Travel Tuesday - The Big Trip, Part V - Wanderlust Travel Consultants

This past week’s highlight was our time in Inle Lake (still in Myanmar).

Imagine the movie Waterworld…it is like that but entertaining. The homes and villages surrounding the lake are built on stilts over the water, as was our hotel room. The fishermen have the most unique method of fishing. A lone fisherman stands on one end of a long flat boat, balancing on one leg, placing his nets in the water with his hands while holding an oar and rowing with his other leg. A really extraordinary sight.

We spent 2 days taxiing on the water to villages, crafts makers, temples and a monastery (including a stop with some super friendly long necked ladies). The most interesting stop was the Indein Pagoda, only uncovered and made available to visitors in recent years. It is a spectacular collection of 17th and 18th century skinny stupas. Some had been reconstructed, many had not. Seeing row after row of stupas as we ventured around the compound practically by ourselves was a truly memorable experience.

After Inle Lake it was time for a vacation from our vacation at Ngapali Beach. A beautiful location on the Bay of Bengal. As usual, we found the unusual here. Natural sand art made by the local crabs. The sand bubbler crab is a species native to the tropical Indo-Pacific part of the world. The little sand balls they create while searching for food form remarkable images in the sand, it is like Crab Spin Art.

Next stop….Vietnam!