Pauk Par Village, Inne Lake

It was a surprise to give a pair of glasses to a Paudaung woman with 23 neck rings, because the Padaung come from Kayah State, but there were four women working at Inle Lake and one of them needed glasses.

We were on our way to give away more glasses at a particularly poor Intha village and, as the boatman who took us to the Phaung Daw Oo festival is Intha, he was the right person to take us. Inle Lake is approximately 12 miles long by 7 miles wide and our journey would take about an hour to reach Pauk Par village. On the canal leading to the lake we passed huge signs on the banks. First proclaimed Inle Lake as an Asean Heritage Park, the next made us aware of the Inle Lake Wildlife Sanctuary. It is heartening to see the people are taking care of the natural environment. Then came the board announcing the Birds Preservation Area. As if on cue, ducks and herons flew overhead, a moorhen sailed past and a darter positioned itself on a tall post watching for an unsuspecting fish to swim by. 

We puttered down a water hyacinth filled channel in Inle Lake and suddenly emerged into the vast open water. Either side the mountains rose, their tops hidden in the clouds. Villagers’ boats piled high with produce motored down towards the market in Nyaung Shwe. The Intha don’t farm their produce on land, their gardens float on the lake. The men build up long islands of weed and peg them to the bottom of the lake with stout bamboo poles. It is on these platforms that the women grow huge quantities of vegetables: tomatoes, cauliflower, long beans, spring onions and eggplants. The women tend their gardens sitting in canoes, which might be more comfortable than bending over, I thought.

We arrive at Pauk Par, a large Intha village of 200 houses. The houses all stand on high bamboo poles over the water and have woven bamboo walls. Some have thatched roofs but others have corrugated metal ones, which is probably more waterproof in the rainy season.

We stop at the first house, not a poor one judging by the television, electricity and snacks. It was obviously a well-known meeting place, because before long people heard the news that we were giving away glasses and started to arrive. Daw Naq aged 45 was the first. She had a cataract removed from one eye a few months ago after which the doctor gave her sunglasses because, as he said, new glasses would be too expensive and she could not afford them. Daw Naq is a tomato farmer and chose anigyi close up glasses so she could see how her tomatoes were progressing. Daw Kin Soe aged 47 arrived. Two years ago when she was cooking, hot oil splashed in her eye, which is still thoroughly bloodshot. She was sold eye drops but they have not helped her sight. It turned out that our anigyi reading glasses were just right for her and she liked the soft blue and white case kindly made by Cynthia Chadwick.

We could hear loud live music playing outside the house and saw the village’s longboat rowed by 60 men arrive. They had just come back from moving the Hintha boat from one village to the next on its schedule. It will arrive in Pauk Par tomorrow and craftsmen were busy putting the finishing touches to a landing stage made to receive it.

One old man was quite enthusiastic about the glasses and tried on ten pairs. Saya Htay remains unperturbed however many glasses people ask to try on. After trying his tenth he decided he didn’t really need glasses after all! An admirable trait of the people here is that they don’t take glasses because they are a free gift, only if they really improve their sight.

Daw Kin Ma Aye is 50 – though doesn’t look a day over 40. She had malaria a few years ago and a mistake was made with her medicine. Her vision is so poor she cannot tell if she is looking at a man or a woman. She was a teacher, but cannot teach any more so had to retire. Her husband did once have glasses but he is a fisherman and he lost them in the lake. Unfortunately none of our glasses helped him so he went away empty handed. U Lin Myint aged 47 reads Sanskrit verses at the monastery every full moon day. This has become more and more difficult for him. Fortunately, anigyi glasses helped him to read with the text a normal distance from his face.

There is talk of our taking a small canoe to make hand deliveries: the boat in which we arrived is too big to fit into the tiny waterways. 

