Inle Lake

We hired a boatman, who would take us out sightseeing in Inle Lake from 12 noon until dusk. Since we only had half a day to spend, the boatman could only bring us to the nearby attractions. At least, it was better than nothing!

We walked from the tour agency opposite our hotel towards the jetty, a short trip that took us around 15 minutes, and ended up boarding a boat around 20 feet long, powered by a diesel engine. The boat steered itself from the jetty, out into the lake, under the hot baking sun! Still, the views were worth it.

We were welcomed by boats passing by, most of them loaded with foreign tourists, and only a couple by local Shan villagers. Across the distance, we could see the fabled Intha fishermen paddling their boats with oars clutched in their legs. As we continued further, we were welcomed by an Intha villager who started parading and posing on his boat, and that made me a bit suspicious. Eventually my suspicions were true, as he started begging for money after my buddy took a few shots of him parading. Since he already paid, he might as well took more photos then!

Our first destination was Nga Phe Kyaung temple, which was another tourist trap. The outer courtyard of the temple was packed with souvenir stalls, sellings things that I would not want to buy; antiques, silverware, wood crafts, etc.. Having visited a long list of temples and pagodas, I was not really impressed with this temple. So after a short visit, we had lunch at a local Shan restaurant next to it, and like other tourist traps, it was not really cheap but still relatively affordable.

After that, we hopped on our boat and our boatsmen cum guide took us for a short stride to the Tha Le Oo floating village where the villagers grow their vegetables on floatsams. We were not that interested to visit the overrated Leaping Cat Temple, so after the floatsam, we had a rest in a deserted floating restaurant in the middle of the lake, which now serves as a rest stop for tourists of all sort, while waiting for the sun set.

After lingering for two hours there, the sun finally set in; we hopped on our boat while our boatsman gently steered the boat to the middle of the lake, allowing us to take a few snapshots before we headed back to the NyaungShwe, where we foraged for food instead. 

I virtually felt like collapsing after we reached our hotel. We had a horrible bus ride the night before, and it was certainly comforting to be in our wonderous cosy little hotel!