Inle Lake...Again

Just a quick wrap-up on my second visit to Nyaungshwe. For the most part, Karen and I were unrelentingly lazy. Once she had recovered her appetite, we spent a fair amount of time at the Golden Kite, sampling their pizzas (try the bolognese, you'll love it), but nothing much more strenuous than that.

Canoe trip at Inle Lake

We did get out on the lake for a morning, after bumping heads with the longboat mafia. We were looking to do a half day trip, and thought that should entail some sort of discount. No such luck. It was 9000 kyat regardless. When we finally realized there was no way around it, we even ended up with the same guy who had first approached us. Apparently he was next in the queue, and that was that. They've got a whole system going there, so don't put too much effort into trying to get around it, as unless you're a whole lot better than us, you won't.

Hard bargaining at the fish market

We did take an evening canoe trip with Jay and Emma, which wasn't so awfully exciting, but still manages to be a nice way to wile away a few hours. Slower, and minus the hammering of a one cylinder diesel engine, it's actually a nice switch. And our paddler did get us within feet of a small herd of water buffalo, which made for some great photos. It was during the canoe trip that my personal pet peeve peaked. Ducks. Ducks everywhere. Except on the menus of any restaurants in the area. You can have all the stringy free range chicken you want, but a nice, fat, tasty duck? Not a chance. I haven't figured it out, and forgot to ask anyone while we were there, so if anyone has any idea why they aren't on the menu in the Inle area, I'm all ears.

Karen canoeing in reverse

And that was pretty much it for Inle. Still my favorite town in Myanmar.

Karen on Inle Lake