Tour Highlights
- Visit a colorful local morning market where local ethnic people come to trade
- Observe the Inthar traditional silk weaving techniques, leg rowers and daily life of fisherman on the lake
- Discover Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda infamous for its richly gilded Buddha Images
- Visit to Ngaphechaung monastery also known as jumping cat monastery
- Explore a beautiful Kakku Pagoda complex in Indein
- Pick up from and drop off at your hotel in Inle Lake or Nyaung Shwe Jetty
- Tour duration is approximately 9-10 hours
Itinerary
We will pick you up from your hotel around in Inle Lake or at Nyaung Shwe Jetty at 8AM before heading to a colourful regional market if coincide with the market day that is held on a 5 day rotation basis in different area of the lake.
After visiting the market, we will explore the vast and breathtakingly beautiful lake surrounded by mountains which is home to the stilt-housed villages, floating farms and gardens, island bound Buddhist Temples and monasteries and encounter the daily life in the lake including the unique leg-rowing style and fishing method of the Inthar, floating gardens used as vegetable plantation.
Our Inle Lake highlight includes a visit to Phaungdaw Oo Pagoda the most venerable pagoda on the lake famous for its richly gilded five small Buddha images, and Ngaphechaung monastery also known as jumping cat monastery which was built more than one and a half century ago and features a number of interesting old Buddha Images. We will also visit Inn Paw Khone village with Lotus petal robe & silk weaving looms, paper and cheroot rolling local cottage factories.
After lunch, proceed Inn Dein Village on the south western bank of the lake via a small canal. Inn Dein Village is home to Pa-Oh ethnic group and we can visit the local community to observe their way of life. You can also visit to the 16th century Kakku Pagoda complex also known as Shwe Inn Dein Pagoda complex on a hill with ruined clusters of some 1054 pagodas covered by tree and bushes. From here, you can enjoy the amazing view of the surrounding lake. The tranquil peaceful ambience and the ruins overgrown with bushes will bring you centuries back.
Return to your hotel in Inle Lake or Nyaung Shwe Jetty if you are staying in Nyaung Shwe.
Services include:
- Boat trip as per itinerary
- English speaking licensed tour guide
- Government taxes and service charge
Services exclude:
- Indein entrance fee
- Inle Lake Zone Fee
- Lunch, meals & drinks
- Personal travel insurance
- Tips & gratuities for guide and driver
- Surcharges if any (increasing of fuel charges, admission fee, Christmas & New year with prior notice)
- Other services not mentioned in the above service inclusion
Highlights:
Inle Lake
Inle Lake (880 metres above sea level) is the second largest fresh water lake in Myanmar, covers an area of approximately 116 square kilometres. The largest fresh water lake in Myanmar is Indawgyi Lake (link “Indawgyi Lake” to “Indawgyi Lake Wildlife Sanctuary Tour” detail page) in Kachin State. Inle Lake is located in Nyaung Shwe Township in southern Shan State and part of Shan Hills. Average depth is about 2.1 metres in dry season and it could be increased by another 1.5 metres in the rainy season. The lake drains through the Nam Pilu or Balu Chaung on its southern end. There is also a hot sprint on its north western shore.
Inle Lake is home to Intha people and famous for the leg rowers, who stand upright at the stern of their boats their boats and paddle with one leg wrapped around the oar. The population of the lake also consist of Shan, Taungyo, Pa O, Danu, Kayah, Danaw and Bamar (Burmese) ethnic groups. Most of them are devout Buddhist and are largely self-sufficient famers. They live in simple houses made of wood and woven bamboo on stilts. The sight of fishermen at work on the lake is one of the most photographed images by the visitors. Fishermen do their fishing with conical fish traps that are thrust into the water and held down with one foot while the netting is freed from the conical frame with a pole. Many of whom live off the lake by farming, “floating gardens” made up of aquatic vegetation, composted foliage and soil which is staked to the lake bottom with bamboo poles.
Visitor attractions in the lake includes rotating market runs on a five-day cycle in different regions of the lake, market goers with colourful different ethnic costumes, artisans and cottage factories that produce hand-woven silk and fabric, Shan bags, jewelry, hand-formed metal work and cheroot.
The lake is also well-known for its “rotating market runs on a five-day cycle” with Shan ethnic people; its artisans, and its cottage factories that produce hand-woven silk and fabric, Shan bags, jewelry, hand-formed metal work and cheroot.
The typical day trip in Inle Lake includes a visit to Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda (which houses Buddha images that have had so much gold leaf rubbed on them that they almost look like gilded eggs), the hand-woven silk factory, the blacksmith workshop, the Cheroot factory, the silversmith workshop and Ngaphechaung monastery (also known as jumping cats monastery) which has a collection of old ware religious artefacts.
Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda festival is a very important religious ceremony usually held in later
September and early October. The four of five Buddha images was taken on a ceremonial raft for a round tour within the lake and it is very splendid.
Indein Pagoda compound is located on the western part of the Lake and accessible along narrow creek. It is surrounded by the cluster of ancient stupas in the bushes. On the boat journey to Indein, visitors can observe the way of life in the countryside, the farms, buffalos, women washing clothes and kids swimming in the creek.
Inle Lake & Indein – Images