Meanwhile other people arrive. Daw Kin Myint chooses awegyi glasses as she wants to see who is arriving at her house. The Chairman of the village, U Kaw Win aged 50 hopes we have some anigyi glasses for him. A very, very thin old woman, Daw Hla Kyi is aged 70. She had a cataract operation three years ago but her sight is still hazy. She took awegyi to see far away. Ma Yin Nati is only 15 and a student but she is having trouble reading her school books. She tries only two pairs before she finds ones that help her. U Kan Gyi is 94. He tells us he can still hear and walk but he’d like to be able to read again.

The tiny canoe arrives. I am helped down the steep and irregular bamboo steps. I think I must look like a little old lady and then I realize I am a little old lady!  Ma Tu Zar Lin paddles us to U Tun Linn’s house. He is 78 but still working bamboo. He is slicing ever thinner and sharper strips. Curiously he doesn’t want close-up glasses but wants to be able to see over the water.

We canoe quietly to the next house. I am shoeless sitting on a mat and dying to move to a more comfortable position. However, rocking the boat is not a good idea and anyway I must keep my legs out of view. Even wearing an ankle-length longyi this is not easy.

U Ba Aye aged 74 is a carpenter. He had an accident when working a few years ago and has a bad limp. Our glasses can’t help his infirmity but will improve his day-to-day life. U Tun Hla who is 65 took some awegyi .

We paddle quietly to another house where thankfully I don’t have to climb the stairs: we remain in the boat. The couple don’t have a boat so could not come to us. It is hard to imagine anyone living here can manage without a boat as the whole village is built over water and there is no way to leave your house other than by boat. This is the house of U Ba Pin aged 70 and his wife Daw Yin Wi who is 64. One took anigyi and the other awegyi so they can probably share them.

After our busy morning at Pauk Par where we gave away 17 pairs of glasses from Lesley Whittle and her friends it was time to head back to Nyaung Shwe. We stopped for coffee at a café called Htoo and though it was not lunchtime and we didn’t need to eat, we were very impressed with the menu that included all the vegetables locally grown. Next time we are here, we said.

Our thoughtful boatman called in at a village where four Padaung women worked. Apparently they have to remain here for three years and are then replaced by another four women. They came from Loikaw the capital of Kayah state and must have found it a lonely existence without their family and friends. Two of the women tried the glasses. The one who was weaving, found she could do just as well without glasses as with them! The other woman took awegyi so that she could see down the lake.

We could not leave the Phaung Daw Oo festival without visiting the Phaung Daw Oo pagoda to check whether the fifth Buddha image really was held there alone each year. It was, so for yet another year the Phaung Daw Oo festival is proceeding smoothly and there will be no hurricane thanks to the Buddha image.

The Phaung Daw Oo Buddha Festival

 Yesterday we attended the Phaung Daw Oo Buddha Festival, which takes place every year at Inle Lake, Southern Shan State. The festival includes a procession of 36 boats rowed by hundreds of Intha men leading a huge barge in the shape of Myanmar’s mythical Hintha bird. The Hintha carries four Buddha images around the lake for 26 days so that the villagers can pay homage. We joined the procession at Nyaung Shwe where the images have resided for two days. They were carried reverently from the monastery by a group of officials. People thronged both sides of the road as each image on its own palanquin was carried to the quay.

We arrived at the quay walking on pink lotus strewn carpets and watched the procession arrive. The images are carried by dignitaries dressed in white: Shan trousers, jackets and gaung baung, the special hats they wear for official occasions.

One very old and dignified man in white is helped along by men on either side of him. I was told he was the sawbwa whose title used to be hereditary, but now the community chooses a prominent member of the town.

The crowd stopped jostling and some even stepped back in reverence, others strewed what looked like white popcorn as offerings as the images were carried past. The images appeared heavy as the men lowered them from their palanquins into the boat. However, I was assured they weigh not much more than a kilogram. The images are no longer recognisable as statues of the Buddha. They resemble, as one person said, golden balls. Their rotund almost cuddly appearance is due to the gifts they have been given over the centuries by the population. The gifts are uniformly gold leaf.

