Someone, not Kipling this time, described the cheroot as a 'Burmese facial feature' and whether of the "whackin white' or the smaller green variety, they are seen everywhere.  Cheroot is from the Hindi, charut, meaning cigar or cigarette, a mixture of tobacco, chipped wood, a chopped corn cob husk filter, rolled in a dried tha-na-phet leaf.  Technically what we were seeing being made is not a cheroot but a local Shan version of one.  The smallest, similar to cigarettes are made from cured and rubbed tobacco, woodchips and sweeteners like jaggery or tamarind rind

Blacksmiths working in unison.  Their young operator of bellows and brewer of tea had grown somewhat in the 3 years since my first visit

The approach to the market is very pretty and I went in spite of the bad press in the guide books because I had not seen a floating market Myanmar style.   Vendors in small boats start their sales pitch along the narrow canals as you approach the main market.  At the height of the frenzy they can outnumber the tour boats 5 to 1.  It is understandable if annoying.  If you go, set off early in the morning, make sure it is the day of the rotating market or you will find there are few locals either buying or selling and you will be at the mercy of the rapacious trinket sellers

Canoes are no longer allowed out on Inle lake, but you can rent one to cruise the backwaters surrounding the lake.  After a hectic day in Nyaungshwe or on the lake,  everyone in town is very keen to recommend that visitors take a Sunset Cruise.   The boat women will weave you necklaces from water lilies, just like the daisy chains of our childhood.  They will take you to a Nat shrine in pristine jungle and  flocks of egrets fly overhead just before the sun dips behind the hills, not exactly a  sunset but a lovely peaceful time which is rare in this town

The pagoda hosts an 18day festival every year in the Burmese month of Thadingyut.  Four Buddha images are towed around the lake on an elaborate barge powered by several boats crewed by leg rowers rowing in unison.  Stopping at a different village every night, the images are housed in the main local temple until the next day when they continue their tour of lakeside communities

The five solid gold Buddha images so enthusiastically covered in gold leaf they are now unrecognizable.  Only four tour the lake, one always remains here.  They say the procession is a sight to behold but I have never been tempted to visited during  rainy season.  The unseasonable Typhoon in the Bay of Bengal was quite enough

The Hintha bird at the prow of the replica Karaweik Royal Barge

In 2002 and again in  2005 we were lucky enough to find ourselves alone except for a sleeping Abbot, a dozen or more cats in a similar state and a rather bored looking  U San Da sitting in a window embrasure.   He learned his excellent English the way so many monks do, by talking to visitors.  He chatted about the Buddha images, of his life in Mandalay before coming to Inle and of the cats which they train in only 3 weeks.  Conversation exhausted he picked up a hoop, rattled a can of fish treats and persuaded a couple of sleepy cats to leap for us