The Phaung Daw Oo pagoda festival is held during the Burmese month of Thadingyut; the 7th month of the Burmese lunar calendar (October/November). This eighteen day festival is the most important annual festival in Shan State.
With a spectacular procession of boats, four effigies of Buddha are removed from their shrine (the Phaung Daw Oo pagoda) and placed on the Royal Karaweik barge.
The barge is towed by long boats crewed by up to a hundred Inle Lake oarsmen, each dressed in colorful costumes.