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.