The Hintha is towed by another magnificent barge. When it nears the village of Mine Thauk the rope will be cut and a good nat (nats are part of Myanmar’s spirit world) will guide the boat into the village. A good nat or a miracle or a current? Who knows!

In the old days the Hintha visited 6 villages in 6 days staying one night in each. Now the procession visits 22 villages and takes 26 days. It stays a little longer at Nyaung Shwe, because that is where the sawbwa comes from.

As well as Nyaung Shwe, the images will also visit Indein, Heyar, Nanthi, Nampan, Nyaungdaw and Ywargyibanpone. The images must stay at least one night in each place. At the end of the festival, the images must be returned to the Phaung Daw Oo Monastery.

Boats are skimming up and down the lake all vying for a good view of the Hintha. A boat full of Pa-O women, in their distinctive green and blue turbans, are chanting prayers in Sanskrit. A boat full of schoolgirls near them are doing the same.

At the front of the procession longboats with about 60 men in each are rowing in the distinctive Intha way. They row with one leg and one arm thus leaving the other arm free to tend their nets. Along the way, families sit in their boats watching the spectacular flotilla sail past. Some families have gifts to offer to the Buddha.

The Hintha moves off the quay into the main channel heading towards Mine Thauk. Our boatman revs his engine and we are racing down a tiny channel made narrow by enthusiast water hyacinth that grows all around the edges of Inle Lake. It is a scourge in many parts of the world but the people here use it and other weeds as a platform for their floating gardens.

We race on and re-enter the main channel in front of the procession, which is now more than a mile long. All the villagers have come in their boats to watch too. In all, there are more than 100 boats. In addition to rowers, in the middle of each boat, are dancers –all men, as no women are allowed on board. They are bowing and swaying with graceful hand movements to the sound of traditional music of gongs and cymbals. The excitement is palpable.

We see something in the sky. Could it be a good nat (or even a bad nat?)  It turns out to be a drone, maybe taking photos, someone suggests.

Men on the boats wear uniform. All wear Shan pants and tunics, but some have white tunics along with their cinnamon pants. Each boat has coloured umbrellas some white, some green and some gold. Usually gold is reserved for royalty or funerals but here it is allowed for decoration. Not all the boats are rowed by Intha: Shan boatman row in the usual unremarkable way yet they seem just as tired when they pass the entrance to the village of Mine Thauk and they relax on their oars and simply drift to a halt.

In the time of the early sawbwas there were five images that toured the lake by boat. But on one terrible occasion a hurricane erupted, the boat was swamped and one of the images lost. Everyone returned to the Paung Daw Oo Monastery very sadly. But a good nat must have been present. because in the Monastery the people found the missing image. Since that time the people thought they must leave one image in the monastery to prevent hurricanes. So they left the one that had been lost last time.  Ever since only four images are carried around each year and until the present time there have been no more hurricanes.

Navy blue clouds appear overhead. This is the end of the rainy season so we don’t expect a hurricane and the fifth Buddha image is in the monastery - still it doesn’t hurt to be careful so after the last boat of the procession passed we turned and made our way back to Nyaung Shwe without even a drop of rain.

The legends of Phaung Daw Oo

The history of the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda Festival

As with all legends the details differ but the essence of the story remains the same. Two of the legends are recounted here, first is the official version as told in a Burmese handbook.

One of the powerful kings who lived in Pagan in the 11^th century was King Alaung Situ.  He wanted to be a Buddhist missionary. He decided to travel with a boat. He had a lot of power though he was not a Buddha, nor was he a nat (nats are part of the spirit world of Myanmar). He had power because he was a king. When he pointed with his finger there would automatically be water in a river or a canal. When he was travelling he met many kinds of people including a good nat. The nat asked the king to stop the boat because he wanted to speak to him. The nat wanted to give the king something special, because he was visiting other Buddhists. The nat gave him some wood called tarakan, which is something like sandlewood and has a wonderful smell. The nat told the king he should make a woodcarving of the Buddha image. When King Alaung Situ gave the nat the image, it was very small only about four inches in height. The king promised the nat he would make five Buddha images with the wood.

