During the past year travelling around SEA we have been fortunate enough to not experience any bad episodes of dreaded bed bugs. However our luck was out and during the night Chris and I were both eaten alive by bed bugs at 'Aquarius Inn'. Throughout the night we were both awake scratching like crazy, we were literally sleeping in a bed bug's nest - it was horrendous! Bed bugs bite in a row and we both had a line of bites from one shoulder to the other across our backs, as well as all down our arms and legs. Chris literally counted 50 bites above his waist and that was just the ones he could see! We couldn't wait to get out of the room and our first priority was to inform the staff and manager. At no point did the manager apologise, instead he blamed us for bringing the bed bugs into his guesthouse! We were appalled and he soon became arrogant and dismissed us without paying.
Just down the road we moved into 'Green Valley Inn', run by a very sweet elderly lady with cataracts. She warmly welcomed us and provided us with a nice fresh cup of coffee to help warm us up in the cold weather. As well as being caught out by the cold weather, it was also raining. Apparently it was the first time in sixteen years that it had rained in December! Most of our warmer attire was in the laundry so we were both wearing our longyi's and raincoats to try and keep warm.
During a cold rainy day what else was there to do except go and get a massage, especially after three long days of trekking. Unfortunately the massage was in a bamboo hut so we hadn't quite escaped the cold. Luckily they covered us with a thick blanket and just exposed the limb they were massaging. We paid just 5,000 kyat each (£2.50) for an hours massage, using a wonderful smelling concoction of coconut oil and eucalyptus.
Feeling relaxed and a little less achy we dodged the puddles and put our hoods up as we walked across town to find somewhere for lunch. We went to a TripAdvisor recommendation 'Sin Yaw' and ate some really tasty local noodle dishes, washed down with ginger tea. Feeling a little warmer from a hearty lunch, we decided to use the afternoon for 'admin'. It was even cold enough to warrant another thick blanket each to wrap up with in our room.
Early evening we met Jen and Sam for dinner at 'Beyond Taste'. We had a nice meal, choosing to eat some fish from the lake. Then we all made our way over to 'The French Touch' for an incredible Swiss hot chocolate and to watch a "documentary" (or so we thought!) about a monks life around Inle Lake. The short film was fairly interesting, and if you looked past the awful acting and script, I did actually learn a few things. It was nice to see the young novice monks still acting like young boys, sneaking out at night to watch the Premier League football matches, playing tricks on each other, and reading comic books when they were supposed to be studying.

Thankfully we woke up to just the cold weather, no rain, which was manageable enough for a boat trip on the lake. Ourselves, Jen and Sam, and also Sarah from our trek, headed out for the day in a longtail motorboat.
As before being on the boat was incredibly cold, but we couldn't of been any more prepared. Even with my feet tucked up under my longyi, a cardigan, my rain coat done all the way up with the hood up, and a scarf on, I was cold through to the bone! We cruised along the lake and up a canal for nearly two hours before we reached 'Indein'. One of the first things we saw on the lake was posing fishermen with their woven bamboo 'fishing' baskets. They balanced themselves on the edge of a fishing boat and posed for pictures and money. Unfortunately it seemed as though they were there just for the tourists.
Inle Lake is 13.5miles long and 7miles wide. Indein is a lakeside village, where we disembarked the boat and enjoyed mooching around the bustling market. Some sections were very much catered to tourists, but others were crammed with locals doing their grocery shopping and tucking into the street food. It was an extremely picturesque market and refreshing to see so many locals there. We couldn't help but stop for a warm cup of tea/coffee and nibble on some freshly cooked sweet chapati type snack. Chris also purchased some Myanmar "chocolate" from a vendor. Although it tasted nice it was not chocolate as we know it, but pretty much a slab of pure sugar.
Back on the boat we enjoyed speeding down the dams in the canal, pretending we were on a log flume and throwing our hands in the air! The dams were created using river weeds and wood and had a small parting for the boats to pass through. They must be there to control the water flow and 'traffic' but our boat driver loved showing off his skills and approached the gap with a fast pace, creating a crash landing in the water.
We stopped at 'Phaung Daw Oo Paya', the holiest religious site in southern Shan state. The temple is home to five ancient Buddha images that have been transformed into nondescript blobs by the sheer volume and layers of gold leaf.
