The following video from Youtube shows a typical boat trip in Inle Lake. You can see the way Inthas build their houses on the lake, and what a typical Intha village looks like. Near the end of the video, you will see a group of Inthas working on their boat, standing. Enjoy the scenery of Inle before going there.
In this second video, you can see the Inle’s world famous unique style of fishing. When fishing, Inthas row their boats using one foot while standing on the boat with another foot. They use a large fish net to catch fish while standing and rowing at the same time. This is indeed a very difficult task, both maintaining your balance and rowing at the same time. The reason for rowing standing, according to one of my intha friend, is because of so many water hyacinth growing in the lake water. You cannot see these water hyacinth if you row your boat sitting. Therefore, you have to stand up and row to avoid these annoying water plants. I am not sure whether this explanation is true or not, but my intha friend insisted that this is the actual reason for rowing stand up. Anyway, please enjoy the great videos.