15. On the Water

Brrr…  There is one heck of a chill in the air this morning…  I wonder what the temperature is…  I wasn’t expecting it to be this chilly, but then again, the sun is just starting to rise…  I pull a blanket over my lap and feel grateful that the owner of this long-tail boat supplied one for me and each of my fellow passengers.  A local fisherman gently paddles his boat across the smooth, glass-like water of Inle Lake toward our boat.  It’s a peaceful scene, especially because it’s so quiet and there is still a tinge of darkness.  I take a moment to absorb the picturesque environment and look at the shapes in the landscape.  I see the low-hanging clouds on the horizon.  The sun is starting to peek through them, and I can see a faint pink light reflecting onto the water.  I shift my eyes back to the fisherman, who is much closer now.  I can see the glow of a small fire burning in his boat.  At first it seems odd to see fire on the water like that, but then I realize that he probably needs it for warmth.  This fisherman is the reason why I’m on the lake at 6 a.m. with my camera in hand.  This morning’s lesson involves photographing him as the sun rises, while working from a very narrow boat that has the stability of a canoe.  The photographers I’m traveling with on this National Geographic Photography Expedition spent a fair amount of time on the lake yesterday at sunset doing the same thing.  It’s soothing to be on the water, and it’s interesting to watch the fishermen with their distinct rowing technique of wrapping one leg around the oar.  The balancing act they do on the stern of the boat seems impossible given the weight distribution in the narrow space, but the men here make it look easy.  I’m told that they stand like this to be able to see obstructive floating vegetation that wouldn’t be visible if they were sitting down.  They were trained in this style of rowing when they were very young.  It’s a way of life in the community, which is predominantly built on stilts and thrives on the water.  It’s mind-boggling to see how the people here live — even the farmland floats on the water and has to be anchored with bamboo poles.  In the case of the fishermen though, drifting is fine.  Their lives revolve around roaming the 40 square miles of Inle Lake’s fresh water.  They throw in their large cylindrical nets and plunge in their spears, hoping to catch as many fish as they can.