Our Inle Lake boat tour was so packed I’ve had to split it into two articles. This is the afternoon part.
After a fresh lake fish for lunch we were back on the boat and making way to our next workshop visit. This time it was a boatyard and cheroot (a type of cigarette) factory. After riding around in the longtail boat all day it was quite interesting to hear about how they are made. There’s a lot of time and effort in every one and the local boatmakers are very proud of their work. The cheroot factory was just a load of women sat in a room rolling the leaf covered cigarettes but with neither of us wanting to sample one it was a bit pointless!
From the boatyard it was time to hit up the village of Indein. I had read beforehand that a visit here is a bit out of the way but well worth it. It took about 25 minutes cruising up a small river which fed into the southwest corner of the lake to reach our destination. Once there time was a bit tight so we only had about an hour to explore. There are some ruins around so we set off to check. We walked through the village and spied some small ruined towers atop a steep hill. A small girl approached us, “You want to see temple?”. As quick as that we had a guide to the top, despite it not being too hard to find. We clambered the rocky path up to some cool hilltop ruins and I gave the girl a little cash for her effort.
There was another temple on a higher nearby hill so after getting some pics we decided to head up that hill – hopefully it would be the main temple in the village. Unfortunately it only led us to a locked gate. There was a pretty cool creepy dead forest on the other side of the hill though…
Running short on time we had to get back to the boat for our next stop. On the way there appeared to be a lot more going on at the opposite end of the village to where we explored – perhaps we missed something?
The sun was low in the sky as we travelled onward but there was only a little left to see. Our final proper stop was the ‘Temple of the Jumping Cat’: a big floating temple in the middle of the lake where the namesake cat no longer jumps. Luckily for us (Ali mainly) there was a lot of regular cats hanging around with the tourists here. We tried to find the story of the temple’s name but could only find info on the teachings of Bhudda – so selfish for a temple!
The Jumping Cat Temple was our last stop but there was still one more event to enjoy. As we sailed back the sun cast a beautiful golden light across the lake. Close to home our guide cut the engines and we all sat in peace watching the fishermen finish up, silhouetted by the stunning sunset. A perfect end to a perfect day.
