This morning saw us up at 5am to catch a plane to Heho and then a drive to Inle Lake. It has been a brilliant day and I have really enjoyed it. We spent most of the day on a boat going around the lake and seeing the local handicraft plus a couple of temples etc.

Inle lake is a magical place and I’m struggling to find the words to describe how lovely it was today. Our guide was a young fellow who had only been working as a tour guide for 12 months. His name was Ming and I think he has a bright future ahead of him. He took us to places that we werent supposed to go to just because we were interested including a local tea shop and ordered tea and snacks for all of us.

We saw paper making, a sliver workshop, an ironmongers, got up close with a leg rower, saw a cat jumping show, checked out some Burmese cats, saw the Karen people who usually live on the Burmese/Thai border and in between all of this we cruised the lake in our own outboard motor boat.

At one stage today I was sitting on the front of a paper making shop on the lake, looking out at the water and trying to think how I could share the experience on the blog. When it comes down to it, I cant. No photograph will give you the full experience of being here  as it is 2 dimensional and to truely experience Burma you need the sounds, smells and visuals… My photos really cant do this country justice.

I’m writing this from a hotel that is located on the side of the lake. Outside my room is one of the most beautiful views ever. It’s really peaceful here and i wish I could spend more time at Inle but alas – back to Yangon tomorrow.