The next few stops were at various workshops scattered around the lake; umbrella, silver, weaving (silk and lotus), metal shaping, cigarettes and cigars. The umbrella workshop provided us the insight into the level of detail and effort going into making the Shan paper umbrellas. They are individually handmade with the Shan paper layered on and flower petals placed in between each layer. Shan paper is made from the fibres in mulberry trees. At the weaving we learnt that they use the lotus flower stems from the lake to produce a thread to weave into scarfs or other items of clothing. The cigarettes are also handmade, each women making around 700 cigarettes each day! The size and shape of them look more like cigars.
All the workshops were interesting but extremely catered towards tourists and the prices for items were extortionate! Needless to say we did not buy anything! Except for lunch and a mojito since it was only the equivalent of £0.75! It would have been rude to have not had one! We ate lunch at a stilted restaurant amongst an array of other stilted buildings and restaurants. The lake is home to many stilted villages as well as the famous floating gardens. Intha farmers grow flowers, tomatoes, and several other fruits and vegetables in floating gardens on the lake. They use long wooden trellises to grow the crops in which are supported by the vegetation in the lake. We meandered along the narrow waterways, weaving our way around, and eventually cruising through a stilted village. It was truly fascinating to admire the locals going about their daily life and routines in a stilted village on the lake. I was totally amazed and immersed in watching their adaptations and couldn't imagine being brought up here. For me this was the highlight of the day and even of our time in Myanmar so far. We have seen a few floating villages and many stilted houses, but to see so closely an entire stilted village at work was another experience.
At the end of the village we disembarked the boat at 'Nga Hpe Kyaung', known as the 'Jumping cat monastery'. It had a huge wooden meditation hall but no jumping cats, just very sleepy cats and kittens dotted around the hall.
During the long ride back to Nyaungshwe our driver stopped for us to admire the real fishermen at work. Their questionable technique includes laying out a real of net and smacking the water with their oar to try and stun the fish into the net. It was comical to watch and as they reeled the net back in some of them were surprisingly successful.
Sarah was off on the night bus to Mandalay so we arranged with Jen and Sam to meet them later for dinner. We went to 'Innlay Hut Indian food house' for some South Indian food. The restaurant was owned and ran by a complete nutter but his food was good - although not as spicy as we were hoping for.

Thankfully we had a bug free night and got a good nights sleep. It was still really cold so we decided to try to warm up at The French Touch with the delicious Swiss hot chocolate and spent the morning blogging. After a couple of hours we both had writers block and ended up at the massage hut. At £2.50 it wasn't exactly breaking the bank!
Finally the sun decided to make an appearance and it turned into a beautiful day. After another local lunch we cycled 4/5km out of town to the 'Red Mountain Vineyard'. The final kilometre up to the vineyard was a killer on the legs. I had to jump off my bicycle and walk most of the way! It definitely raised my heart rate but it was worth it for the wonderful views over Inle Lake and vineyard below. Luckily we found a bench in the shade as we had failed to bring suncream with us. We opted for the tasting menu; four wines samples for 3,000 kyat (£1.50). We had not heard particularly good things about the wine from this vineyard, but nevertheless wanted to judge for ourselves. It was bloody awful! The first Sauvignon Blanc was okay, the second Muscat dry was not even drinkable, the third red Shiraz Tempranillo was pretty tasteless but bearable, and the fourth and final white Late Harvest was for me, the best of the bunch. It is fair to say that it did not leave us wanting to try any more of their wines! Jen and Sam joined us later on and had similar views with regards to the tasting menu. However Sam braved trying another red wine which backfired and he ended up leaving it. At least it was a nice afternoon with beautiful views and great company. However we couldn't hang around for sunset as we had to get back to town to catch a bus. So we said are farewells to Jen and Sam and cycled back to town, stocking up with snacks for our bus journey ahead.
We were collected by a small pick up truck early evening. The sweet lady at Green Valley Inn waved us off, she was adorable. It was about half an hour to reach the main road, where we waited for an hour to be collected by the night bus. Our only choice was the VIP bus but at least this time the seats were bigger, with much more space in between for reclining them. We were also offered coffee and a cake! An hour down the road we stopped for dinner and then hit the road for the night, off to Mandalay we went.