So we got the bus which left at 4pm and was due to take 16-20 hours according to lonely planet. As we left Yangon to surroundings started to become more and more sparse and we could see small wooden huts in the fields, men working with oxen and a layer of smoke that drifted from the fields. We were on the road that ended up in Mandalay and this was strange in itself. The entire journey until we turned off the road was straight, no bends for miles, as if the government had just demolished everything in the roads path. The strangest thing was there were no vehicles for miles then the occasional car would whizz past. We made a stop at a service station then we continued along the empty highway before turning off for the leg to inle lake. We were now down a single track road and the bus had to veer of from time to time to allow coach's and cars to pass, it was pitch black now. We soon started to snake up a mountain and people were vomiting left right and centre and the air conditioning was freezing. We managed to get some sleeps before stopping at Kalaw which is a small town where you can do trekking. Soon we were off again and this time I had drifted into a really amazing sleep. Then we got woken up suddenly to be told we were there, literally 6 hour's ahead of schedule. Like zombies we wandered off the bus and into a taxi that sped like a Formula 1 driver to the main village. Actually this worked out nicely as our trusty lonely planet advised that the entrance fee booth is only open from 6am and we were whizzing towards town at 3.30am. Well the booth was open and it was manned by a very sleepy kid who happily took our trusty $20 to hand over to the government coffers. Our thoughts turned to a bed for the night as we had booked for 2 nights not the night or day we had arrived. The taxi driver done some special hissing and this awoke the owners who were really hospitable and checked us in early. We so happy to get a comfortable bed for the night and a good early morning sleep. We decided to grab some food so we found this place called pancake heaven which as you guessed it sold pancakes. I had a savoury one and so Ellie which was very tasty. We then had a little wander and decided to hire bicycles to see the surroundings. The town is just a dusty main road with restaurants, hire shops, travel agency's and local mini marts. We got the bicycles and set off out of town covering about 12km. It was spectacular, green fields with mountains as a backdrop all shrouded in a thin layer of smoke. It seems that people burn everything here which explains why it seems so hazy. We went past a partiality burned temple and I found this really eerie as a solitary monk was walking in and he turned to look at me with really piercing eyes. We stopped to get a drink and there were fellow backpackers from America, Germany and the UK. They were funny but seemed quite immature but they told us they were off to the winery to get some cheese cake so we decided to join them. On the way my chain came off and I couldn't get the metal casing off to put it back on. Out of nowhere a bunch of kids arrived took my bike and got to work with no tools. They sorted my bike and we carried on to the winery which was up a steep hill but the views were amazing up there. The cheesecake wasn't the greatest in the world. We headed back and went out to an italian restaurant and ate pasta which was yummy. We were on our boat trip today on inle lake and our boatman met us at our hotel. We also had another couple from Europe on our boat. We walked to the jetty and settled into our single file chairs with the super loud engine strapped to the back. We all had our umbrellas up as we sped along with greenery and wildlife either side. It took a good 20 minutes to get to the lake but once on it was wonderful. Our boatman would stop the engine so we could appreciate the people at work. We saw fishermen who steer the boat with 1 leg and paddled, really amazing how that's done. They smash the water with the oar to disturb the fish and throw their nets in. We also saw vegetables that are grown from the lake and people tending to them. We then went to a weaving factory where they use the lotus flower to make various garments. We were never given the hard sell at any stage which was a welcome change from the rest of Asia. Then we went to a shop where they make cigarettes using tobacco and other ingredients to give the cigarette a very sweet taste. We both tried some but it was too big, thus we gave up. Next we visited a pointless temple which was just a market however we did have lunch overlooking the temple. We then sped to a silver shop and through the floating gardens which were lovely and directly to another temple. This temple used to have cats that could jump through hoops but the monks passed away so there were only lazy roaming cats. We wandered around for a while before getting back the boat for our journey back to mainland. Inle lake was magical, something awe inspiring as a community can be sustainable from a mass of water, using every element to breath life into a daily ritual that's continued for generations. Watching the sweeping mountains being shrouded in smoke and the gently settling sun behind the hills as the sky burnt red another day came to an end. We had dinner at our guesthouse which was really yummy and retired for the night as we had our journey to Bagan in the morning.