Inle

Baking at Inle – Snakes, Opium and the West Cashing in

I was just trying to sort out and put away some papers when I got sidetracked by some diary entries from back when I had just fled the United States (I used to swear there was some kind of mass insanity going on there) and ended up in Burma. I was struggling with sugar addiction at the time, along with other things. Inle Lake is so beautiful, a huge lake that used to have fresh water dolphins! Amazingly colorful tribal hill-people and a five day market cycle around the lake. I had some ups and downs during this time, and some amazing experiences. Check out the Fire Balloons post as well. Italics are my current commentary to hopefully help clarify some things.

Traditional Shampoo and Urban Laundry

Traditional Shampoo and Urban Laundry

I first came across soapnuts when I was living in Myanmar/Burma in 1999. I was working at a remote hotel on the shore of the mystical Inle Lake in Shan State. My oven was made from a large barrel and was wood-fired, whenever the kitchen staff noticed me making a move to try to get the fire under the ...