When Soe hears my wife is Japanese he quietly apologises. During the 2007 anti-government protests in Myanmar, a young soldier in flip-flops shot and killed Japanese photographer Kenji Nagai.
Soe (not his real name) watched the BBC coverage of the street protests on a teahouse television in the village of Nyaungshwe, on the shores of Inle Lake, about 400km north of Yangon. The absurdly named State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) neglected to cut the country's satellite and internet connections quickly enough to censor Nagai's killing and Soe, along with many other Myanmese, watched in horror as Nagai died. 'No one supports the government - everybody hates them,' Soe says under his breath. As we soon discover, it is a familiar refrain.
The next morning, Soe takes us out onto the lake and the damp air seeps into our clothes as a lone bird from the surrounding marshes breaks the silence. Nestled between two mountain ranges in Shan state, Inle seems far removed from the catastrophe of Cyclone Nargis, which devastated Myanmar last spring.
Inle is home to the Intha, one of Myanmar's more than 130 ethnic groups. They live in houses that sit on stilts above the water like giant long-legged spiders. Fish are a staple here and the residents tend floating gardens that are attached to the bottom of the shallow lake by bamboo poles.
One of Inle's 'leg-rowing' fishermen emerges from the mist like an apparition. Using a cone-shaped net made from teak, he hooks one leg around a single paddle to steer, while attempting to pull in a catch of nga hpein, the local carp, with his hands.
A few times a week, Inle's floating market meets somewhere around the lake - the location varies. As we navigate through a log-jam of boats, a group of water-borne hawkers converges on us. After docking, we make our way through the crowd and find a bust-ling outdoor market selling everything from fresh eels and dried ants to cheroot cigarettes. Twin girls wave rice crackers at us while a man tries to interest me in some lemon-yellow tofu. His lips are stained crimson from sucking on betel nut, a mild drug.