The king put the five images in the boat and continued his journey. At Inle Lake he found Indein village. This village had its own king. Kings are known as sawbwas in Shan State. King Alaung Situ gave the Shan sawbwa the five images. He was honoured to receive such a gift from the king. These images have been held around Inle Lake for over 523 years. Around the neighbouring villages the people were excited to come and see the images. So the Shan sawbwa decided once a year in October, he would take the Buddha images by boat around the lakeside villages.

On one occasion they had a problem with a hurricane with too much rain and wind. The boat was swamped and one of the images was lost. Try as they might, they could not find it. They did manage to salvage the boat and return to Indein village. When they opened the door of the Phaung Daw Oo monastery, they found the lost image inside. They were very surprised. The sawbwa said the image must have been found by the good nat. So then there were five images as before.

The following year the sawbwa planned to take the images around all the Inle Lake villages once again by boat. The people thought they must leave one image in the Kyaung (monastery) to prevent hurricanes. So they left the one that had been lost last time.  Ever since only four images are carried around each year and until the present time there have been no more hurricanes.

Glasses for Hpa-O Villagers

Yesterday we visited Pa-O villages looking for a particularly poor one in which to give away some glasses. The Pa-O are one of many tribes that live in the Shan States: some others are Danu, Intha, Padaung, Palaung and Shan.Often Pa-O villages are not poor as they are successful farmers, but the further they are from the town the less well off they are. We were headed for Padupat not far from Kalaw and about a two-hour drive from Naungshwe. 

After an hour, at Aungban, we turned towards the hills and the countryside rolled out either side of the road in differing shades of green. Pine trees and bamboo clambered uphill and there were fields of cabbages, chilli, tomatoes, potatoes, sweetcorn, sunflowers, sesame, peanuts and even a little rice - all flourishing. Trellises appeared on one side of the road hung about with long marrow-like ‘tubes’. These turned out to be a vegetable I’d never seen before and no English names were forthcoming: I learned they make good soup. We passed a truck carrying a load of new and empty bamboo baskets probably off for sale at the festival in Naungshwe. 

Eventually, Win San stopped to ask the way and the resulting conversation confirmed my opinion that Myanmar people never use one or two words when 100 or 200 will do! At last we were on our way again. The mountains remained in the distance: good. The road turned into rocks: not so good. I noticed buffalo seem to have replaced bullocks here: because, I was told, in this vegetable growing area there are plenty of off-cuts for the buffalo to eat.

We arrived at Padupat, which looked quite prosperous. The owner of the teashop U Chit So was not Pa-O, but he married a Pa-O. They arrange trekking for tourists and even cooking classes.  Here I learned more about the Pa-O people. Traditionally they wear woven cotton clothes mostly black or dark blue. Young Pa-O men tend to wear black pants and older men beige. Both men and women wear thick toweling turbans otherwise they would get headaches. They wear them not, as I thought, against the sun, but it is their custom and must always be observed. They may choose any colour but the majority wears orange or red. Something they all carry is a shoulder bag or student bag as it is also called.

A passing man was called in to advise on a traditional and poor village nearby. We had to travel half way by bullock cart, then walk through the jungle (their nomenclature, not mine). It would take them 10 minutes, but will take you half an hour, they advised cruelly. Let’s hope it doesn’t multiply. We bought some snacks as there will be none at Palin village where we are bound.

Ah. Gotta go. My bullock cart has arrived.

Bullock carts do not get more comfortable the older you get. It is the only time I ever wish for a bigger bottom. Oh how I loved the thick, thick mud of the track and how I hated the boulders the bullocks took in their stride, but my bottom did not. The bullock cart driver, U Soe, spoke Burmese as well as Pa-O so he was invaluable in the village. We alighted from the cart (thank god) and waited while he unfastened the bullocks and tethered them in a patch of grass to await our return. Now came the walk. How hard would it be? In the event I managed it in the suggested half an hour, with no falling in the river nor in any mud holes. The view was spectacular and changed through rice paddies, vegetable gardens and mountains reared up all around: some were forested; many had sheer rock walls.

