A trip to Inle should be on the "travel radar" at every holiday travel.
This is one of the most interesting places, a somehow unique and romantic place with floating gardens, nice peoples, hotels on stilts in the water and famous pagodas and temples plus monasteries, all together a great atmosphere. A couple of other monks homes are built into the lake like this one, the monks offer is, if you like stay with us. This is not a Buddhist retreat for meditation but a interesting experience.
The leg rower skillfully and speedily pushes the boat by working the oar with one foot and balancing on the other. Most of the boats have a tall conical trap with netting stretched over the framework. By keeping his hands free the fisherman can drop his traps over the fish he sees in the clear blue waters, read more.
The air is crisp and cool and the misty blue hills surrounding the lake are visible in the distance through the haze. White pagodas occupy some of the hill tops. A few tiny patches of water hyacinths float among the long, narrow boats and dug-outs typical of those used on the lake.
The five day market is moving around the lake area to different places until coming back to the origin to make sure that foodstuff and other is distributed as needed.
When around ask your guide for a trip to one of the places they know where it is at particular day . This events are very colorful and for sure worth to have a serious look, read more.
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| Inle Lake Boat Traffic |
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| 5 day market |
Some boats carry goods such as fresh vegetables, flowers or firewood and are rowed either by leg or in the conventional hand-paddled manner. Some are engaged in bringing up silt, mud, weed and other decaying vegetation from the bottom, scooping them up in a coarse basket attached to the end of a pole. These are matted or woven together and anchored to the lake bed with bamboo poles forming floating gardens on which tomatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, peas, beans, fruits and flowers are grown.
Progress along is indicated by the white mileposts sited at regular intervals. They are circular red discs with the distance covered marked on the approach side and the mileage from the opposite destination shown on the reverse side. Boats carrying locals, visitors or tourists overtake our boat or speed past from the south creating tiny swells and spraying water on the people in our boat. Gulls follow tourist boats to chase food tossed in the air. Water fowl are prevalent as Inlay is one of three fresh water lakes in Myanmar classified as wildlife sanctuaries.
At milepost 6, we pass Bo Teh, once a government rest house but now an exclusive vacation spot for officials of the Ministry of Tourism. Villages and hamlets loom to the right, occupying the foothills with tall coconut palms, mango and other shade trees providing a green outline in the distance. Traffic is not heavy although there are a number of fishing boats, excursion and commodity transport interspersed with the canoes of the Intha — usually operated by women and children, tending plots in the floating gardens.
A great time to visit is during the Phaundaw Oo Pagoda Festival
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| Inle lake Monastery of the Jumping Cats |
The lake can be
easily reached
from Yangon and Mandalay
by a flight
to Heho and about 30 km road travel to Naungshwe on the northern tip of
the lake.
Taxis are
available at Heho airport, it needs tough
negotiation since the guys know they are in
the better position.
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| Inle Lake Myanmar |
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| Three women in small wooden canoe |
Pretty Inle Lake Pictures
By road from Yangon it
is a distance of around 660 km and
from Mandalay it's about 300 km. The road is
not good and quite dangerous since it is
very winding and narrow, all transportation
moves by trucks. The rail connection is to Heho
and after the same road as from the airport.
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Travel Myanmar Burma
boys and buffalo
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There are several village built on stilts
Some 13 kilometers out there is a village of 30-40 wood and bamboo houses about half with thatch roofing, the rest corrugated iron sheet roofed. Three kilometers further the boat enters a narrow, 23 meter channel with small villages on both sides. We now enter Ywama, called the "floating village".into the lake with up to 40 house made from wood and bamboo probably some of the most famous guys on the water are the leg rower. They are fishing with their traps by balancing with one leg on the boat, the other leg has the rudder firmly embraced. The hands are busy with the traps, that's real acrobatic since on top of it the canoe is moving.
Monasteries are also built into the water so are several hotels and cottages, like the "golden Island Cottages" right in the middle of the lake. A good base for a Inle Lake tour are the golden Island Cottages.
Operated as a cooperative of the Pa-O people, who offer a excellent service and interesting trekking tours into the hills around to have a look into the Pa-O settlements with great scenes and possibilities.
From Taungyi
the capital of Shan State it's
just 30 km by road.
Naungshwe,
a small town, is the main village. Most Inle Lake trips starts there, motor boats are
available to carry travelers where they want
go move, if there is a fixed hotel booking
already done usually the hotel, resort,
cottages or other accommodation
will handle this, check for the add on fee to pick you up.
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| Myanmar transportation |
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Inle Lake people and leg rower
in small wooden canoes
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Inle lake people
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| Local ambulance |
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| Local transportation |
are mostly from the Pa-O tribe, they glide on the
water with small wooden
canoes. Some 13 kilometers out
there is a village of 30-40
wood and bamboo houses
about half with thatch
roofing, the rest corrugated
iron sheet roofed.
Three
kilometers further on the boat
enters a narrow, 23 meter
channel with small villages
on stilts.
They have a unique way to grow vegetables on the their floating gardens. The people bring up silt, mud, weed
and other vegetation from
the bottom, putting them in
a basket
attached to a
pole. These are put together, anchored
in the water and stabilized
by with bamboo poles this
are the gardens on which
vegetables and flowers are
grown with 3
time harvest per year.
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| Phaundaw Oo Pagoda in the distance |
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| Myanmar agriculture at Inle |
The Phaundaw Oo Pagoda
houses five Buddha statues
completely enclosed in a
thick gold leaf overlaid
donated by devotees, there
is nothing to recognize any
statues anymore. They were brought back
from a journey to present
day Malaysia by
King Alaungsithu in the 12th
century.
The Inle Lake Festival
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| Intha leg rower boat race |
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Five Buddha images are carried
on royal ceremonial barges
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| Novitiation Procession on the Lake |
The three-day festival
with Intha leg rower boat
races is held annually
in October at the end of the
Buddhist Lent is an event of
national importance.
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| Inle Lake travel in Shan State |
Travel in Shan State bring up
panoramas of small
forests with a few
hills not far off and we notice ducks and water
buffaloes which we have-not seen for some time.
This is a favorite tourist stop. A good
starting point for hikes to nearby Palaung
villages through pine woods, orchards and bamboo
groves. The terrain is now flat and the road
passes through beautiful country. This region
produces temperate climate fruits such as pears,
peaches and oranges in addition to rice, tea,
wheat, soya beans, groundnuts, tobacco,
potatoes, garlic, sunflower seeds and dried
green cordia leaves used as cheroot wrappers.
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