La principal atracción en Nyaung Shwe consiste en dar un paseo en barca por el lago, y el traslado desde Inthein, a pesar de durar una hora, nos supo a poco.
Pasar un día en la barca de un lado a otro del lago Inle cuesta unos 15€, llevando como máximo a cinco personas. Nosotr@s decidimos ir sol@s porque nuestr@s compañer@s del trek querían hacerlo al día siguiente, y nos dio pereza.
Nuestro barquero nos llevó a todas las tiendas de artesanía local habidas y por haber en los distintos pueblos flotantes hasta que le dijimos que ya habíamos visto bastante. Plata, textil, sombrillas de papel, sombreros de bambú, talla en madera, seda... aquello no se acababa nunca.
Cuando el barquero comprendió que no íbamos a comprar nada nos llevó a ver los jardines flotantes. Es muy impresionante ver tomateras en medio de un lago, creciendo sobre lechos de jacintos. La cosecha se hace en barco, en unas canoas estrechitas y muy largas que parece que van a volcar en un momento pero nunca lo hacen.
Después de comer en un restaurante flotante frente a un templo dotado de barcas para las procesiones fuimos al monasterio de los gatos saltarines. Según la guía los monjes entrenan a lo gatos para saltar por pequeños aros, pero en realidad, desde que murió el viejo monje que los adiestraba los gatos solamente están ahí, sin saltar.
Tras el chasco del monasterio le dijimos al barquero que lo que queríamos era estar tranquilamente en su barca y ver el atardecer. El hombre se paró en medio del lago y nos dejó charlar mientras se fumaba unos cigarrillos y caía el sol entre las montañas.
The main attraction in Nyaung Shwe is going for a ride in the longtail boats through the lake, and coming from Inthein by boat, despite lasting one hour, was not enough for us.
Spending a day in boat going from one place to another in the Inle Lake, costs around 15€, carrying as many as five people. We decided to do it alone, because our friends from the trek wanted to do it the day after, and we were tired and lazy.
Our boatman took us to all the local craft shops that you could imagine in the different floating villages, until we told him that we had seen enough. Silver, textiles, paper umbrellas, bamboo hats, wood carving, silk.. It seemed that it would never end.
When the boatman understood that we were not going to buy anything he took us to the floating gardens. It is very impressive to see the tomato plants in the middle of a lake, growing on top of bushes of hyacints. The harvest is done on boats, in narrow and long canoes that look off balance and ready to turn around, but they never do it.
After eating in a floating restaurant in front of a temple that had special boats for ceremonies we went to the Jumping Cats Monastery. According to the guide, the monks train the cats to jump through little hoops, but the truth is that since the old monk who taught them died, the cats are simply there, without jumping.
After the monastery's dissappointment, we told the boatman that we wanted was just to relax in the boat and watch the sunset. The man stopped in the middle of the lake and he let us chat while he smoked some cigarrettes and the sun went down behind the mountains.
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