It was the end of a long day on the lake for Dan and me; and for you, dear readers, it’s been two weeks of reading and seeing photos of various attractions on Inle Lake. It’s time to head back to the hotel for an evening of relaxation, because we have to get up early tomorrow morning in order to get to the five-day market on time. But we’ve come a long way south down the lake, and as our boat heads back, the wind srops; the sun comes out; and the scenery turns from lovely to drop-dead gorgeous.

But first, a look at a few of the one-off structures we noted throughout the day, places of no particular touristic interest but which seemed unique (or typical) of the lake scenery as a whole. These are the man-made structures in their watery environment.

This attractive structure, built in an isolated location in the middle of the lake, is (we were told) a government-run guest house. Whyever they might need one of those here… Make of it what you will.

Here are a couple of rural scenes.

And a couple of pagodas glimpsed in passing from the water.

But it was the landscape of lake and mountain and sky that was the most enchanting of all, both earlier in the day…

and late in the afternoon as the wind died down.