Inle Lake is one of the must visit places in Myanmar, it is located in the large state Shan in northern Myanmar. Much of Shan state is off limits to tourists, in fact, it is impossible for a tourist to travel by land to the Thai border from here, and for good reason too, since much of the area is infested with rebels, skirmishes with the military are not uncommon. The lake itself is a large but shallow lake nestled on in the Shan mountains. The cooler climate and the unique Intha people in Inle make it a major tourist draw, and by major meaning more than a few tourists, still the maddening tourists crowds of other countries are nowhere to be seen.
That was probably an understatement, since I waited for four days for a companion to share the Inle Lake trip with me. The nice French lady was seated behind me while our guide/boatman sat behind the boat. We are speeding through the placid waters of Inle Lake as the river channel in Nyaungshwe grows wider and wider until we are truly on the lake itself. It was more like entering the sea since the lake is quite vast.
This early there were already people on the lake and it was all local fishermen. What makes Inle Lake so famous, is the unusual way that the boatmen row. They use one hand to hold the oar and one leg to grab lower part of the oar and row. This leg rowing I think it is a much easier way of rowing since the leg is much stronger than the arm. With the shallow lake, they can practically drag the boat across the lake using this method. Additionally, rowing with one leg frees up the other hand to do something else, like handle nets. I also find it rather amusing how they would all stand perilously close to the edge of the boat.
Our boat was equipped with a motor and is noisily speeding along Inle Lake until we hit the group of fishermen. It was at that point that our boatman turned off the engine and we were just floating aimlessly just watching the fishermen go about their business. There were hardly any waves here and it is great to see such a large but largely calm body of water. Only the occasional motor boat would break the transquility of this place.
At this point, I thought the trip was already worth it, but this was just the beginning of our exploration of Inle Lake. I can’t wait to see the rest!
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