Spending only two nights at Inle, my first day was a typical tourist’s agenda for one of the most popular tourist sights in Myanmar. Renting a bike from my hotel ($1.45), I biked to the expansive lake and hired a boatman to take me around the lake for about six hours. The lake itself is home to a large community of people who live in wooden and bamboo homes raised up on stilts through the shallow lake. Along the ride we viewed fishermen laboring for the daily catch, school children playing on a grassy island where their school is located, and many locals taxiing through the lake on wooden canoes. The lake itself is stunningly beautiful with mountains that run parallel along both sides of the lake.
After getting more Vitamin D than an average Chicagoan gets all winter, I leisurely biked over to the Red Mountain Winery, which is one of two wineries in all of Myanmar, to unwind after my rather stressful day of lounging on a boat. Tasting four different wines all for the price of $2.00, I joined a few Europeans to watch the sun slowly retreat behind the mountains giving way to brilliant oranges, pinks, and purples.
The next day I again rented a bicycle and spent the day biking around the other side of the lake. I ended the afternoon by relaxing at a natural hot spring.
While Inle Lake is one of Myanmar’s most popular tourist destinations, the quantity of tourists pales in comparison to even the most average sight in Thailand. Nonetheless, the area still felt very touristy with people hawking different souvenirs and tourist services at you. But in the end, I left Inle Lake feeling fortunate that I was able to view such a beautiful area.
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