Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
INLE LAKE & AROUND
As a destination, we have to admit that Inle Lake delivers. On paper the lake is 13.5
miles (22km) long and 7 miles (11km)wide, but up close it's hard to tell where the water
finishes and the marshes start. Most of the time the surface of the lake seems to perpetu-
ally resemble a vast silver sheet, one interspersed with stilt-house villages, island-bound
Buddhist temples and floating gardens. Commuter and tourist motorboats and flat-bot-
tomed skiffs navigate this watery world, the latter propelled by the unique Intha (for
more on this group,
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)
technique of leg rowing - in which one leg is wrapped
around the paddle to drive the blade through the water in a snake-like motion - adding to
the ephemeral aura.
When eventually you do hit land, you'll encounter whitewashed stupas or Shan, Pa-O,
Taung Yo, Danu, Kayah and Danaw tribal people at the markets that hopscotch around
the lake on a five-day cycle.
Officially at least, the area around the lake has also been protected as the
Inle Wetland
Bird Sanctuary
, a government recognised bird sanctuary, since 1985 and you'll see her-
ons, warblers, cormorants, wild ducks and egrets. But in recent years, overuse of pesti-
cides and diminishing water levels have begun to impact both wildlife and humans.
For more on this,
Click here
.
Festivals & Events
Inle comes alive during late September or early October for the
Phaung Daw Oo Paya
Festival
at Phaung Daw Oo Paya. The four revered golden buddha images from the pa-
goda are ferried around the lake in a gilded barge shaped like a
hintha
(the golden swan
of Myanmar legend) visiting all the pagodas in the area.
The festival lasts for 18 days and locals carry out energetic leg-rowing races on the
channels between the villages.
The pagoda festival is closely followed by
Thadingyut
, which marks the end of Waso
(Buddhist Lent).
Information
There is a compulsory $10 fee to enter the Inle Lake area, which you must pay on arrival
at the
permit booth
(
6am-9pm), located
by the bridge at the entrance to Nyaungshwe.
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