Inle Lake, Myanmar by Asiatravel.com

Asiatravel.com offers over 500,000 Hotels, Flights, Travel
Packages, Tours & Attractions up to 75% discount. All with
last minute availability & instant confirmation plus up to
5% cash rebate exclusively for our customers.

For more information visit http://www.asiatravel.com

Inle Lake (Burmese: ; IPA: [ínlé kàn]) is a freshwater lake located in the Shan Hills in Myanmar (Burma). It is the second largest lake in Myanmar with an estimated surface area of 44.9 square miles (116 km2), and one of the highest at an altitude of 2,900 feet (880 m). During the dry season, the average water depth is 7 feet (2.1 m), with the deepest point being 12 feet (3.7 m), but during the rainy season this can increase by 5 feet (1.5 m).

The watershed area for the lake lies to a large extent to the north and west of the lake. The lake drains through the Nam Pilu or Balu Chaung on its southern end. There is a hot spring on its northwestern shore.

Although not a large lake, there is a number of endemic species. Over twenty species of snails and nine species of fish are found nowhere else in the world. Some of these, like the silver-blue scaleless Sawbwa barb (Sawbwa resplendens), the Crossbanded dwarf danio (Microrasbora erythromicron), and Inle danio (Inlecypris auropurpurea), are of minor commercial importance for the aquarium trade

The best time of the year to visit is during September and October. The ceremonial Hpaung Daw U Festival, which lasts for almost three weeks, is closely followed by the Thadingyut festival of lights. Inthas and Shan turn out in their best clothes in great numbers to celebrate the Buddhist Lent. Traditional boat racing, with dozens of leg-rowers in Shan dress in a team on each boat, is a famous event during the Hpaung Daw U Festival.

Inle Lake is a major tourist attraction, and this has led to some development of tourist infrastructure. Many small and large privately owned hotels and tour operations have arisen during the past few years. Local shops are flooded with consumer items, both local and foreign. The nearest airport is Heho which is 35 km away. There are flights from both Yangon and Mandalay. Yangon is 660 km distant by road, Mandalay 330 km.

Inle Lake is in the heart of Shan State, which has been the location of much of the civil and political strife over the last two decades. Political imprisonments and disappearances are common. Significant debate exists regarding the moral implications of spending your tourist dollars or Euros here.

Info Taken from Wikipedia.com
Credits to Wikipedia.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inle_lake

Main