Wednesday, February 12, 2014

A Burmese cat sanctuary……

I had read about this place, the Inthar Heritage House and so suggested we had lunch there…..it was in Inpawhon village close to the lotus weaving workshop we were visiting. It was set up by the
Inle Princess Resort, a hotel I had wished to book.  6 months prior to our visit it was fully booked! Not believing Tour Mandalay I made direct contact with the hotel…….indeed there was no room..





The cats have someone to entertain them…….and they have access to their own small island……..







 but some would rather be left alone to relax…...




this one looks very comfortable…….


and some were just curious but not participating!

upstairs there is a very small store……they do not accept donations for the upkeep of the cats…..just suggest you buy something from the store…..we did!!!



The place met my expectations….both in terms of the cats and in terms of the food! And the food was extremely reasonable in price.
……..our table…….overlooking the canal...
 the Buddha next door!
 …..spring onion dish….. delicious!
 chicken in coconut sauce……..


After lunch it was back on our longboat…….
and a last look at this great home…..


It was a delightful stop….with the best food we ate in Myanmar.  We can definitely recommend!



Finally we started to go back up to the north side of the lake to book into our hotel, the Inle Lake View resort…. or so we thought!

However ...first we had to visit  a boat building workshop en route.  Being skeptical I thought  the Lotus weaving stop was suggested in hopes we would buy……but could see no reason that we might be tempted to buy a boat!!!!!!



 …..hand-sawing the wood…….




Then a view of village life…...








……we saw a number of these bamboo speed bumps on entering a village…….
Finally we definitely seemed to be going to our  hotel……....
But no!…..we had another stop!!……..we had to pass by a (another!)pagoda!
This is the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda


This had five Buddhas inside totally covered in gold leaf…..men only please!  So I refused to take photos!!! They are apparently 800 years old….
 Once a year they are  carried around the lake in this barge……with many other boats behind in procession…...


One year they had an accident and all 5 Buddhas ended up in the lake!  Four were recovered……but the fifth (the smallest) was not found that night but reappeared miraculously next morning in the Pagoda ( covered in moss!!!)……he hasn't left since!




By now it was almost sunset…..and we were beginning to feel cold. The  temperature there varies a lot, from a high around 30+ degrees C during the day, and dropping with the sun to around 15 degrees…
The lake is at around 2900 ft or 900 m…...

Our hotel is finally in sight……..


The room was quite large...


with a nice balcony….

And a superb view……...


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