Before uniting with the rest of Burma in the 1950's, Inle Lake rested in the heart of Shan State. This is a very large area which had been ruled by the Shan people for hundreds of years. Their leader was known as a Sao Pha, or Lord, and this was the palace of the last Sao Pha, Sao Shwe Thaike, who lived and ruled from here until the 1950's, when he was placed under house arrest and the Shan State was forced to accept Burmese rule. Honoring Shan heritage is not popular with the current regime, due to their independent and rebellious history, and so this whole place was looking very underkept when I was there. Weeds growing from cracks in the building, everything boarded and locked up. I wiggled through an opening in the rusty and busted up old fence surrounding the grounds and walked around for a closer look. It felt eerily alive for a place that was so obviously abandoned and neglected. My friend says they are opening it soon as a museum. It is worthy.
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