We arrived in Nyaungshwe early in the morning on an overnight bus from Yangon. The VIP bus at $16 each was definitely worth the extra few dollars. We had big comfy seats with a decent amounts of recline and managed to get good rest through the night. We arrived at around 6am, the bus stopping at the entrance to town to let on some guys who sold us our government ‘Inle Lake Zone Pass’ for $20 each. It looked a bit dodgy but it is legit – you do need this ticket.
We got dropped off right in the centre of Nyaungshwe which made a welcome change from being dropped off an inconvenient extra tuk-tuk ride from town. We walked round the corner and were at our hotel in minutes and had even more luck when they had a room ready for us for a very early check in!
The two main ways off sightseeing around the lake are by chartered boats or by bicycle. We opted for bikes on the first day to have a look around and would organise our big boat trip for the following day. Our hotel had bikes for hire (with gears!) so once we had freshened up and found some pancakes for breakfast we hit the road.
Nyaungshwe is at the Northern tip of the lake. The bike trip we did (and would recommend) is to head anticlockwise around the lake. Take in the beautiful scenery on the quiet roads and see the local farms. There are a few climbs to high temples; we tried one but the view from the top wasn’t really worth it.
The lake is pretty huge and the roads don’t hug it so close. Once we hit the village of Kaung Daingo we sought out a water taxi. There are guys waiting in the road here – they know the deal and will sort you out with a ferry across the lake. We were ready to haggle heavily for the price but it turns out many Burmese can’t be bothered with this and like to just offer a fair price to begin with (but not always!). We actually offended a couple of drivers by trying to haggle too low! Anyway we paid $7 for the trip for two (including bikes, obviously).
The ferry ride was a cool introduction to the lake. We skirted across the northern end, passing fishermen, small cargo boats and other ferries. The size of the lake was now obvious too – it’s a huge mass of water and the hub of all life in the area.
Once across the other side we walked our bikes down a long jetty back to shore. The midday heat was kicking in so we stopped for a drink break. It’s worth noting however that thanks to its elevation, the midday heat round Inle Lake isn’t quite as run-for-cover hot as the rest of Myanmar – it’s hot but manageable.
Following an aborted attempt to climb up to a hill temple (too hot) we continued around the lake and passed by some farms with huge fields of sunflowers.
Eventually we reached our lunch destination: The Red Mountain Vineyard. It may come as a surprise to some but on the hillsides here they actually produce wine. The vineyard has a decent restaurant attached and with lunch Ali tried a tasting selection of the wines.
Horrid was the verdict. And Extremely dry (even the sweet offering!). Ah well at least we tried.
We got back on our bikes a little wobblier than before. The cycle up to the vineyard was an absolute bitch of a climb, but that meant that whizzing back down the hill was the most fun part of the day – I felt 10 years old again!
It was another 30 minutes or so until we hit Nyaungshwe again and gave the bikes back, a pretty satisfactory outing considering we spent the whole previous night on a bus! There’s so much to do in Myanmar, you can’t spend all day in bed.