Boats from ‘Oriental Ballooning’ picked up our group of ten from the hotel’s jetty at 05:15 and transferred us in darkness to the launch zone about six kilometres away.
On arrival we met Nick and Bill the two pilots of the hot air balloons and after an initial briefing in the early dawn light we had a light breakfast with coffees while the team of local Myanmar employees prepared the balloons. Nick and Bill are Englishmen both in their 50s we’d guess who spend half the year ballooning in Tuscany and half the year here in Myanmar. The team of assistants they employ are all young Inle Lake men who are well trained and have specific roles to play in the preparation, pursuit and recovery of the balloon. So highly are their combined skills valued that Oriental Ballooning pay them for the whole year even though they only operate for half the year.
Large electric fans were used to fill the balloons and then the propane burners were operated to heat the air to reach neutral buoyancy and at that point, the four of us quickly climbed into our balloon and together with Nick our pilot we lifted off. The all up weight being lifted was around 1200 kg.
We ascended in the early morning light to around 200 m and the scene below was magnificent as we slowly and silently drifted out across the lake. As there are so many people living in stilt houses on the lake it means that water craft are the principal means of transport. The scene from above is a complex network of channels and interconnecting canals somewhat like an Asian and agricultural version of Venice!
The stillness of the morning was occasionally interrupted by a five to ten second roar of the propane burner as Nick adjusted our height in order to catch the breeze which would carry us in the desired northerly direction.
Below us was the patchwork of floating farms and gardens that are just one of the reasons that Inle Lake is a famous landmark in Myanmar. As we manoeuvred northwards, one part of the support team was seen below with two boats holding a wooden platform for supporting our gondola in case of a forced landing out on the water. This didn’t occur thankfully and after we’d spent a good deal of time observing and photographing the spectacular view including the three other hot air balloons, we ascended to about 500 m at which height our speed across the ground was about 12 knots.
As we neared the northern lake township of Nyaung Shwe we descended again and cruised across the tops of homes, hotels, temples and the main canal which was busy with boat traffic moving frantically in both directions.
As an hour and a quarter had now passed, Nick was planning our landing which entailed communicating with his land crew in preparation. He was aware of a very suitable dry paddock close to an accessible road and right on cue we commenced final descent and dropped to make a perfect touchdown. The ground team were there to grasp the gondola until the balloon deflated enough to be stable.
Once all was under control we had a glass of bubbly and chatted with Nick letting him know what a fabulous time we’d had. We then were taken back to the canal for a return boat ride to our hotel and a second attempt at breakfast.
The remainder of the morning was then spent back on the water visiting the landmark Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda. This relatively recent structure is famous for its five small Buddhas that take place of prominence at the centre of the shrine. These five Buddhas are unrecognizable because they are now under innumerable layers of gold leaf now looking more like golden Easter eggs! During Inle Lake’s most important religious festival in September four of these golden covered Buddhas are paddled around the lake’s villages by teams of leg rowers in a ceremonial gold painted hamsa bird barge.
In the market outside the pagoda we saw souvenirs decorated with tigers’ teeth but were assured by our guide that the hunting of tigers is now illegal and these teeth were spoils from an earlier age!
We then visited a silversmith where craftspeople were working on making fine silverware jewellery in poorly lit and cramped conditions. After quite a deal of haggling we bought a couple of nice souvenir items.
Silversmith at work
Our next visitation was to an umbrella factory making traditional Burmese umbrellas and parasols. The first step in the manufacturing process is to make the paper covering and this was done using a crushed wood pulp with the fibres dried on mesh screens and then folded onto a bamboo frame. There was a wood-turner operating an ancient foot activated lathe making the umbrella handles and others doing the decorative work such as painting and waterproofing. In a souvenir shop nearby I found an exquisitely carved solid teak pig and after some keen bargaining, acquired it for what I considered a very reasonable price.
Of considerable interest to us was our next encounter with four women from the Padaung ethnic minority. These women are well known for wearing brass neck rings which cause a significant extension of the neck partly by way of depressing the women’s shoulders. The reason they do this is uncertain but it seems most likely that the long neck is seen as a sign of beauty. The brass rings are heavy weighing up to two kilograms and are seldom removed. The women were happy to be photographed and were grateful when we offered them a small tip for the photo-opportunity. As a visible clash of the new and the old, we were amused to see one of the women with the neck rings checking something on her iPhone!
We then ventured ten or more kilometres up a narrow stream to visit the township of Indein where we had a mid-afternoon lunch break.
Women selling scarves in Indein
A further highlight of the day occurred when, after lunch we walked into the bamboo forest away from the stream and encountered a multitude of 15th century ruins of pagodas and stupas. Some were overgrown by banyan trees and vines but the scene gave us the impression that it was straight out of an Indiana Jones movie set. Despite the general decay of many of the structures, most still had visible external sculptures and statues and with some, even Buddhas were seen inside partially collapsed brickwork.
As was the case yesterday, rain commenced at around 16:00 so it was decided to pack up for the day and head for our hotel. We did this by taking a route via a section of the floating gardens where we observed big areas of vegetable growing on floating rafts of reeds and water-weeds bound by silt and mud from the lake’s bed. The rafts are anchored with large bamboo poles and the gardens are in neat rows so the owners can move between them in their boats. The main crop by far is tomatoes but melons, cucumbers, taro and beans are also plentiful. It reminded us in many ways of Lake Titicaca.
Fishing boat
Tomorrow we intend to travel much further southwards down the lake to visit the narrower gorge section where a number of isolated communities are located and the density of tourists is likely to be much lower.