We flew from Bagan to heho which is about 45 min from inle lake. The plane we got on was tiny and consequently since then it is a 50:50 chance the plane we went on was the plane that crashed at Christmas as they only have two aircrafts. We had already arranged for our hostel to pick us up as we'd heard That they really rip people off to get to the lake. The hostel itself was really nice we even got a room upgrade to a room made out of bamboo because we had booked in advance. Today we didn't do very much but look around the town and stopped in a locals pub for lunch, most people rent bike and go for a bike ride but we obviously couldn't do this option plus in the humidity you don't really want to be too active! we went to the so called market but it was about 5 stalls and there wasn't really anything there and went for lunch at a local pub where i was the only girl and it felt a bit awkward. we had another traditional burmese curry dish again for dinner that night as it tastes so good, but there was a power cut and we had to eat in the dark. The next day we headed out for our day trip on the lake it was a bit chilly, on the way we saw some buddhists nuns that looked about 9 years old that were queuing up for alms. this is the food that they get given by the community and thats all their allowed to eat. apparently nuns get less than monks because people respect monks more so give them more food. i waved at them as they kept staring at us and all twelve excitedly waved back it was cute to remember that these were really just young kids excited at waving at a white girl. out on the lake men steer their boats with their legs in order to fish with their hands this is the main reason the place is so famous. There are also communities on the lake that live in stilt houses we went to a market at one of these places and bought a lot! Dan caught his eye on a opium it and everywhere charged extortionate prices asking up to $150! dan managed to get them down to $25 with a free bracelet! He's a good haggler! here they haven't really learnt the tricks of the trade and all start with asking prices that are so high they are laughable. There was also ANOTHER temple here with young boys praying we went in for a bit but it felt a bit awkward then this horrible whit bloke shoved his SLR camera into one of the young boys faces whilst he was praying and then we just wanted to leave out of sheer embarrassment of what length people will go to to get a good picture! There were only 6 of us at this market when we went and no body bought anything apart from us even though there was at least 50 stalls. After this we went to indein a place on the lake that was full of small temple like buildings that's all overgrown and we were the only ones there again it kind of felt like something from Indiana Jones. on the way there dan saw a giant snake swimming right next to our tiny wooden boats thankfully I didn't see it as dan was scared! Then it was time to see all the places that make the handicrafts, we saw women who made paper things like umbrellas and lanterns again charging a stupid amount but they had women there with giant long necks so we bought some bookmarks mainly so we didn't feel too guilty taking their picture! Then we went to a place where they make the skirts the men wear again charging around $200 for one - which is highly unbelievable that thats what they pay... do they think we actually believe thats even close to a local price?! Then off to a cigar "factory" where they came in a lacquerware box i'd been eyeing around Burma but it was too expensive this woman charged $5 for a box with 15 aniseed cigars. When I had asked in Bagan they were charging $15 just for a box! We felt like we had got a bargain! And the cigars aren't too bad either taste really sickly sweet! Finally we went to a monastery famous for jumping cats but no cats jumped at all and I stood in cat wee which was all very disappointing! After a lovely day at the lakes we had some more Burmese food and booked a half day hike for the next day much to dans dismay. Our guide picked us up for the half day hike we had to be back by 4 to go to get the night bus back to yangon. Our guide was a really nice man and the trek started off quite easy until we had to climb some massive hills in a downpour of rain! Finally we reached a poor village where we stopped at someone's house and our guide made us lunch. There I stopped to go to the toilet which was honestly the worst toilet I have ever been to in my entire life. We continued on our trek back to the village where we stayed by the lake but the rain had made the road ridiculously muddy and we both fell over from it. We also had to cross big rivers and holes just by a few planks of wood. We ended up running late and having to hitch a ride on the back of a van filled with coal to get back in time. Luckily we managed to have a shower before we had to get the night bus back.