After two days of trekking we arrived in Nyaungshwe, the closest town to Inle Lake. I haven't seen as many tourists since Bagan. But it's got a nice feel to it. We checked into the "Remeber Inn" where we found some really nice bungalow-type rooms with warm water and a fan for five USD. You don't need Aircon since it's pretty chilly at nights, though not as cold as Kalaw.

The very first thing I did after checking into my room was dropping my trekking clothes off at the reception for laundry. They were so dirty! Peter had already gone for a stroll in the meantime and met a Belgium lady we had last seen in Mandalay. Greet, a very fascinating doctor who had worked in Brasil for four or five year to combat TB and has now been working in a hospital in Bangladesh for the last three years. A very interesting person a nice, too.

So it was really good to see her again and we spent the rest of the day together. I discovered that Internet is available in Nyaungshwe but at 4.000 kyat/hour very expensive.

In the afternoon we went canoeing with a women called "Nie Nie Win" Who legpaddled us around the canals surrounding Nyaungshwe (2,000 kyat for the boat). That was actually very nice and relaxing and also a great photo-op as you can see on the side.

The funny thing about canoeing here is that people don't onlu use their arms to give the boat thrust but also their legs. It looks a bit strange but obviously it's pretty efficient. On the way back we stopped by a monastery where we met some extremely communicative monks who - even though they probably see a large number of visitors - were just so happy to have us there. They were funny.

On the second day in Nyaungshwe we did the second touristy thing to do here and hired a longboat from Nie Nie Wins brother for 7,000 kyat for the day. Later we found that we probably could have gotten it cheaper for around 5,000 to 6,000 kyat but well. Apparently the prices are higher if you get aboat the day before your trip. And it's considerable cheaper to do so on the morning of the day you want to do the trip, because the people owning the boats are more desperate to find someone who hires them.

The trip itself was interesting and is worth doing but doesn't count as a highlight of Myanmar for me. The lake is pretty shallow and you see a lot of villages on stilts, fishers etc. And of course you are being brought to a silversmith a blacksmith, a bamboo-hatter etc, so you can see that the comission-game is obviously in full swing. We also went to a five-day-market in a small village called Indein. These are markets that still cater mainly to the local population, unlike the floating market that apparently has become a 90 % tourist thing.

On the way back we made a stop at a silk-weaving factory. And for once I was really happy to get there. Beacause this was the first opportunity for me to buy the silk yarn I still owe Jennifer. And they had something even cooler: Yarn made out of Lotus plants. It's pretty rare and very expensive but it's definitely something she couldn't get in the States, so I hope she'll like it. I can't send it from Myanmar though since it would probably be seized by US customs because of the embargo.