The Five-Day Market – All of the villages around the lake have their own daily markets. Each day, the Five-Day Market moves to a different village and for one day the array of fresh, lake-grown fruits and vegetables, fresh fish, and other household goods greatly expands in that village, attracting residents from other villages around the lake. We encounter the market in the town of Inlein.

Lake-side Crafts – different villages are known for particular crafts they specialize in. Boating around the lake, we stop in to see silversmithing, weaving, cheroot making, and boat building.

Silversmithing — Extracting the silver ore from rock is done at extremely high temperatures at a facility away from the lake. The small shop on stilts we visit starts the process with impure silver ore and heats it in a small cauldron to a high temperature to burn off the impurities. When it is 95% pure silver, the molten ore is poured into a mold and cooled to harden into a small ingot, which is then pounded, cut, and shaped into various decorative pieces.

Weaving — Lotus fiber yields a locally-produced thread that is woven either alone or in combination with silk to produce fabric for scarves. The fiber is pulled from a lotus stem, twisted together, and spun into a tough thread for weaving. In this shop, the weavers work on old-fashioned floor looms.

Cheroot Making — the Cheroot is a small, mild, and sometimes flavored cigar, smoked by men and women in this area. Small factories along the lake wrap the tobacco in a cheroot leaf, adding flavoring at the end of the process.

Boatbuilding — the longboats are the basis for transportation around the lake, and many of them are built by boat builders on the lake. Long teak planks are cut on site, bent to fit the boat’s frame, and then pegged to the frame. Spaces between the planks are caulked with an acacia sap and then the whole boat is painted. Repainting is done every two years.

Home Visit for Lunch — We are hosted for lunch by a family that lives on the lake. We are warmly welcomed. Their home is beautiful, an elegant table is set for us and the lunch is a feast of local specialties.

A Lakeside Temple Visit — Phaung Daw Oo pagoda is the holiest religious shrine in southern Shan State. Five gold Buddhas sit at the center of the pagoda, so thick with applied gold leaf that they now resemble blobs. The number five has special meaning in Buddhism — it represents the five lives of the Buddha (of which he is currently in life four). Legend has it that the five gold Buddhas were lost in the lake when the ship sunk in a storm. Only four were recovered with the ship. When everyone returned to the temple, the fifth was sitting there. As a result, every year now, four get transported around the lake and the fifth remains in the temple.

Jumping Cats No More — the Nga Phe Chaung (Jumping Cats) monastery was home to an older monk who had trained the resident cats to jump through hoops. When the monk passed on to his next life, the cats went back to being diffident cats. Our leader – Chit – uses the painted panels around the monastery to walk us through the life of the Buddha.

Temple of a Thousand Stupas — Alongside the covered walkway leading up from the town of Inthein to the Shwe Inn Thein pagoda, there is a ruined temple – Nyaung Ohak – with signs of ornate decorations. Further up the hill is a collection of 1,054 stupas, several of which are under repair.

Sunset on Inle Lake — On the way back to our hotel we pass lake farmers finishing up their work for the day. The sun is slipping down behind the mountains across the lake, creating a fiery tint as the sky darkens. Another day, another glorious sunset!