ................ and things were about to get Ugly!! .................. Eventually, after a battle of eye contact, she puts $5.00 on the counter, saying she will refund the youngest child, ........... and with a visible chink now in her armour, I insist that unless she can provide a copy of the government paperwork we are not leaving until she refunds both younger children! .............. At this time the discussion is getting very heated and the Burmese language does sound very sharp when it's angry!! .... in the back of my mind I am now assuming at least 10 years behind bars in the darkness of a Burmese prison, ....... House arrest is out of the question as I don't have one! .. but I am placing my faith in the posters I have seen around various towns stating 'We look after tourists' .......................... What exactly 'look after' means in Burma, I was possibly about to find out!! ......... but it was now principle and a battle of wills! ..... ..... 'play it cool Trig, .... play it cool' I was thinking to myself, ... (but don't lean against the bar!!) ..... and staring directly into her eyes, I refused to move! .................. so $10.00 it is!! ... could be today, could be tomorrow! ........ Eventually she slaps down $10.00 on the counter, with a look of complete disdain, whilst our taxi driver has a huge hidden smile and with a sharp 'THANK YOU!' we go on our merry way, safe in the knowledge we have food for another day!! .... and the taxi driver and some of the locals having had at least $10.00 worth of entertainment! ................ However, principles and naivety can sometimes run hand in hand, as our officious young government employee now has all my detailed passport information and somehow, getting out of Inle Lake might be a little more difficult than getting in!! ......... and, as with every great spy movie, I now needed to keep my eyes open, especially at hotels and cafe's ......... to see who was watching me!!! ...... Paranoia was already setting in!! ................... It does bring to mind a popular National joke in Myanmar that has been doing the rounds in the streets of Yangon: - "George Orwell wrote not one novel about Burma, but three: Burmese Days, Animal Farm and 1984. It would be funny if only it wasn't so poignantly true."

We eventually get dropped off at the pier to get a boat to our Hotel and our friendly boatman negotiates a good deal for us to have one of his boats for the day at a reduced rate so that we can explore the huge lake and hundreds of inlets in and around the floating villages. We also learn that the only way to reach our Hotel is by water and the only way to go anywhere from the hotel is by water and the boat taxis are not cheap!!!

Leg Rowing Fishermen out on the Lake and 'Egrets' galore.

Inle Lake is within 'Shan State' which is vast and untamed, with rebel groups, warlords and drug dealers living in its mysterious mountains, which remain largely unexplored. The Lake itself, hemmed in by mountains and populated by floating friendly communities, is classed as one of the most beautiful lakes in South East Asia, a picture of rural tranquility, remote, lush, green and fertile. Amazingly the Lake is situated 875m above sea level and is nearly 100km, north to south but only 5km wide and there are more than 200 villages on or around it, the local people of whom are mostly known as the 'Intha People'. On board our traditional boat complete with chairs and orange umbrellas, we headed out of town along the initial inlet, passing homes, businesses and many trading boats. It soon opened up and revealed a huge and beautiful expanse of water, against a backdrop of mountains and you could see why Inle Lake was classed as such a beautiful area.

Orange Umbrellas and Chinese Egrets

We were staying in two very nice little chalets, perched on stilts above the murky brown water of the Lake inlets, the tide of which was extremely low at the moment and during high tide would normally be a couple of feet from the balcony. The villagers rely on their gardens to harvest tomatoes, which are their main crop and as all of the gardens are literally floating on the water, the tides don't affect the crop. The ripe red tomatoes are consumed locally with thousands of green tomatoes being transported to Yangon and Mandalay, ripening on the way. The floating gardens have all been constructed by the local people and they are dense enough to walk on, your feet sinking in the thick green matting as you cautiously move along!

