Inle Lake, Myanmar

​We spent 2 full days in Inle Lake.  I could have been fine with 1, but Colin wanted to explore more on the second day, so it depends on how interesting you find the area.  Lake Inle is the second largest lake in Myanmar.  There are a lot of people that live on the shores and also on the lake itself.  A lot of the houses you see are on stilts on the lake.  They even grow gardens that float on the surface of the lake!  Take a look at this video to get a better idea of what you’ll see in Inle Lake: Boating Inle Lake, Myanmar.

We stayed at the Ostello Bello hostel here, and it was nice (free coffee!!).  The best part of staying here is that if you get in early (we got in at 5 AM on the bus, and check in isn’t until 2 PM), then you can sleep for free in one of the dorm rooms that they have on the top floor.  You get a blanket and a pillow and a nice sized bed.  I would highly recommend them.  They also offer organized tours for the people staying at the hostel.  We did the Ultimate Lake Inle tour for about $12 USD each. 
 
This is the general schedule of the tour, but the times at each stop depend on how long your group wants to stay at that stop:

• Meet at 8:00 AM at Ostello Bello
• Leave around 8:15 AM
• Walk to the boat (15 minutes)
• Ride in the boat for about an hour (8:30 – 9:30 AM)
• Floating Market for 45 minutes (leave at 10:15 AM)
• Couple of minutes to the Burmese Cat Village (Inle Heritage)
• Spend about 45 minutes at Burmese Cat Village
• 15 minutes to lunch
• Lunch, canoe paddling, and break for an hour and a half
• Couple of minutes in the boat
• Weaving shop
• Shop as long as the group wants (about an hour)
• Couple of minutes in the boat
• Some shop for 30 minutes
• Couple of minutes in the boat
• Big Temple for 30 minutes
• Couple of minutes in the boat
• Umbrella making workshop for 30 minutes
• Go to another temple
• 45 minutes to get home
• Back to dock 5:30 PM
• Walk home and back to Ostello Bello by 5:45 PM

 
On Day 2, I stayed at the hostel and worked (good wifi, free coffee), and Colin rented a bicycle to ride around town.  It was pretty old and didn’t work well though, and he didn’t get very far.  We went to a night market for dinner that was super cool (located very close to Ostello Bello).  It was very small for the markets we’ve been seeing, but it seemed more like a local hangout.  There were mainly just different food places that were selling traditional Myanmar foods.  We got some chicken hearts and pork on sticks, but we skipped the chicken feet and other weirder things you could get grilled up.  They also had some delicious noodles at one of the little restaurants.  Worth stopping by for sure!
 
Read more about Myanmar in my overview blog post here, and see our photos here!