LIfe by the lake

There is a landing stage or two at our lovely hotel. The dining room overlooks the water too.

We left after breakfast to explore some of the communities who live on or by the water.

At the Inn Dain Pagoda Complex we saw many ancient, crumbling pagodas. There is a long walkway from the town to the main temple and souvenir stalls on either side. Although some of the goods were lovely, this felt much more like the sort of tourist trail we wished to avoid.

Amongst the old temples, I was greeted by the woman in my blip who was selling scarves. Most of us have been tempted to buy a few and have not regretted it. I bought from her, although I also bought a gorgeous woven stole from one of the indoor stalls.

In the temple there was no peace. In contrast to other places we have been, this was too commercialised for me. The men were allowed to approach the altar and to add gold leaf (bought at a stall in the temple). In my extra you can see a monk doing this and one of the many men who were photographing the activity.

It may be a different religion, but I was reminded of Jesus' response to the money changers in the Jewish temple!

We had a more peaceful time on the water before returning to our hotel.