Our time at Inle Lake was exciting from the very start, as we meandered through the 
mountains and stopped briefly at a family-owned paper making shop. They demonstrated how to make paper from tree bark, and decorated it with local flowers. Then, they showed us how the paper is used as the fabric for handmade umbrellas. It was astonishing how quickly one man can create an umbrella from nothing but wood and paper. They also made journals bound with bamboo, fans, and lanterns. Then, we were dropped off at the pier, where we carefully stepped into longboats and sat back for a windy ride to our resort.
Where the river was narrow, the water was brown and murky. Shops and homes lined the riverbank, and people bathed, collected fishnets, and played in the water. As the river widened into a lake, the water became blue and reflective, spotted with waterlilies and floating birds. Longboat fishermen delicately balanced on the tips of their boats, working calmly.
I couldn’t believe the beauty of our resort when we arrived. The whole complex is on stilts directly on the water. Each bungalow has a porch overlooking the lake, as well as windows that let in the view of the lake each morning—an unbelievable sight to wake up to.
Our first night, we walked a long way for dinner, and then relaxed on our own. In such a calm, quiet place, it only seemed appropriate to just sit and be still. The next day, we hired two boats to show us around the lake. Since Myanmar is so newly open to tourism, the boat drivers took us to places that were meant for tourists. The desire to preserve their rich culture from the new influx of tourists is understandable, and there seemed to be a silent agreement among the locals to do just that.
We saw a silk-weaving shop, where they showed us each step of the process and told us how certain designs, textures and shapes are created. Lotus silk is the most valuable fabric, because it is made from the strands inside the stem of a lotus flower. The strands are rolled into a thread, which is then dyed and woven. One scarf takes over 1,200 flowers to create. This form of weaving is unique to Inle Lake, and I was honored to be able to watch the process. Here is a video of a woman extracting and rolling the lotus fiber strands. It’s not my video, but it’s from the same shop.
We also got to see the creation of handmade, pure silver jewelry. They showed us how the metal is melted down, then rolled into logs which are shaved down to wire strands. A man was working meticulously on a silver chain. He hand linked and soldered each tiny link together. I was incredibly impressed, and actually ended up buying some earrings from the store—they’re my favorite purchase from Southeast Asia. The woman who sold them to me was so caring and maternal—she helped me put the earrings on and everything—which gives them even more value.
That evening, we rode back to the resort alongside a stunning sunset. We could see that it was raining up ahead, but it missed us, and instead we witnessed an absurdly picturesque rainbow above the mountains.