Next morning, 30 minute flight to Inle Lake and the Shan Region, where we were met by our guide Jo Chu. From the "airport" (a large concrete building with two gates and folding tables for the ticketing agents) we headed out for a two hour drive to.....you guessed it......another temple. This was a different take- it was in the Pindaya Cave.
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| entrance to Pindaya Cave (elevator on right to arrive at cave) |
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| the Buddha "index" calculator |
These limestone caves are millions of years old and since ancient times, have been not only a place of worship, but also a “Buddha depository,“ where wealthy and not so wealthy donors bring a Buddha statue (all types and sizes) in hopes of securing their place in Nirvana in the Afterlife. Most recent count has over 10,000 Buddha statues and growing! They have this "index" Buddha calculator, which puts one tiny Buddha for each ten donated.
This was a pretty impressive site- some places within the cave there were barely any walkways between all the statues, and other statues were high up in small niches in the cave. The cave was wall-to-wall Buddhas!
In the village of Pindaya, we visited a paper-making workshop to see the steps of soaking and grinding the tree bark, then adding in flowers to create beautiful paper for lanterns, umbrellas, and decorative sheets of paper.
Along the way from Pindaya to Inle, we passed through many small villages with no electricity, running water, or sewers. Locals gathered around small ponds or lakes to wash clothes on the banks, clean their dishes and pots, and bathe themselves and the children. All at the same time! I have no words!
Following day, after a morning hike in the surrounding hills to visit local tribal villages, we were finally on our longboat to explore Inle Lake.
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| preparing food |
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| dishwashing time! |
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| digging up potatoes |
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Inle is the largest Lake in Myanmar and is home to many floating villages. Homes are build high on stilts (to account for the change in the lake's water levels during the rainy season), and many of the population are farmers, growing crops on floating islands anchored to the ground by bamboo poles to prevent them from floating away. The lake is known for its floating gardens and "leg rowers," a term used to describe the distinctive style of rowing, which entails standing on one leg in the boat, while paddling the water with an oar attached to the other leg. As with previous rural villages we saw earlier, these villages also have no electricity or running water. The bathrooms (or should I say outhouses) are suspended off the side of these homes (no further explanation needed!). The lake is also used to bathe and wash clothes (no washing machines here), and of course the crops on these floating islands receive their water from the lake underneath the growth. Have I painted the picture yet? Each of the villages also specializes in a particular industry- silk, lotus, and cotton spinning and weaving, silversmiths, wood carving, fishing, cigar rolling, and harvesting seaweed for fertilizer. There is also a floating market in different locations daily on the lake for villagers to gather, where they sell and purchase local goods and necessities.
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| Leg Rower |
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| our mode of transport |
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| cigar rolling |
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| silk weaving |
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| approaching the next village |
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| floating agriculture |
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| leg rowing fisherman |
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| market "parking lot" |
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| market |
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| dried fish shop |
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| fresh fish shop |
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| "not exactly sure" shop |
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We then left the lake and headed 8 km up the Inn Thein Creek to Indein Village, which is known for a large cluster of pagoda ruins overgrown with shrubs and trees as well as a monestary, dating back to the 16th century. The monks were on the move....a ceremony of some sort.
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| Kakku Pagodas |
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