Inle Lake - set among the picturesque Shan Hills - provided a wonderful respite from the hustle and heat of Mandalay and Yangon.
Besides admiring the narrow (18 miles long, 5 miles wide) lake's blissful setting, most visitors come to witness the one-legged rowing style of the native fisherman or to drift through the dozens of canals threading Inle's ingeniously tethered floating gardens.
A day-long boat trip captures many of the lake's highlights but casual rambles to some of the nearby villages uncover the lake's real charms - its people.
Date(s): July 2007. Album by David Kohl. Photos by David Kohl & Ross Rosenberg. 1 - 29 of 29 Total. 4578 Visits.
Inle Lake View of small canal off Inle Lake and the surrounding mountains.
Fisherman on Inle Lake A typical carved teak fishing boat with its conical fishing net.
Typical house on Inle Lake Although located in the Shan State, most of the people who live on the lake are Mon people known as Intha (Sons of the Lake).
Inle Lake Fisherman
Rowing technique Inle fishermen have developed a unique rowing style using only one leg - leaving the arms free to handle the fishing net.
Inle fisherman Fisherman poised to start rowing the one-legged style.
Market in Nyaungshwe The floating gardens of Inle Lake yield a surprising array of crops. For example, tomatoes are able to be grown year round the in the Inle Lake region.
Boat loaded with locally grown tomatoes The soil for the gardens is dredged from the bottom of the lake. It is then laid upon a thicket of water hyacinths. The newly created land is then anchored to the lake bottom through a series of bamboo poles.
Rice ready to be harvested
Close up The rice harvester's face is almost totally hidden by the rice sheafs.
Phaung Daw Oo Paya The most sacred religous site on the lake. This temple houses the five buddha statues - four of which are transported around the lake during an annual September/October festival.
Buddha statues Buddhists are shown here applying gold leaf sheets to the Buddha statues. The statues have increased in size because of the numerous gold leaf applications. The original outlines of the Buddhas are no longer discernible.
Local women
Shwe Inn Thein, Indein At the top of the hill outside the village of Indein is an impressive collection of eroded stupas that are partially shrouded by the jungle.
Detail at Indein
Padaung woman Padaung women have traditionally worn brass rings around their necks, wrists and ankles. The neck rings effectively push down their shoulders to give the illusion of a long neck.
Padaung woman More rings are added to the neck pieces as a girl ages. The weight of all the rings can exceed 50 pounds. Westerners commonly refer to these women as the "giraffe" women because of their long necks.
Extracting lotus fiber If you look carefully you can see the thin fiber being extracted from the lotus stalk. The fiber is used to weave very expensive scarves and other clothing items.
Lotus plant detail This is an empty stalk showing the areas where the fibers have been removed.
Cheroot factory Young women rolling "cheroots" - thick tobacco cigarettes - popular with the Burmese.
Jumping Cat Monastery When the monks at this monastery are not meditating, they train their cats to jump through hoops.
Pai An Gyi temple Pai An Gyi pagoda is a 10-minute walk from Nyaungshwe. The over 30-feet high Buddha is enclosed within the temple's crumbling walls.
Truck in Nyaungshwe Who needs a hood!
Restaurant sign in Nyaungshwe Shan food is the local specialty. Look closely at the sign to see all the geckos. (Htoo Htoo is a local bird nicknamed the "talking bird".)
Street celebration In honor of the full moon festival that coincided with our stay, this small parade wound through the streets of Nyaungshwe.
Dancing elephant The Full Moon Festival in July marked the beginning of the Buddhist Lent. During this three-month period, monks concentrate on studying literature and refrain from leaving their monasteries except to gather alms.
