Princess of Inle Lake — Guardian of Myanmar’s Inle Lake

Princess of Inle Lake — The Princess Who Guards Myanmar’s Inle Lake

The sun rising over still water shines a light on how people treat nature. This is a resort that answers the call for sustainable stays, offering a microscopic yet poetic holiday on Myanmar’s Inle Lake.

Words Lee Kiseon
Photos Yoon Jeongvin

Nyaung Shwe is the town that embraces Myanmar’s Inle Lake, and one of its finest restaurants is inside the Inle Princess Resort. Beneath the soft glow of traditional Shan paper lanterns, guests leaf through a menu styled as a traditional book: handmade paper folded accordion-style between lacquerware covers.

Throughout a dinner that begins with a lotus-leaf wrap and ends with sorbet served in a bird’s egg set atop a piece of lacquerware, glasses are kept filled with local wine. Every dish is made with ingredients from the hotel’s own farm and the Inle Lake region. The long meal ends only well after the lake outside the restaurant windows has sunk into darkness. “Shall we go watch the sun rise over Inle Lake at dawn tomorrow?”

Yin Myo Su asks playfully. She is the founder of the hotel and the head of Inle Heritage, a nonprofit that protects the nature and culture of the Inle Lake region. It is a tempting offer, but everyone laughs it off as a joke. After all, everyone who comes to Myanmar watches the sunrise every day (today included): at Shwedagon Pagoda, the country’s most famous, and on the plains of Bagan, where temples are scattered across the land. Besides, a boat tour of the lake was scheduled for the next morning. The lighting in my freestanding bungalow, which faces the mountains, was so dim that I couldn’t even read, so I fell asleep right away.

Opened in 1998, the Inle Princess Resort is a modern lodging in the Inle Lake region. The fishermen who row with their legs are only one of the lake’s kaleidoscopic facets. Myanmar is a country made up of 135 ethnic groups, and the countless coves and bays of Inle Lake have likewise been home to a variety of ethnic communities for generations. The Shan, who make up the majority of the population of Shan State, are counted among Myanmar’s more exotic peoples. In history and lineage they are closer to Thailand, and between Myanmar and Thailand they have long preserved their own language and culture. “Inle Lake is a one-of-a-kind place in the world. A way of life and a culture found only here have been passed down in this region. Where else could you see leg-rowing, lotus-fiber weaving and floating gardens?” explains Yin Myo Su, who was born and raised on Inle Lake.

The Inle Princess Resort was founded to protect the region’s distinctive nature and culture. For that reason, sustainability is not an accessory but an operating principle. A portion of its operating profits is invested in projects for the local community, such as building bridges and supporting hospitals. It also backs Inle Heritage and, quite literally, produces every element of the hotel locally: traditional Shan architecture, fabrics, ceramics, furniture, paper, organic amenities and even its warm, friendly staff (Yin Myo Su also runs a hospitality school for local students). The hotel uses no plastic, is self-sufficient in all its water, including drinking water, and saves energy through traditional ventilation techniques and palm-leaf insulation. Each of the 36 bungalows spread across the spacious grounds comes with recycling bins and a bird-watching kit. Even the sanitary bags in the bathrooms are made of recycled paper rather than plastic. A boutique carefully curated with works by local artisans and a temple-like spa show that little-known local traditions can be developed in a way that is trendy, and even stylish.

Every moment of my stay at the Inle Princess Resort rose to a poetic plane: the texture of the ceramic cup of grain tea handed over at the dim reception desk; the ripples in the crystalline water of the outdoor pool lined with pure white beach beds; the midday countryside framed like a picture in the bungalow window; the birdsong drifting up to the terrace, which faces distant fields and mountains. It was an utterly unexpected, distinctly Myanmar aesthetic. I wanted to linger in that microscopic world for as long as I could. All the while, my conversation with Yin Myo Su drifted through my mind: that she will never forget Inle Lake, her roots, or the people here, and that her only motivation for continuing this work is to be someone the next generation can be proud of.

The next morning, the boat departs from the resort’s pier. After a floating temple and a lotus-fiber weaving village, the last stop is Inthar Heritage House, run by Inle Heritage. Built as a stilt house from reclaimed timber, it holds a sustainable restaurant, a gallery and a shelter for Burmese cats. I meet Yin Myo Su again. She takes out her smartphone and shows me the sunrise she photographed from a small boat at dawn today: a dazzling sun rising beyond lotus flowers and a fisherman rowing with his leg. So last night’s invitation was 100 percent serious.

Inle Princess Resort:    www.inle-princess.com