We were taken to a local restaurant for lunch, the food of which was very palatable and the usual chicken curry was on the menu, which the children were all getting used to, and actually requesting now at most eating houses. As we would be boat-less for the next two days, we needed to stock up on food supplies so one of the local men took Harry, Fred and I across a very ropey bridge to the local shop, ............. well it was somebody's house, with a shop at the rear and we eventually completed our food/snack list as we had left Jo and Imogen wandering around a small 'Silver' factory, although the language barrier made the shopping interesting! Luckily one local boy had accompanied us to help with translation! We also noted that every village had its own large Monastery, with many Monks to feed, but as with most places we visited, the Buddhist Monks were looked after very well by the local people.

Back at the stilted chalets we chilled out watching the sun set across the inlet, with the last of the work boats heading home before dark ..................... usually enjoyed with a couple of sundowners!!

View from the chalet balcony at sunset.

The next couple of days we spent catching up on school work and diaries with a table set out on the balcony outside the lounge which worked very well. We would watch the boats and 'leg rowing' fishermen go by as the very friendly Manageress looked after us. She was a lovely lady who was very pleased to see the children, as she had two adopted children of her own, but as she and her husband worked from 5am to midnight at the Hotel seven days a week, she could only get back to see them once a month, when she took a couple of days off. The children stayed with her mother so they could attend a good school, the youngest being 8 years old, the same as Imogen.

Tying the boats up at sundown

We enjoyed our short stay at Inle Lake, which was a complete contrast to both Bagan and Yangon and early on the morning of day 54, we were picked up by our friendly boatman and taken back across the Lake, to find our boat owner had organised a bus, just for us! to take us to the Airport for our flight back to Yangon. The children were very excited to have their own bus, but amazingly with 19 spare seats on the bus for just 5 of us, the children still insisted on sitting on our laps for most of the trip! ............... so not as comfortable as one would have hoped, but very endearing!

A Bus just for us!

We managed to get out of Inle Lake, without difficulty, ............ No stopping at 'Check Point Charlie!' although as we got to the Airport on went through customs, Jo did get rather worried as they appeared to take my passport to one side for a while!! ................. maybe I was about to be 'looked after'!! ..................... but we were eventually let through, without a fight and the flight back to Yangon was short and succesful.

Back in Yangon, we had to make a stop at our 'Black Market' money man in Scot Market to make sure we had enough local currency to get through our last day and night in Yangon, where we managed to book a little better accomodation as they reluctantly agreed to allow payment by credit card! ............. This wasn't by swiping the card through a machine, this involved me filling out a form with all my credit card details, addresses and security numbers on!!!! which would then be faxed over to my bank, who would then facilitate payment and confirm to me via email!! ................. wow!! ............... what a palarva! a bit worried about whose hands that piece of paper might fall in...... but no choice!

Yangon was as busy as ever and we bartered some fresh fruit for lunch and went up to the 'sky' bar for a panoramic view of the city at sunset, washed down with a cuople of very small cocktails!! and on the way back to the Hotel we went past Aung San Suu Kyi's house which was heavily guarded and our taxi driver was very reluctant to stop as he would be pulled over and questioned.

Fresh street vegatables and Mangos

Jo bartering for a fruit lunch.

Yangon at dusk ................... and oh dear ................. I think they are onto us!!!!! Well it looks like we might not be leaving Myanmar after all!!!





Myanmar is a country going through change and hopefully that change will be for the better, but local people still fear that it might all fall down like a pack of cards very soon. In the days before military rule, simple things such as having people over for dinner and staying over was normal behaviour. However, with the Military Government, LORC (Law and Order Restoration Council) was established and every person now had to be back in their homes by 9pm!!, or had to report to LORC their whereabouts and frequent checks would be undertaken. Failure to 'report the guest list' could result in a fine or a prison sentance for both the guest and the host! Nobody could go away for the night from his own home without informing the local LORC as well as the LORC of the place he will be staying. This is one of the things that has now been relaxed with the current political changes happening in the country which includes the recent election and swearing in of Aung San Suu Kyi into Parliament but there is still a long way to go and local people are hoping that they will feel a little more secure if these changes can last and continue through to 2015 - it will take this long to enable foreign investment to flow in as currently the infrastructure to allow foreign ownership for longer than the length of a parliament session is not there.