Day 01
Boat Trip to Samkar and Indein
- Pick up by your Inle Lake tour guide from the hotel after breakfast. Set off on a boat trip to Samkar on the banks of Belu Chaung. All that is left of Samkar are ancient pagodas and monasteries, and the once-buried town is now a village, hidden away from the world and almost forgotten. Nowadays, the area is inhabited by the Pa' O, a hard-working and good-hearted community.
- Cruise through the waters of Inle and head south, beyond Taung, to the village with its old pagodas. Continue to Kyaing Kan village, where monk's robes are woven from fibres pulled from lotus stems, a magical process not known anywhere else in the world.
- Stop at a market, a gathering place for the locals, and see them arrayed in colourful costumes adorned with beads, chains and coins. After that, return toward your hotel from Samkar, located on the lake's western bank.
- On the way to Indein, enjoy the upstream ride through small locks along a narrow stream surrounded by green bamboo forest and paddy fields. Indein village is famous for its old pagodas, with more than one thousand ruinous stupas. It looks like a small Bagan that has been hiding in the bushes for a long time.