Palin is a village of 28 houses and 80 people. There is no school: the children must walk for one hour to the nearest in the next village. It takes the people over an hour to walk to Padupat. They have no bullock cart so must carry on their head and back all the produce they wish to sell at the market in the nearest town of Aungban. at Padupat, they must hire a truck to get there.

After we returned, bullock cart driver U Soe took us to meet his wife. His was a substantial house on two levels. Downstairs was where he stored his produce. We were amazed to see sack after sack of potatoes, along with pumpkin, long beans and maize. He told us the tragic story as to how he lost two children. He and his wife had taken two of their five children into the potato garden. A storm erupted with much thunder and rain. They put two of their children under a tree to keep them dry. And then lightening struck and killed them. It is a tradition with the Pa-O people that their daughters marry at the age of 15 or 16. Their daughter has followed this tradition and married at 15. She now has two little boys so has given U Soe and his wife grandchildren. U Soe tried on many pairs of glasses and at last, thankfully, we had a pair of awegyi that will improve his long distance vision driving the bullocks. We forgot to take his photo wearing them.

The first pair of glasses to be given away went to U Shwe who is 78 years old. He received anigyi glasses for reading. How pleased the old man looked when he found he could see to read the book Win San handed him. His wife, Daw Locke aged 61 can’t read, so awegyi glasses enabled her to see her surroundings. U La aged 50 needed reading glasses. A young man Aung Twe 34 years was astonished when he put on the glasses because immediately he could see much more. When he had worn them for a bit he took them off, tenderly wrapped them in their cloth and snapped them into their hard case.

Daw Yin who is 50 arrived with a baby in her arms and was very pleased to be offered a pair of glasses but reluctant to try them on. Then the baby had to be prized off the glasses and her nose! We guessed Ma Low aged 25 was not married as she was wearing one of the spectacularly large turban that unmarried women wear for best. She took some anigyi glasses and Daw Ke 56 years old wearing an orange turban took awegyi. Young Ma Nwe 35 found it difficult pushing her glasses ‘arms’ behind her ears as her turban was so tight! Next in line was Ma Gyi, the headman’s wife. She was not helped in trying on glasses by the children who were in fits of laughter and made her shy! U Aye 52 was the headman and wore an orange toweling turban. Last to receive glasses was U Shwe 50 who was wearing a green and blue turban.

Piori is the Burmese word for happy and there were certainly lots of happy people in Palin yesterday afternoon.

On the way to Shan State

I am in Mandalay and today is the 150^th anniversary of the birth of King Mindon Min. He was not the last king of Myanmar but was certainly the most revered, so some commemoration celebration was in order. Although we had a five to seven (actually nine) hour drive ahead of us to Inle Lake in Southern Shan State, we had to see at least the beginning of the festivities.

Mandalay is always jam packed with traffic, never more so than with some roads blocked off.  We parked the car and walked down to the enormous moat that surrounds Mandalay Palace – and how different it looked today. 

Normally the somewhat forbidding, though regal, red brick wall separating the Mandalay Palace grounds in Mandalay from the moat, with no-longer-used sentry posts topping the wall at regular intervals; is quiet and stately. Not so today. Huge stages had been erected between which tier upon tier of seats were filled with crowds excited at the prospect of the boat marathon races they were about to see. There were three different categories of boats: kayaks rowed by one person, canoes rowed by two people and ordinary boats rowed by a number of people.  

There was a sudden and very loud bang. A frisson of fear ran through us. But there was no blood. It was only fireworks.

