The Ugii lake.

Our two last nights in gers were at the Ugii lake and it was an idyllic place. Our camp was on a hill overlooking the lake. There were no trees to be seen.

The lake was an important place for the different herds to have water, and it seemed that that happened in the morning.

The lake was an important resting place for migrating birds.

We saw some of the birds when we drove along the shore.

Ugii lake was a great place as our last stop on the Mongolian country side, something very different and I appreciate that.

Titicaca.

From I was a little boy I have loved the sound of the name “Titicaca” and now I came there!It is 3800 meters above sea level, and I had problems with my breathing, but i enjoyed the visit.

We visited one of the “real” islands and on of the floating islands and I found the latter most interesting. They are actually made of reed but are fixed to the bottom with poles. Itwas really strange to walk on reeds.

And of course I took pictures of the people there.

We found out they are not living on these islands any more, but come out every day to demonstrate how life was on the floating islands, and I find that OK, even if some of the group called it fake.

 

Kerala and the Backwaters.

Kerala is on the east coast of Southetn India and is known for a special coast line called the Backwaters, a series of lakes, lagoons, wetland, canals and inlets. The water is mainly brackish, but the system that is 900 km long with 5 big lakes and 1500 km canals, both natural and man-made.

We stayed at a hotel very close to one of the lakes in separate chalets.

I stayed in chalet number three.

We took a boat trip on the Backwatersand that was a special experience. it was hard to take good pictures, but here are a few.

 

Lake Sevan.

This lake lies about 1900 meters above sea level. It is used for irrigation and the production of hydro-electric power. This resulted in that the level went down 20 meters and the lake lost 40% of its volume and it was clear something had to be done. They built two tunnels diverting rivers into the lake and the level started to go up. But still the church and monastery that used to be on an island is now on a peninsula. Again great location, but by now I was fed up with more churches so I took pictures from below.

Then I turned my back to the church and looked at the lake and found that at least to be just as beautiful.

Boats

Click on picture to enlarge.

We were in boats on several occasions. The longest was from Bagan to Mandalay, to days and nights. That will be covered in a separat entry. I was intrigued by the different boats we saw and here is a selection.

A family on Irrawaddy river.

Colourfull river boats in Yangon.

Freight boat with family dwelling on the river by Yangon.

Fishing boat on Inle lake.

Boats like this took us around on Inle lake.

These are the smallest boats I saw on Inle lake.

Even small kids mastered boating in Inle lake.

Different boat styles in Yangon harbour.

From Yangon harbour.

Ferries across the river in Yangon.

Inle lake

Click on picture to enlarge.

Inle lake is a very special place. As a lake it is not much, it is shallow and about 22 km long and 10 km wide, but the life on and around the lake is special. Even if the surface is about 110 square km a lot of the surface is covered with floating garden patchs. They take water hyacinths and dry them and form a float. On that they put dirt from the bottom and sow or plant vegetables on that. They fix the position with a bambus pole through the patch to the bottom. The patch is so small it can be harvested from a boat.                                                                                                                                                                                          People lived in villages on the shores, but also in houses on poles in the middle of the lake.                                                                                                                                       The restaurant we had lunch.

Another spectacular phenomen is the rowing and fishing done by the local fishermen. It is the only time I have seen rowing without using hands.                                                                                                                                                                                                                               They fished with net or fish trap. Using the net meant rowing without hands.                                                                    

Issyk Kol

Issyk Kol is a lake where we stayed for a couple of days. It has several interesting features in my opinion. Here again I was surprised and wanted to find out more. It lies 1607 meters above sea level and is 180 km long and up to 60 km wide. It is deep, the deepest is 665 meters. These facts are not particularly interesting.

The lake seen from space, north upwards.

119 creeks and rivers flow towards the lake but only 49 actually reach it. The rest go into the ground and probably end up in the lake through the ground. Some of this water is probably heated to hot springs and enter the lake as the lake is warm and never freezes even in severe winter temperatures. No water flows out of the lake, if the level rises approx. 15 meters it will overflow. The water is slightly saline but only one sixth of ocean water.

View from the north shore looking south. The snowclad mountains in the background are 100 km away  (65 miles). In other words clean air.

The water level has changed several times. In prehistoric times (26 000-10 000BCE) it was higher than now and probably had a river going out. In the period 10000-300BCE it was 8-10 meters lower than today. They have found remnants of a big city 6-8 meters below the surface from that period. It must have been a big city and some acheologists call it a metropolis. They have found city walls 500 meters long and the populated area seems to have been several square kilometers. Scythian burial mounds have also been found. Then it was higher again for several centuries before it dropped and was lower in the period 1000-1300AD. A Nestorian cross on a rock dated 1312 is found in the lake.

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Then in the period 1600-1800 it was higher than today and probably had a river flowing out. Now the level is dropping about 8 cm (3 inches) a year