Uniquely Inle Lake… a breathtaking
vista and rich tribal culture
 Mystical,
magical, and outrageously beautiful are
a few of the words used to depict the azure
Inle Lake nestle amidst the mist-shrouded
Southern Shan plateau, and the amazing Intha
who populated its surface and shores. The
Intha built their houses over the water
on stilts, grow different vegetables from
the region’s most important cash-crop tomatoes
to the flowers for their alters year-round
on the one meter-thick floating islands
formed by the weaving of dry grasses, hollow-stemmed
weeds, and water hyacinth, then attached
with the lakebed by using bamboo poles not
to float away. This minority tribe earns
their fame for a unique way of catching
fish with conical-shape fishing gear, and
rowing the boat by standing at the stern
of a slender boat, rowing with one leg!
There’s so much life on the lake, where
Inthas busy growing things on the floating
lands, or getting the fertile lakebed mud
and weeds to be used as natural fertilizers;
fishermen squatting on the stern approaching
quietly over the fish-like movements before
thrusting the trap to the lake bottom; whereas
the other villages on the lake may specialized
on the produces from gorgeous Silk and Lotus
fiber woven fabrics, Blacksmithing of various
farming or kitchen utensils, beautiful silverwares
of various designs; and Shan traditional
lacquerware; to making of cheroots, the
local cigar, while people inhabited on the
shores may focus on growing of much needed
rice, and other crops including sesames,
sunflowers, leeks, garlic, onion, potatoes,
and cabbages. Since the Inthas are also
Buddhists, one can find some impressive
ancient monasteries on the water and the
remarkably beautiful & fascinating ruins
of Inn Dein and Sankar villages, not to
mention Paung Daw Oo pagoda, the most sacred
Buddhist site of all southern Shan state,
where four out of five out-of-the-shape
Buddha images make annual tour in October
to 20 or so villages on the lake with decorative
barge towed by the leg-rowers on the specially
made-up lengthy canoes in the form of procession.
One of the most captivating events on the
lake is the colorful 5-Day marketplace,
where the hill-tribes of surrounding Lake
Region come to exchange their goods with
the Inthas. There are also endless souvenir
stalls selling woodcarvings, colored beads,
silverwares, woven products and various
enviable items etc., which one could really
hard to ignore. The bargaining is a must
here and inferior quality or fake items
need to be examined before making up your
decision.
Shweyanpyay Monastery
 Just
before entering the gateway town of Inle
Lake, Nyaungshwe, there’s lie one of most
impressive monasteries in Myanmar. A typical
Shan monastery with unique oval-shape windows
have quite a eye-catching appearance when
little novices come to pose for the photograph.
The monastery was decorated with glass mosaics
even on the supporting teak posts. While
most of the people satisfy seeing from the
outside, it is encourage taking a look at
the cozy interior where the ceilings are
beautifully carved and covered with gold
leafs while the Shan-style lacquer images
set in the middle on a plinth. The monastery
is still in use and nearby stupa attached
with a shrine also has an interesting story.
Nyaungshwe
 This
is the main town having direct access to
Inle Lake via 4-miles (6lm) long canal.
The town dated back to almost 12th century
when the Sao Bwas (Shan Chieftains) ruled
and controlled the entire rice-growing Nyaungshwe
plains. There is an old Shan Palace exhibiting
some interesting items like royal throne,
& regalia of former Shan Sao Bwas, historic
photos, Shan chronicles. In fact, the present
building was the resident of the first president
of independent Burma. Most of the budget
accommodations based in Nyaungshwe and there
are a lot of Italian food & pancake serving
restaurants. The town is an ideal place
to begin bicycle tour to villages on the
on the rim of the lake. The town most revered
Ratanar Maung Aung temple has unique glittering
pinnacles, and has beautiful relief-molding
works at the main entrance, as well as a
good collection of religious antiques. The
southern part of the town, along the canal,
has some picturesque monasteries and keeps
bustling every day.
Ngaphe-chaung Monastery
Located close to the southern end of
the main lake, nestled among the floating
gardens of tomatoes and beans, is over 150-years
old wooden monastery of Ngaphe-chaung constructed
with teak. This Shan style monastery was
built in 1843, by the order of Nyaungshwe
Shan Sao Bwa, contains a very nice collection
of northern Thai style image-houses as well
as Shan inspired Buddha images made out
of bamboo and lacquer and then gilded. This
monastery is dubbed as “Jumping Cat Monastery”
since there are some cats trained by the
enthusiastic monks to jump into the ring,
draws a lot of package crowds.
Paungdaw Oo Pagoda
 The
main religious site and most important pagoda
in all southern Shan state, is located in
Tharlay village. The temple houses 800-years-old
five out-of-the-shape images of Buddha and
his disciples, where four images out of
five make annual tour to 20-plus villages
on the huge decorative barge towed by over
50-long boats, each with around 40 leg-rowers,
and dance & music performers, in October/November.
The festival lasts for around 20 to 22 days
depending on the lunar calendar.
Inn Dein Ruins
 Located
on the southwestern shore of the main lake,
Inn Dein village area can be said the most
scenic part of Inle Lake. The creek leading
to the village is beautiful at all seasons,
animating with different activities on its
banks. Inn-Dein village serves as the main
western portal to the lake for nearby Pa
O villages on the hills. There are a couple
of footpaths from boat-landing to reach
impressive stupa ruins numbering 1094 in
total as to the last count, densely or sometimes
in rows erected on the hillock topped with
a temple, which housed for a Buddha image
believed to be donated by famous King Asoka
of India in 2nd century BC . And you need
to hike up inevitably along a kilometer
or longer souvenir stalls whether you are
an enthusiastic or not.
In Thar Villages
 There
are around 60-villages on the stilts and
shores of the lake. Depending on the geographical
locality, the socio-economical situation
has also change. For the villages close
to the main lake may be the production of
tomatoes and a few other vegetables, while
most villages on the eastern shore and the
far south may emphasize on producing rice,
sugar, and edible oils. The In-Thars on
western shore, especially Kaungdaing village
area produce Soya related foodstuffs. The
people at Ywama village tend to produce
beautiful Inthar traditional silverwares,
and various products made from Shan papers.
There are Cheroot factories, boat-making,
& Shan traditional bas-relief molded lacquer-ware
can be found at Nampam village. The very
attractive & seductive Chiang Mai or Shan-styled
silk, cotton, and lotus fiber woven products
centered at Inn Paw Khon village. In addition
to the Inthar villages, visitors can visit
to a number of Pa O villages on the hills
that rimmed the Inle Lake. The best time
to hike these villages is from November
to March.
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