We stood on the road side of the moat with the rest of Mandalay folk, or so it seemed by the crush. All eyes were across the water on the larger of the huge stages where the Minister would declare the festivities open and bands would play for the rest of the day. Each of the seven states and seven divisions of the country would have competing boats. The states comprise: Chin, Kachin, Kayah, Kayin, Mon, Rakhine and Shan. The divisions are Ayeyarwady, Bago, Magwe, Mandalay, Sagaing, Tanintharyi and Yangon. The boats were painted and the teams clad in colours of their home. In the prow of the first three boats stood men regally attired in red and gold uniforms of the era of King Mindon. Their shoulders were bedecked in a heavy gold yoke and their gleaming helmets topped with pointed gold spears. 

The Minister gave his rousing speech and declared the marathon open, but the actual racing would not start until 1pm. The audience in the tiers drifted down, to go and listen to the music. Musicians on the smaller of the two stages were playing traditional music as those on the Minister’s stage played western music. Sadly, I thought, the crowds all drifted towards the western music. As we were standing within (loud) hearing distance of both, we decided we could not wait for the racing to start at 1.00pm. It was time to leave Mandalay for our long drive to Shan State.

Our drive would take us south through Kyaukse, Ywangan, then at Han Myint Mo we would turn south east over the mountains to Kyong, then Aung Ban, Heho and, at last, we’d arrive at Inle Lake.

Once out of Mandalay the scenery turned rural and green: very green, as this year’s rainy season, which is now tapering off as it is October, has been hugely heavy.

We stopped in Kyaukse where a very obliging elephant was dancing in the main street. This was an elephant with a difference: below its belly, feet planted firmly on the ground were four human legs (covered of course by cloth). This human elephant was reminding the townspeople that the Elephant Dancing Festival would take place in Kyaukse on 10 October, only two days away. 

Climate change and deforestation appear to affect even this family friendly event. Kyaukse elephants are mostly made of bamboo, but bamboo is not hardy and the elephants will not last from one season to the next: so new ones must be made each year. Diminishing forests of bamboo have pushed the prices well above that which even groups of people can afford.  So now the elephant makers cannot sell new elephants. Instead, they have resorted to hiring them out for the day. Either way, if their elephant wins for his good dancing, costume, decoration or appearance in general, the owner of the elephant or the hirer of the elephant receives a prize. This is about $700 for first place followed by $400 and about $150 for second and third places. 

Elephant dancing is only one of seven traditional animal dances of Myanmar. Others are: deer, horse, garuda bird, monkey and peacock. I hope to see the peacock dance when we are in Shan State. 

There are five kinds of human dancing: comedian, nagadaw, ogre and zawgyi. Dances by men are called mindar and female dancers are mindarmi.

At Han Myint Mo we turned onto a new mountain road, which is a short cut (!) thus leaving out Meiktila, Thazi and Kalaw. The 77-mile road was so new it was invisible in places: no tarmac, just mud and stones borne down steep, bare slopes by waterfalls. Huge caterpillar vehicles were stretching their necks ever higher up the steep slopes clawing down more earth and stones to make the track wider.

Challenging would be one word for that road. However, we did arrive in Kyong at 2pm – in time for lunch.

Back on the road again we were in Pa O and Danu territory two of the races that live in Shan State. The Intha of Inle Lake used to live with the Danu people, but about 100 years ago the Danu chose to live in the mountains and the Intha around the lake.

Suddenly the road rounded a bend revealing a breathtaking scene straight in front of us. A sharp pinnacle of mountain was crowned with Mo So Tawn a pagoda of the Danu people. Below the pagoda were clustered many stupa and at the base was a monastery and stairs leading to yet another pagoda. The most stunning view was of three gold Buddha images each standing several metres tall against the mountain.

Now, down from the mountains and into Southern Shan State, we were in vegetable growing country: all planted without the use of chemicals. Field after field were neatly arrayed with cabbages of different varieties, cauliflowers, potatoes and sweet corn. One yellow coloured field turned out to be ginger. Huge trucks beside the road were being loaded with cabbages alone. They will be driven to the markets in Mandalay. 

We reached Kyong by 4pm and turned south to Aung Ban, then through Heho which has the nearest airport to Inle Lake for those who prefer to fly. We arrived in Nyuang Shwe at 6pm after a long, but safe drive.