BURMESE BALLET
I took this photo ten years ago in Burma’s Inle Lake. It was five in the afternoon, and the sun was just getting into that narrow-angle photographers like so much. I heard about Inle Lake from a friend who came back the year before full of stories about the people who spend their entire time on the lake – literally.
When I first saw this particular fisherman, I thought to myself, “hey, this is easy,” just row – stress-free – in the pleasant afternoon, pick up your net, take out the fish, row back. Simple.
Then I realized this probably wasn’t so easy, after-all.
Homework
Try the following at home (just make sure to have proper medical coverage before you do);
- Balance yourself on your left leg.
- Grab a long two-by-four oar made of hard and heavy Teak wood and jam it between your right armpit and your leg (not the left leg on which you stand, the other left).
- Stretch.
- With your two free hands try to untangle a fish net.
- Try not to fall and break something expensive – like your spine.
Now try to do all of the above while standing on the edge of a small dingy while rowing.
Easy?
Well, easy to the folks down at Inle Lake in Southeastern Burma. The lake is a broad and shallow body of water. Somewhere between a lake and a swamp. With an average depth of only four meters (13’) and lined with water grass, Inle hosts a whole eco-system of endemic fish, birds, and people – The Intha. Self-sufficient farmers, the Intha tribe live, work, trade, fish, farm and commute on the placid waters of the lake. They build their simple wood or woven bamboo houses on stilts anchored to the muddy floor of the lake and grow their crops on floating platforms.
With a small dose of imagination (and perhaps a helping of some mind enhancing chemicals) their floating villages may resemble Venice with “canals”, water taxis and floating markets. Only here you wouldn’t find any floods as the whole community rises and falls with the lake’s changing water table.
Back to Inle
I stayed in Inle Lake (perched in a wooden floating lodge) for the next two days, sailed all around and took hundreds of photos. I’m determined to return to the place. Expect more “Inle posts” in the future.
Have you been to Inle Lake?
What were your most memorable moments?