Most Myanmar programs include a visit to lovely Lake Inle. Heho, the small airport, is the gate to this idyll. Sandwiched between two parallel mountain ranges, Lake Inle is Myanmar’s second largest lake and home to several of its peoples. The Shan plateau (1000 m above sea level) with its mild climate has attracted Intha, Pao, Palaung, Danu and – above all – Shan peoples. They live as small farmers in hamlets planting and harvesting rice and sesame seed as well as building little white Buddha pagodas to enhance re-incarnation. The Shan plateau’s fertile red earth favours a leisurely pace of life interrupted only by the excitement of various market days (the markets are a sight-to-be-seen). Heho, Inle, Aungban, Pindaya, Kalaw – all have their markets on a different day – and then it starts all over again. Lake Inle is the centre of this beautiful country, home to the Intha people who are renowned as “legrowers”. Theirs are the famous floating gardens, the floating markets, the floating pagodas, the floating hamlets. The Intha world is at its finest when Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda has its celebrations: a gilded barge takes four small Buddha’s for a blessing to the towns and hamlets surrounding the lake. If you like it serene and quiet don’t miss the excursion by boat to the pagodas of In Dein.