Myanmar - Part III
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Our first activity that we wanted to do in the Inle Lake area was to take a boat tour. This was the standard way of sightseeing on the lake, and since all of the locals used boats for everything already then it would be doing it as the locals do it. Since Inle Lake is so shallow, many of the villages have been built directly on the lake itself, whether in the form of mud islands with canals between them, or built on stilts directly over the water. Spread throughout the villages are numerous workshops where locals produce a wide variety of goods, through mostly traditional processes. The tourist boat trips typically visit a half dozen or so of these different shops, as well as visiting markets, pagodas and restaurants along the way. Our tour was no different, and we ended up having a great day on the boat.
The town we stayed in, Nyaung-Shwe, is actually located a kilometer or two from the lake itself, separated by some shallow grasslands and marshes. During the high water season (August through November), when the lake climbs another meter and a half, the distance shrinks considerably. However, during lower lake levels, like what we had, there is a long canal that connects the town and the lake. We cruised south down this canal and were in the main, open part of the lake in no time. It was here where we ran right smack into a rainstorm that was charging north across the lake. It was windy, cold and wet. But since we were going opposite directions, we simply huddled under our ponchos and it was over in less than 20 minutes.
Everywhere we looked was an incredible view. Both the natural world, and the local culture, was on full display. Since we had timed our trip more on scheduling availability for us rather than ideal weather, the southwest monsoon was kicking up pretty big off the SW coast of the country, which meant lots and lots of rain throughout Myanmar. Inle Lake was no exception, and we ended up getting rain every place we went. In some places it rained a whole lot, and in some places in rained off and on or in scattered showers. Here in Inle we got some pretty good showers on our first day, but it actually got nice for our last couple days there, when the sun showed up for a bit. This meant a beautiful display of clouds hanging around the mountains, giving the area a very mysterious, ominous feel.
And everywhere there was people. In big boats. In little boats. Tending to floating crop gardens. Tilling mud islands. Fishing. There is simply an explosion of humanity surrounding this lake, and it's neat to see everyone going through their normal every day routines. There is a vast amount of traditional skills and time-honored techniques on display. Most people were quite friendly, and were quick to return a wave. Others started waving first. And yes, some were quite unfriendly, only returning our smiles and waves with glares and scowls. But, that's part of travelling to new places.
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We cruised across the lake and within 30 to 40 minutes of leaving we were at our first stop, a metalsmithing shop. It was here that they molded silver into jewelry, statuettes, flat ware, pendants, and all sorts of other shapes. They had both finished silver products as well as raw stones with silver and other minerals for sale. I spied a nice piece of galena and pyrite and inquired how much, but they tried to tell me that it was real gold and the five-inch stone in my hand was $500. I giggled and said thank you and put it back. There was also a workshop where a guy was making table legs and other things using an old, foot-powered lathe. Pretty incredible to watch!
It was here that we saw a woman with the stacked gold rings around her neck. The women who practice this tradition are part of the larger Kayan people, one of Myanmar and Thailand's ethnic minorities. Although originally from northern Thailand, southern Shan State, and the hills north of Yangon, these women have started to appear in many places around Myanmar as a demand for social tourism grows. Some of these women even make a living by charging tourists to take their photos. Kelsey was sure fascinated with it and was really interested in seeing her. There was also a cute little local girl who was having a fun time with Kelsey, making faces and noises.
It was here that we saw a woman with the stacked gold rings around her neck. The women who practice this tradition are part of the larger Kayan people, one of Myanmar and Thailand's ethnic minorities. Although originally from northern Thailand, southern Shan State, and the hills north of Yangon, these women have started to appear in many places around Myanmar as a demand for social tourism grows. Some of these women even make a living by charging tourists to take their photos. Kelsey was sure fascinated with it and was really interested in seeing her. There was also a cute little local girl who was having a fun time with Kelsey, making faces and noises.
After we had wandered around a bit, we quickly realized that we would be dictating our own pace on this trip, as our boatman, whenever we arrived at a new place, simply wandered off to go hang out with the other boatmen. When we were done wandering we simply waved at him and it was back onto the boat. Our next stop was actually up a small creek a ways in the marshlands on the lake's fringes. Doing so meant going up several small "drops" created by the retention dams that had been built to slow down the erosional power of the creek. Although our huge canoe powered up them without blinking an eye, they were good for a small laugh. Trees soon enclosed us and we were racing up a meandering, small creek. Thrilling and exciting, especially the blind corners!
The next stop was a small town that was actually on land, with only the canal running through town connecting it to the main lake. We strolled around, looking at the markets, enjoying the local culture. I spied a big pack of local cigars in a bag in one of the market sellers' piles, so I inquired about buying one. She laughed and said no. So I asked if I could buy two or three. She laughed again and said no. I asked if I had to buy the whole pack and she said yes. I asked how much: $2. Or 2,000 kyats, the local currency. Now I was the one to laugh, as I was buying the pack. They ended up being quite tasty.
