A boat tour on Inle Lake is probably the reason why people come here in the first place and therefore shouldn’t be missed. Many different tours are availiable on the lake, so check out which one would be best for you.

Your boat tour on Inle Lake

A boat tour on Inle Lake for sunrise

Let’s start with sunrise. You can haggle down a boat to 6000 MMK if you are on your own to just bring you to the beginning of the lake, where you watch the sunrise and can observe the first few fishermen with a mystical mist from the morning dawn around them. When the sun is up, the driver will bring you back to Nyaung Shwe on a 20min ride.

Inle Lake for sunset

You can have the same at sunset but this time the lake and it’s surroundings might have an orange or golden hue.

A boat tour to the second lake

You can hire or share a boat for 40000 MMK for a day trip to the second lake. If you have already done the day tour on Inle Lake but still haven’t had enough time on the water, this tour will take you across Inle Lake and further up the canals into the second lake. That area is less touristy and you can observe the life of the locals.

A day tour on Inle Lake

This is the most popular option to see Inle Lake by boat. Technically it only lasts abut five hours but you will probably be tired enough from the exposure to the sun and all the impressions you gained at the different stops. One boat costs between 15k and 25k MMK depending on how many people you are (up to five can share a boat) and how good you haggle. If you want to include Inedin with its many stupas on your trip it will be at least 20k since it’s far at the other end of the lake.

Finding people for your boat tour on Inle Lake

I didn’t want to spend the day alone and therefore tried to find people to share a boat with. Since it was low season it proofed rather difficult to find others for sunrise. Hence, I stayed in bed and walked to the main bridge later in the morning. I waited for about five minutes and then I saw an Asian couple walking toward the bridge. I said to the guy who was already talking to me and tried to sell me his tour that perhaps these people would share a boat with me.

“No, they are Burmese, they don’t speak English”, he said.

Just then, the lady crossed the road to my side and asked me in good English whether I wanted to share a boat with them. Turns out that they are from Yangon and also sightseeing up here. She speaks English because she had worked at a hotel. 3 stars, she said proudly. So, I was really lucky to have found local people who weren’t afraid to approach a tourist. For the rest of the day, she translaed to me what our boat driver was saying and I answerd her questions about Europe but mostly happily posed for pictures with her and her boyfriend. It was funny how excited they were to have a white person with them. The price was settled to 15k and the driver had put three chairs and umbrellas into the boat.

 

 

Up the canal from Nyaung Shwe to Inle Lake

With a loud putter the engine of the boat started and we drove about 50 m in the wrong direction of the canal until it was broad enough so that the boat could be turned around. It was nice to swoosh past the pretty Inns and wodden houses along the water. We also passed a few people who were washing themselves along the river. Gradually, there were less houses and more green. Behind the grass or floating gardens the lush green mountains towered in the background.

After about 20 minutes the canal got wider and we entered the lake. This could also be noticed on the fact that there suddenly were more fishermen. One of them did a balancing pose for us. The others weren’t bothered and just crouched at the tip of their boat or rowed away. It was pretty amazing to see how they rowed with one leg wrapped around the oar.

 

Handmade scarfs in a water village

Along we glided over the water. The scenery actually reminded me a lot of the Vierwaldstättersee if there weren’t the colons of smoke from fires from farmers once in a while and if I didn’t look at the houses too closely.  It took us about another 45 minutes to reach the first water village. By then I was already very hot from the sun even though I had my rain umbrella up as a sun umbrella. As nice as this boat riding in the lush nature was, 1.5 hours would have been enough for me. Yet this was only the beginning and the interesting bits started.

Afterward we drove into a water street amidst wodden stilt houses and the driver parked the boat beside a house where two guys were already waiting. We were at a weaving factory. The women created scarfs on bamboo weaving loom. Of courss, afterward we were invited into the shop where we could buy scarfs or clothes in traditional Shan design. A small scarf cost $8 and the most expensive ones (made out of lotus thread) reached up to $150. If something is written in dollars that’s the first sign for me that it is too touristy but the even funnier thing was that you could pay with credit card here. I hadn’t seen one place yet in Myanmar, where you could pay with credit card. But I guess it’s okay to leave the money here if it goes toward them and the community.

 

Next stop a silver shop

Then, we hopped onto the boat again and drove to a different village. These villages were really cool as they can only be reached by boat and the children go to school by boat as well. The next stop was a silver jewelery handicraft shop. A worker explained how silver was made but soon we drove on to the stop my Burmese friends were most looking forward to; the Nga Phe Chaung monastary. It’s the oldest and biggest monastary in the Inle Lake area.

 

Nga Phe Chaung Monastary

To me that temple didn’t look especially nice but apparently it’s a highlight for Buddhists in this region. While my accompagniants were praying I looked at the paintings and the golden statues in the room. Women weren’t allowed to enter the center area of the temple but you could watch on a screen how the men attached leaf gold to statues. Afterward I asked Thé Seint what she prays for in temples. She said that you wish for good health and luck, mostly good luck in business.

On we went to the market behind the temple. Now that I had two people with me who actually understood what was on the menu we soon had several Burmese dishes on the table and they urged me to try everything. I really liked the fried tofu. Myanmar has their own kind of tofu. I didn’t like the dish consisting of green leaves which you always receive for free. Apparently it’s mustard leaves.

 

Long neck women at Inle Lake

 

Then, there was one more stop at another weaving place where ‘long neck’ women worked. There they really just were a tourist attraction but the one of them who spoke English claimed that they like wearing the rings because it’s their tradition and the parents put the first rings on when the girl is nine years old. They started the tradition to make it harder for the tigers to attack them, since they lived out in the jungle. They also had rings around the knees. Like a fact, the woman said that as a benefit they have two pillows to sleep on, to make the neck more stable. Then she smiled. We thanked them for the pictures and got back on our boat for the last time.

 

 

 

Returning into town

We still had a one hour ride ahead of us. Luckily, we got back right before a light rain started. Sightseeing is exhausting! But since it was only about 2 pm I still had time to do something. First, I relaxed with a cold beer in a restaurant with only Burmese men and another international couple and then I got a really good massage  at WIN Spa for 7000 MMK. The woman was pregnant but still worked so hard in this heat while the grandmother was looking after the other two kids in the front of the shop in the meantime. In the end, I even received cookies next to my tea. In the spas and salons they really know how to make a customer feel welcome and relaxed in Myanmar.

That was my exciting day on the lake. Do you have any more questions? Post them in a comment.