One of Myanmar’s most magical places lies deep in the interior at almost 900 meters: Lake Inle. The 22 km long and up to 10 km wide lake is an absolute must for fans of the Southeast Asian country.
However, it is somewhat off the beaten path. The best way to get from Yangon is by bus – and in 1st class, provided you want to survive the very long journey (11-12 hours) halfway comfortably and well organized with your luggage. For $ 21 a person – we had bought the tickets online prior to the trip – we took the “VIP” night bus from JJ Express at the lively and huge Aung Mingalar bus station in northern Yangon. Almost 12 hours later – it is still dark night on December 1, 2019 . we tumble tired and wheeled, but happy to have arrived in Nyaung Shwe from the bus. And land directly in a cluster of tourist catchers who want to sell their boat tours or bring the tired and disoriented passengers to the hotel with their Tuktuks. An English-speaking young man shows us his boat on his smartphone and outlines the tour on a badly copied nautical chart. We let him give us his (handwritten!) Business card and WhatsApp number and promise to call back later.
Nothing going on without a boat
Pretty much everyone in Nyaung Shwe owns a boat. Or has at least a brother, uncle or buddy who owns one. And pretty much everyone there sells or arranges appropriate tours. The hotels too, of course. We briefly asked G which is better. However, for once the G search engine was only of limited help, so we finally called the young man on Whatsapp and arranged a 7-hour tour (20,000 kyat = around 12.50 euros) early next day. Which we never regretted: The day, which started cool, rainy and with a slightly uneasy feeling, because the boater was not the young man himself, but his “brother”, who hardly spoke English, was to be an absolute highlight of our Myanmar adventure.
Nyaung Shwe is about 2 kilometers above the north shore and is connected to Inle Lake by a canal. Most hotels, especially the affordable ones, can be found in the largest town on the lake. Logistically, accommodation here also makes sense if you arrive by night bus, for example, and / or depart from Heho Airport on an early plane. That is, because if you stay in one of the neat sea hotels, you sometimes have to take up to an hour’s sea journey into account.
The other way around, from Nyaung Shwe it takes 20 minutes by boat to the lake. And another 20 – 30 minutes to the numerous sights that are all around the lake or in the middle. The town itself offers various restaurants and shops, especially on the main street, as well as a somewhat sleepy market.
Speaking of sleepy: in the evening the sidewalks are folded up early, at least in early December.
Focus on one-leg rowers
But you are not really here because of Nyaung Shwe, but because of Inle Lake. And one of its most iconic attractions are the one-leg rowers with their large fish traps and artistic movements. And yes, you can’t really escape them, because mostly they are already waiting for the tourists arriving on the boats from Nyaung Shwe near the mouth of the canal. That’s probably part of the business. The nice thing is: the guys do their job well – and usually have fun doing it. Which then leads to you getting some nice photos. And when one slips them 2,000 kyat (1.50 euros), they smile at you broadly with their brown-red betel teeth. And slowly row back onto the wide lake in the direction of the next tourist boats.
The Kayan showroom
No less famous than the one-leg oarsmen are the women with their necks extended by brass spirals – at least at first glance that is how it looks. The ladies from the Kayan tribe called Padaung maintain this strange tradition, for which there are various explanations, and earn their money mainly from the photos they let tourists take of themselves. To do this, they sit on the edge of a kind of showroom with an attached souvenir shop next to a small bucket with the inscription “Tip”, which already contains numerous kyat notes of various sizes, and let the shooting go through with a mild smile. In between they sit down at a traditional loom and make the loomboats dance. Of course, all of this is only partly authentic, but the atmosphere is pleasant and nobody looks at you badly if the tip or the shopping in the souvenir shop wasn’t exactly huge.
Sea Tomatoes and Silver Fish
With all tourism: Many locals still earn their living traditionally. For example by growing vegetables in the floating gardens. There are also workshops with local features everywhere – from tobacco shops to weaving or silversmiths.
Pagoda Fields and Buddas of Light
One of the absolute highlights of an extended boat tour is the Nyaung Ohak Monastery with its impressive pagoda fields. Shorter tours omit this stop, as you have to drive less than half an hour upstream from Inle Lake.
At the jetty you come directly into a very long covered colonnade that leads up to the actual pagoda.
This seemingly endless corridor is paved on both sides with hundreds of souvenir sellers who jump on every reasonably interested look and who want to get rid of the same carved Inle fishermen and longneck women in addition to the usual textile goods.
These are sometimes real small family businesses, whereby the children who speak at least a little English are often used as sales vanguard.
And who – after a short but professional negotiation about the price of a pretty wooden elephant puppet – obviously enjoyed posing for a photo.
2,000 Pagodas – and at Least as Many Dogs
At the end of the long colonnade you reach a beautiful place of worship – and the legendary pagoda field Shwe Inn Dein Pagoda. Around 2,000 pagodas are said to be here. It feels like they date back at least 1,000 years. Many are dilapidated, half collapsed and overgrown with shrubs.
If you stroll between them, you will be captivated by a magical and mythical atmosphere, interrupted every now and then by other tourists or wood-collecting grannies from the area.
And – like everywhere in Myanmar – stray dogs all around. Sometimes you meet whole puppy packs. In any case, your gaze should not only be directed towards the sky when walking in awe between the pagodas.
The place of worship itself seems almost modest amidst thousands of pagodas. Very beautiful anyway.
Not so nice, however: the more or less latent prevailing non-equality of women in and around religious sites. But that’s not just a problem in Myanmar or Southeast Asia (which of course doesn’t make it any better).
Weavers and Lathe Operators
Much to be done for Myanmar’s women: While the silver workshop still employed roughly the same number of women and men, most of the other trades are predominantly women.
In the tiny cigar workshop just around the corner – just around the canal, respectively – three workers roll the cigars out of greenish tobacco leaves. At the front of the tasting table is the one who speaks and sells to the tourists. And at the back sits granny, maybe the owner, who watches the action (and especially the tourist with the curious camera) with her sharp little eagle eyes.
Final Destination: Monastery
After a long day on the lake we finally reach the Nga Phe Kyaung monastery. Also on piles on the southwestern edge of the lake, it enchants with magnificent Buddha figures and a spacious main hall.
And of course there are the ubiquitous souvenir stands. The relationship between religion and commerce in Myanmar is relatively relaxed.
And the relationship between religion and playing kids anyway.
What a day! After more than 7 hours on Inle Lake, we return tired but blissfully back to Nyaung Shwe – and fly early in the morning to the next adventure: Bagan.
