Boating New Zealand — December 2017

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unshine seeps over the hilltops,

stretching golden fingers of light

down the valleys to displace the

morning mist. Gilded spikes of

pagodas begin to glow as dawn

arrives across the limpid waters of

Lake Inle, 885m above sea level on Myanmar’s central

plateau. Tendrils of smoke snake up from early morning

cooking fires in the lakeside villages as people begin their

day. It’s a scene of timeless beauty.

But at every point of the compass there’s a boat; low,

black and beautiful, travelling at speed, with the forward

third of the hull out of the water, laden with people or

trade goods, a crackle of staccato racket from the straight

exhaust and a rooster tail fanning from the water astern.

There were no statistics for the number of people living

around the lake, but the map shows about 50 towns and

villages – and almost all the residents own boats; for family

transport, moving goods to market, fishing or socialising.

It seems like we’re sharing Lake Inle (pronounced, and

sometimes spelled, ‘Inlay’) with thousands of boats, all

unerringly speeding to their destinations.

S

WORDS AND

PHOTOGRAPHY BY

LINDSAY WRIGHT

feature

Cruising