The first thing that comes to the mind about Inle lake is the boat ride. The main attraction that attracts tourists from all over the world. What is it to take a boat ride and what to expect from it.
Well, first of all the boat ride costs around 15000 kyats for a regular tour which excludes Indien village. You might book the boat ride from your hotel or approach a boat owner directly. The boat has 5 seats which are not that comfortable. You also get life jacket and an umbrella.
The boat starts from the point where the water is dirty and the Lake is quite narrow. But as you go along suddenly the lake opens up wide and huge. It's really huge and vast. Around 10 kms wide and 20 kms long, the Lake is amidst the valley of evergreen hills. The sight is worth watching. The boat cruises at about 35 to 40 kmph and the cool inle winds caress through your hair and fondles with it. After a little while you can see the Indien fisherman with their unique style fishing at the edge of their boats. You would definitely want to capture it. As you move along, you will notice huge floating gardens and vegetables growing in the middle of water. Tomatoes grow in plenty in this lake and you can pick up one or two from the plants and enjoy eating it. The first stop generally is at the local market whose location keeps changing everyday. It's a busy and noisy market where locals buy and sell their everyday items. You do have a few tourists shops as well. So if you are looking for a souvenir, you can buy at cheap rates.
There are a lot of stilt houses in the Lake and you can watch the local community life as you move from one village to another. This is what inle lake is all about. The boat rider will take you further to different villages and stop for you to shop. It's all consumer traps and if you are not interested in shopping just move on. There a lot of hype for the girls that wear rings on their neck. They live in the village called Yama. Your boat will stop at a weaving center in this village and all you will see is a couple of those women sitting and weaving. That's it. A few more consumer traps stops are there. The last stop is at the jumping cats monastery. This is a nice monastery and depicts the life of Buddha through a series of paintings. It's really quite inside the monastery and you can take your time and relax. While returning back take in the magnanimous view of the wide and vast lake and the green hills afar.
To be honest it's a good experience taking a boat and watching the local life. But I strongly feel it's a bit overrated. It's not unique anymore to find plantations amidst the lake. Plus the consumerism traps kills all the excitement. You can enjoy the same or better experience on Dal Lake, India where the lake is much higher and mountains even higher.
But at the same time you can't avoid it altogether as you would want to take the boat ride just for the sake of doing it.
Alternatively, you can take a bicycle and explore the city and the nearby villages.
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