-As of earlier this year (2024) it appears the current status of Myanmar has become dangerous and the advice is not to travel. Please check up to date travel advice before considering travel.- Day 1 We arrived at Inle Lake after having done a 3 day trek from Kalaw, we were pretty exhausted and as we arrived at the opposite end of the lake to Nyaung Shwe, which is the area all the accommodation is in, we had a 1.5 hour journey across the lake which was a great introduction to the sights of Inle. When you enter the lake area you will have to purchase a ticket to the ‘Inle Zone’ which was $10 USD. The town has lots of accommodation to choose from as well as lots of places to eat and some casual bars as well as a roller disco!! Not sure if the latter is still there or not but was quite entertaining to watch. We enjoyed some tasty treats from the Inle Pancake Kingdom, toasted cheese sandwiches and pancakes with condensed milk...just what you need after you have spent 3 days trekking! Day 2 Having met up with some friends in Inle we had previously met on our travels, we all teamed up together and hired a boat for the day. It was so much better than our journey across the lake the day before, it was really relaxed and we watched daily life go by, it cost around 18,000 kyat (£10.50) between six of us. We saw the famous fishermen of Inle Lake who appear to have become professional posers and were all working the camera whenever tourists came past! We saw the floating gardens as well which really is quite a sight to behold!
The famous fishermen of Inle Lake, the only people in the world to row a boat with this method
The balance these guys have is really incredible! The boat took us to a little market area where there was also a silver workshop which was quite interesting to see. It also took us to a weaving museum where we stumbled across a lady from the Kayan tribe (the ladies who have the rings around their necks so they look elongated) who was demonstrating traditional weaving, we didn’t like this though as we had heard about the terrible way these ladies are treated and how they are paraded in this way like some sort of tourist attraction. We felt really sorry for her, she didn’t look very happy and the working conditions looked pretty bad so we made a swift exit refusing to support this form of tourism.
The stilted houses that people live in on the lake Next we headed for the Hpaung Daw U Pagoda which is a big Pagoda on the lake. There is a market area outside selling some interesting trinkets. It’s quite a big area to walk around inside, keep an eye out for the gold blobs...these used to be Buddha’s but have had so much gold leave put on them by worshippers they have lost all recognisable shape, quite amazing really! You can also buy a sheet of gold leaf inside the Pagoda and make your own contribution to the Buddha’s as well.
The Hpaung Daw U Pagoda Next we went to a place that made both boats and cigars, while it is all very touristy and not something we would usually do it was quite interesting to see. Next stop was quite far down the lake where we had to get out the boat and walk for a kilometre or so to Inthein. This turned out to be an amazing site where there are lots of crumbling mini Pagodas, actually there are over 1,000 Buddhist structures, I had known nothing about this place before today’s boat ride but it ended up being one of my favourite things we saw in the whole of Myanmar. It was so atmospheric there with all the old crumbling Pagodas, these were in stark contrast to a group of shiny new gold ones you come across as you walk around.
The atmospheric site of Inthein
The contrasting new golden shrines at Inthein My other half hadn’t walked up to Inthein with us as he had a bad knee but suddenly appeared on a borrowed motorbike announcing he had left his iPhone at Hpaung Daw U Pagoda where he had been sitting next to one of the market stalls!! Chaos ensued as we flew back to the boat dock, turns out the rest of our group had to catch a bus and don’t have time to go back to the Pagoda so we set about trying to find another boat. All of a sudden out of nowhere (practically out of the bushes) a man appeared announcing he is tourist Police! We told him what happened and he got busy chatting away on a radio then on his mobile phone, he told us in broken English that the Police will meet us when we arrive, but we had no idea if the phone was there or not. Eventually a boat arrived which took us back to the Pagoda. As the boat docked a Burmese lady rushed over shouting ‘mobile phone, mobile phone’ she lead us through the Pagoda where there was actually a small Police station! The Police invited my other half in and proceeded to take all kinds of photos of them handing him his phone and shaking hands etc. Turns out the lady had handed it into the police when she found it...Mark was super lucky, that wouldn’t have happened in many countries we have been to and we were really impressed with the efficiency of the Tourist Police and were touched by the kindness of the locals. We headed back to Nyaung Shwe in our ‘private’ boat which meant we got to watch the sunset over the lake which was pretty spectacular and a lovely end to quite a crazy day!
Beautiful sunset over the lake
Day 3 We moved hotels in the morning to the Gold Star Hotel which was $20 USD for a night. In the afternoon we hired bikes and cycled to the market where we enjoyed Shan noodle soup for just 500 kyat (29p). After lunch we cycled uphill to Red Mountain Estate Vineyard and Winery to sample some local wines, the ride takes about 30-40 minutes or so and while it was a bit hilly wasn't too bad. It was lovely, you taste four different wines for 5,000 kyat (£3) and while the wines might not be the best I have ever sampled the view was really quite spectacular. We decided to stay for sunset so shared a bottle of the red with our friends while we relaxed and enjoyed the view. Not really thinking ahead, cycling back in the dark after wine was a slightly scary experience and one I would not really recommend...
Wine tasting at Red Mountain Estate
There is a restaurant in town called Everest 2, there is also a branch in Kalaw, they serve Nepalese food and we found it really quite tasty especially the Dhal Bhat which includes free refills! Overall I really liked Inle Lake and I look back on my whole time in Myanmar with great fondness, Inle is somewhere it’s worth embracing the ‘touristy’ side of things and spending a day on a boat taking it all in.
Basic language (written phonetically) Hello – Min-ga-la-ba Thank you – chei-zu-tin-bar-te or lots of people shorten it to chei-zu-bay INLE LAKE NOTES AND TOP TIPS
- I have since heard that Red Mountain Estate Vineyard has become touristy and the view is often ruined by smoke as the Burmese tend to burn litter etc, this is very sad as it was such a great experience back when we went when it wasn’t quite so well known. Perhaps get the latest update before going so you know what to expect. - This may have now changed but when I was in Inle the wifi was just awful! As we work on the move a lot of the time this is important for us so just be aware this is not the place to plan a few days catching up on emails! - Most of the boats have no roof and mean you will be in the sun the entire time so make sure you remember a hat or follow the locals lead and invest in a UV sun umbrella similar to this one. NEXT STEPS - Book accommodation or look at options in Inle Lake here
- Purchase the Lovely Planet for Myanmar here
- Purchase a good travelling backpack I swear by my Berghaus 65 litre Rucksack like this one here
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