One of the most
iconic places that Myanmar has to offer is the large fresh water lake known as Inle
Lake. Located in the Shan State this
shallow lake is roughly 18km in length and surrounded by numerous hills to fill
up the landscape. I wanted to visit this
area for it’s famous floating gardens and leg rowing fishermen but there’s
plenty more to see here. The locals who
reside here refer to themselves as the Intha and under 100,000 people reside
here.
What makes this
community a little different from the others is that they’ve built their
communities on top of the water with numerous stilts and the fact that they
grow their crops on floating gardens on the lake. It reminded me of how Mexico City was once
arranged during their contact with the Spaniards. The only way to get around is by boat and there
are plenty of boat taxis available. Most
of the boat taxi drivers are local fishermen or gardeners who are looking to
supplement their income. The boat seats up to 5 people and to rent them for the day will cost you $20.
My guide showed
me the various types of crops that were grown here and told me that despite
being in the middle of the lake, rodents was the biggest threat to the
crops. With voracious appetites and
being great swimmers the farmers were always concerned with this. Another interesting thing about the floating
gardens was how sturdy they were. I
didn’t believe my guide and she had the taxi driver get out and stand on it to
demonstrate. I was quite impressed I
thought he was just going to fall right through! It’s a beautiful sight to see how they
arranged it and was out roaming for over an hour and half. Along the way you’ll see plenty of long
tailed boats glide across the glassy surface and fishermen slapping the water
to scare the fish into their nets.
One of the other
highlights to see in the Inle Lake area is the famous Phaung Daw U Pagoda. It’s the most revered monastery in the region
and known for housing five ancient images of the Buddha that have had so many
gold leaves placed on it that it is no longer recognizable. The pagoda can only be reached by boat and
you can’t miss it due to the golden stupa on top of it! Dozens and dozens of vendors surrounds the
pagoda so there are plenty of opportunities to get some deals here.
The location of
the 5 Buddha images is in the center of the pagoda and kept in an ornate shrine
with a pedestal. The devout come every
day to pray and pay their respects by applying the gold leaf to the
images. Only men are permitted to do
this. The images are said to have been
brought to the Inle Lake area by Alaungsithu, the King of the Bagan Empire in
the 12th century who was known to be a devout Buddhist.
Not to far from
the Phaung Daw U Pagoda is the boat shelter where the Karaweik boat is
stored. This royal boat is immaculate
and used to carry 4 of the 5 Buddha images in procession across the lake during
the Phaung Daw U Pagoda festival every Oct/Nov.
Although I didn’t get to witness it because I was here in January this
18 day festival is a huge event. In a
caravan of boats 4 of 5 are removed from the shrine and then placed on the
Royal Karaweik barge. Long boats manned
by up to a hundred leg rowers dressed up in elaborate and colorful costumes tow
the barge. The Royal barge stops at 14
villages around Inle Lake, where the images stay in the main monastery for one
night. Another attraction of the
festival are the long boat races where the rowers standing upright and row with
oar attached to one leg.
The opening
hours are from 8am-6pm and the admission price is free! You will have to leave your shoes behind and
must dress appropriately too.
The other place
of interest to check out is the Nga Phe Kyaung Monastery. Made of teak wood and the largest and oldest
in the area it’s also known as the Jumping Cat Monastery. Many years ago the head Buddhist monk taught
the cats to jump through hoops to help pass the time. It slowly attracted a tourist following and
up until about 5 years ago they stopped training the cats to jump. Instead, it should be referred to as the
Napping Cat Monastery since that’s all I saw when I was there.
Despite the lack
of acrobatic felines there are plenty of statues there that are worth admiring
and you’ll also see plenty of monks studying too. Come for the ambience and designs but that’s
about it. The scenery of the surrounding
is quite nice too.
Happy traveling
and definitely bring the sunblock.
