Inle Lake Boat Tour Chronicles Part 1 – Arranging Our Trip

We arrived in Nyaung Shwe around 5 in the morning and searched for hostels with the help of the taxi that we rode at the junction. After almost half an hour driving around town and looking for the cheapest place that we could stay in, we decided to check in with Gypsy Inn.

Gypsy Inn offered us a $20 room at the ground floor of the main building where their reception is located. They said that they have cheaper rooms on the other building unfortunately they didn’t know if someone will check out that day. Since we came from an overnight trip from Yangon, we decided to just book the room so we could rest.

While checking in, we also met a couple of travelers who just arrived as well. We chatted for a bit while the reception was cleaning our rooms and we have decided to go on boat tours together. The guy that we were talking to had visited Inle Lake in the past and told us about various places that we could go. We agreed to book the boat tour together so we could share the cost. We booked two days of boat tour, the first day is a trip to Sangkar District (I can’t remember how much this cost us but I think it’s less than $30 per boat) and the second day a trip to Indein and other nearby attractions (cost around $15 per boat). A boat has a maximum capacity of five people so for budget travelers, it’s really a great idea to share the tours with others so you could save some money.

After booking the tours with Gypsy Inn, we agreed to just meet the following morning for the boat tour.

After we had our breakfast at around 7AM, we immediately went to the marina where our boat was waiting. It was very cold that morning, luckily the boat had some thick blankets available for everyone on board. In case you’re planning for a trip to Inle Lake, make sure to check the weather on the date of your trip to make sure that you could bring some jackets with you if needed be.

As soon as we started cruising towards Inle Lake, we came across a lot of waterbirds. I saw a sign on the right side of the waterway and found out that the it’s a wildlife sanctuary. It’s said that there are 37 species of birds, 27 species of wetland birds, 14 species of migratory birds, 40 species of freshwater fishes, otters and turtles and other animals that can be found in this area.

As soon as we exit the waterway that connects the lake to the town of Nyaung Shwe, we were welcomed by some local fishermen. Our boat stopped for awhile and we all took some pics of the fishermen and their iconic way of paddling the boat while fishing (using nets and other tools). I was ecstatic to see them since I’ve seen so many pictures of them already and have read about them. Although I noticed that the fishermen posing in front of us were not really fishing but just posing in front of all the tourists that visit this place. Maybe the income generated from tourism is better compare to what they get from fishing. Although this was not the case when we went further down towards Sangkar as most fishermen we saw were still paddling their boat using their feet even when there were no cameras around them.

While observing the way that the fishermen paddle their boat, you can’t help but notice how graceful they were and I was really amazed on how they could balance themselves standing at one side of their boat while maneuvering it with their right leg (and a paddle of course) and both of their hands were busy with a fishing net and other fishing tools. If it were me, I would have fallen the second I stand on the boat LOL! 😉

As we continued on, we saw more wild ducks and other waterbirds on the lake. It was funny to see the wild ducks as the boats get near them. They scrambled and it looked as if they were running on top of the water while flapping their wings until they get to finally fly. It’s amazing to see how much life this lake supports and I hope that it remains clean for more years to come.

As we navigate our way towards the waterway that connects Inle to Sangkar, we passed by a lot of interesting stuff along the way such as an entire floating village, fishermen harvesting freshwater seaweeds, monasteries and more.

Here are more pictures that I took on our way to Sangkar:

Beautiful Sunrise!

A small pagoda in the middle of the lake

Yeah you can take a hot air balloon instead 😉

Local Merchants

Harvesting Freshwater Seaweed

Floating Village

A Monastery

After a few hours of cruising the lake towards Sangkar, we got stranded for a couple of hours in one area due to the presence of so many water plants that blocked the way. No boats were able to passed through for a couple of hours.

Check out my other posts about Inle Lake:

Nyaung Shwe – Gateway to Inle lake
Inle Lake Boat Tour Chronicles Part 1 – Arranging Our Trip
Inle Lake Boat Tour Chronicles Part 2 – Stranded
Inle Lake Boat Tour Chronicles Part 3 – Takhaung Mwetaw Paya
Inle Lake Boat Tour Chronicles Part 4 – Floating Ruins of Sangkar
Inle Lake Boat Tour Chronicles Part 5 – A Visit to the Local Market
Inle Lake Boat Tour Chronicles Part 6 – Ancient Ruins of Indein
Inle Lake Boat Tour Chronicles Part 7 – Monasteries Overload