Inle & It's Environs
Inle
 The Inle Lake is the second largest natural lake in Myanmar. The most
famous and significant point of the Shan State is the Inle Lake. It is
located 30 Km to the south of Taunggyi. Inle is a shallow lake - 22 km
long and 10 km across, 900 meters above sea level among the hazy blue
mountains and, has a population of some 150,000. They live on floating
islands of vegetation. Inle Lake, natural and unpolluted, is famous for
its scenic beauty, Paung-Daw-Oo pagoda, floating Garden, floating
colorful market, silk weaving Industries and the unique leg rowing of
the Inthas, the native lake dwellers. The Inthas row their boats
standing upright and with their legs. The floating gardens, where
vegetables and planted, are unique to this area.
Nga Phe Kyaung (Jumping cats Monastery)
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Before building Mandalay Palace, this wooden
monastery was built on stilts over the lake. It is known as the
Jumping cat monastery. The monks there have trained the cats to
jump. The travelers can visit to see the modest collection of Buddha
Images in Shan, Tibetan, Bagan and Inwa Styles. |
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Floating Garden
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Where vegetables and flowers are planted, are unique to this area. This
kind of plantation is unusual one. The travelers can see synthetic plots
of land. There exists thousands of floating garden plots that provides
vegetables to the region. |
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Indein Village
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On the western bank of the lake there is an ancient small village called Indein. The Indein pagoda complex and Inle Lake connected with Indein
creek. The creek is narrow with twist and turn. A Buddha image has
enshrined at a whitewashed Stupa, which is on the summit of a hill.
Below the Stupa around the hill are cluster of hundreds of ancient Stupa
most are ruins overgrown with bushes. The pagoda hill is quiet and calm.
Since the both sides are paddy fields, you can see the farmers ploughing
and harrowing by water buffaloes. At the lunch time while groups of
farmers having lunch the water buffaloes enjoy themselves dipping in the
creek. The travelers can see and study the pagodas, farming sites,
buffalos boys, and village girls wash and swim in the creek. |
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Around the Inle Lake
Taunggyi, the capital of Shan state, is over 1430 meters above sea
level. It is a hilly station, cool and pleasant all the year
round.Taunggyi is known for its scenic beauty and pleasant climate. It
takes about an hour from Taunggyi to Inle. In November, to coincide with
the full-moon festival, the city hosts a fire balloon festival.
Kakku Pagodas
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The Pagoda lies beyond Taunggyi, which is a tourist site, found very
recently. It contains over 2,000 stupas with origins dating back many
centuries. Kakku is in the territory of Pa-Oh people. For many
centuries, the Pa-Oh has lived in peace, cultivating their land and
devoting much of their energy and limited wealth to creating monasteries
and pagodas. The travelers can feel the interesting sight-seeing of
village life along the road to Kakku. The small road across a dozen of
the small pa-o village and green plantations irrigated by stream water. |
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Those who play golf stay there with sightseeing. It is merely a Golf
Resort hotel. The golf course is 18 holes and said to be the best in
that area. |
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The British built Kalaw as a hill retreat the surroundings are
attractive and flawless for walks. It is 1320 meters above sea-level
cool, spring like weather, pine forest, tea plantations and colorfully
clad hill tribes make Kalaw, a natural magnet for tourists. The
travelers can make friends with four ethnic groups: The Palaung, Pa-O,
Danu and Taungyoo, and observe tribal village life. |
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About 45km from Heho is a small town Pindaya, famous for its extensive
limestone caves. It is situated 3880 ft above sea level. Therefore, it
has a cool and pleasant weather. The caves are set deep in the hillside
and at the entrance of it a 15 meter high Shwe U Min Pagoda. The
travelers can pay respect to 8000 Buddha Image made from alabaster,
teat, marble, brick, lacquer and cement. Besides these, the way to the
caves is scene. The banyan trees lied near the Pindaya Lake. |
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