Just outside of town was a monastery with some stupas set on a small hill. With the clouds around it was quite beautiful. We stopped at a small cafe and had a beer, played some cards, and hung out for a while. As we were heading out we got to see one of our favorite 3rd world scenes: a really young boy driving a motobike. In Indonesia we saw a boy of about 8 driving, and we've seen young kids of 12 or 13 driving in Laos, and it's always interesting to see the little guys driving these big bikes like old pros.
Just outside of town was a monastery with some stupas set on a small hill. With the clouds around it was quite beautiful. We stopped at a small cafe and had a beer, played some cards, and hung out for a while. As we were heading out we got to see one of our favorite 3rd world scenes: a really young boy driving a motobike. In Indonesia we saw a boy of about 8 driving, and we've seen young kids of 12 or 13 driving in Laos, and it's always interesting to see the little guys driving these big bikes like old pros.
Soon enough we were back in the boat and headed back down the creek. Past a beautiful monastery, hidden in the trees, back into the lake, this time up through more channels into a small, protected bay, where we came across another village, this one half on/half off of some small mud islands. The next stop was a woodworking facility, where we were able to witness everything from small bowls and statues being made from small word chips, to the full-size canoes (like we were taking that day) being fashioned from large planks of teak. The rich smell of freshly-planed and freshly-cut wood was was thick in the air. We bought a couple of souvenirs and enjoyed watching the locals hard at work. Afterwards, it was a two minute scoot across the bay so we could eat at a restaurant built over the water.
After a standard lunch of noodles, veggies, and meat, we were back in the boat. This time it was about 15 minutes across the lake to another village. Here we got to see two very fascinating workshops. The first one was a tobacco rolling house, where the cigars I had bought earlier were made. It was incredible to watch these women work; they had a big basket of broken up tobacco in front of them, and in less than twenty seconds they took a leaf, put a filter at the end, dropped a bunch of tobacco in it, rolled it, slapped a tiny bit of rice glue on it, and it was done. They said they could make up to 500 a day, each. Incredible. As far as the leaves go, they grow almost everywhere, and the leaves can be harvested pretty consistently without harming the plant. The leaves are then placed between two hot stones for six or seven hours, to dry them out. We saw this process the next day when we were on our trekking trip.
The other workshop was the biggest of them all, and it was for textile and fabric production. Here, the women (and girls) had a nice group process going on. First, they created stands of material from cotton, lotus root, and silk threads. Then, they fashioned these into larger threads with mixes of colors, and then finally they wove those threads into all manner of textiles, from shirts to skirts to scarves to blankets and beyond. All of the machines they used, while incredibly elaborate, were all foot powered, and the pool of women and girls (a big group from age 10 to 70+) all took turns running different machines. The older women were instructing the younger girls and everyone was taking their turns at the different machines. It was incredible to watch the orchestra of movement.
When we were done watching the production, we went next door to the store. Kelsey wanted to buy a scarf made in the workshop, so she chose one from the first rack and asked how much. Without batting an eye, "250 dollars." That one quickly went back but in the back of the store Kelsey eventually found one for a much more reasonable 15 bucks. |
Back on the boat, we headed for our final destination, the village of Kayla. We giggled at this name as it made us think of our friend Cayla Vidmar back home. Kayla (the village, not our friend) consisted of numerous "floating" vegetable gardens. Made up of a whole lot of tomatoes, as well as some other vegetables, some of these gardens are built up on small mud banks rising from the water, although many of them are simply free-floating clumps of vegetation that grow right out of the water. Here the canals were quite small, and our canoe had to be very delicate in manuevering around. At one end of town we stopped to see a monastery that was built on a tiny island. It was pretty standard fare, buddhas, shrines, etc., but was still beautiful. Outside one of the entrances there was a nice platform above the water that had a great view over some fields behind it. We sat down and hung out for a little while, just enjoying the peaceful moment.
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After that it was back to Nyaung Shwe. On the boat ride back the weather was actually pleasant, with the sun coming out for most of the journey. That night we ended up eating at the "Lotus" restaurant, and it was hugely entertaining because the place was jam-packed full of French people. It must have been rated really high on some French travel website, or mentioned in "Burmaine" guidebook (actually saw a lot of those....) because we were the only non-French table there, and there was about 6 different groups of people there besides us. We weren't being racist but certainly got a hoot out of being the only non-Frenchies there. Off to bed early as we had a trek planned the next day and we wanted to be ready to go.
On to Part IV - Trekking....
All photos copyright Kit Davidson, unless otherwise cited.