Daily Archives: October 22, 2012

Lake Inle

October 22, 2012 – 11:15 am

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Inle Princess Resort, Lake Inle, Burma

We met at the jetty at 8am and Ken gave us a brief overview of the lake and our plans for the day.  The lake, which is actually a man made reservoir, is 13.5 miles long and 7.5 mile wide, but up close it is hard to tell where the lake ends and the marshes begin.  The surface area is 45 square miles.  However, the average depth is only 7 feet.  It is the second largest lake in the country.   The shape is a bit like the shape of the country itself or a giant sperm with a very long tail at the south end where a dam was built in 1963 to create a reservoir and hydroelectric power plant. The dam and hydroelectric plant, according to Ken, were given by the Japanese as war compensation to the Burmese.  The power plant worked for many years but eventually deteriorated due to lack of maintenance and spare parts.  The new government is supposedly looking into improving the plant as electricity in the area has become spotty and people are complaining.

The people displaced by the rising water stayed in the area, built stilt villages and took up farming on the lake.  Floating gardens and stilt villages are everywhere.  Water hyacinths grow in single bulbs and in dense carpets.  Farmers clump them together to create a floating base.  Over the mat of hyacinths is added straw and nutrient rich mud.  Bamboo poles are run through the mass and into the ground to anchor the “garden”.  Then vegetables are planted and, voila, you have a hydroponic garden.

We also learned that until 1975, deceased villagers were buried in the lake with large stones to hold down the bodies.   The government banned the practice and now cremation is the law.   That sounds like at least one good thing the government did.

Ken also told us to watch for the unusual manner in which boatmen row.  They stand on one leg and use the other to propel the paddle through the water, while using the arm on the same side to steady the oar handle.  The motion moves the boat through the water at a greater speed than just paddling.  The maneuver somehow manages to keep the boat going straight as well.

As soon as we climbed into the boats, there was a young man demonstrating the maneuver, as motors are not allowed near the resort.  He paddled us out to a gatehouse jetty, where he jumped off and our boatman fired up the engine.   During the next two days we saw many young men paddling their boats in this manner.   As much balance, coordination and strength that must be required, I was not surprised that we did not see old men or women doing it.

Once out in the main part of the lake, which, at an elevation of 2,7oo feet, provides cool air in the morning and burning sunshine during the day, we headed south.  After an hour we were near the southern end of the fat part of the lake and made a bathroom stop at a small stilt hotel with a few vendors.  Here Mark bought some big baggy pants to wear instead of the longhi, which he has trouble keeping on.  Back in the boats, we motored another 2 hours south.  The sun was very hot and most of the group opted to use the umbrellas provided by the boatmen.   We must have been close to the end of the lake when we stopped a very small and seldom visited village with old, dilapidated stupas and a very small monastery.   It is called Sagar and has about 400 people in the community.  The place was deserted during the daytime, except for a handful of monks who were just sitting down to have their lunch.  A couple of stupas had been restored, but most were in a very dilapidated and precarious condition, due to the rise and fall of the water level since they were built in the late 1800 hundreds.

We walked around a bit, but I did not think the 3-hour ride was worth the trouble to see the village.  From there we headed back north a short distance to an interesting temple complex where Ken and Davies had arranged a catered lunch for us right on the edge of the platform.  The whole setting was very exotic and Asian and we all felt special.  Lunch was another super Burmese meal.  Afterward, we walked around and found several interesting and different statues including a reclining Buddha and a temple that looked very much like it could have been in Anchor Wat.  Before returning to our resort, we stopped at a silk and lotus-weaving factory on stilts in the middle of the lake.  There were at least 4 2-story buildings full of ladies working away at their looms.  Most interesting was watching how thread is teased from lotus stems, twirled together with other lotus fibers and then woven into cloth.   The other stop was at a cheroot factory where the thin cigars are made from bits of chopped tobacco blended with spices and rolled, together with a paper filter, in a tobacco leaf.   Where the silk was popular with the ladies, the men bought up the cigars.   Not being interested in either, I was glad to finally get back to the resort and take a shower.   It had been a long hot day and I was feeling sun baked in spite of a thick layer of sunscreen.

At dinner we learned that it was Jane’s birthday so we all sang for her and ATJ bought her a dark chocolate cake for all of us to share.   I have given up trying to send messages from our resort, so all I could do is write, which I did until bedtime.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Mandalay Hill Resort Hotel, Mandalay, Burma

Up at 5am again and packed for our early departure from the group.  While getting ready, I realized that I had forgotten to pack 12-days worth of my hypothyroid pills.  At breakfast I asked Ruth, the MD, if she thought I could go that long without any serious problems and she said it was not a good idea and to ask around to see if anyone in the group might use Synthroid and have some extras.  I did and was pleased that Stacy, Claudia and Elinor stepped forward with two pills each for me.  By taking one every other day I will manage until I get home.   Many thanks to the three ladies for being so generous with their own medications.

Ken had us all out at 6:30am and back on the boats for a mad dash directly across the lake to the annual festival called Phaung daw U, which means “Buddha on a barge”.   Once a year for three weeks a special gold covered Buddha is brought out of its temple, placed on a barge and moved to five other temples, one temple every so many days.    This was the biggest day of the long event as over 30 rowing boats were lined together one by one to pull the barge.   Each rowing boat was over 100 feet long and was full of young men on each side of the boat doing the paddling maneuver I told you about.  In the middle of each boat were a few men making rhythmic noises for the rowers to keep time.  Each boat was decorated in a different color theme with the boatmen wearing the same colored costume and using the same colored paddles.   Flowers, palm fronds, colorful umbrellas and shinny cellophane were liberally used as well.  Clearly, each was trying to outdo the others, and some were quite successful.

We arrived shortly before the procession was to start and motored our way from the front boats all the way to the barge along with many other spectator boats.  Thousands of people were on the water to see the procession and participate in the festival.   All the tourists staying on the lake turned out as well.   By the time we got to the Buddha barge, the procession was getting underway with thousands of boatmen paddling away to move the barge.   We fell into line behind the barge and followed it along with hundreds of other boats all jostling for a better position.  It was like a floating party with people chatting across boats rubbing against each other.   We smiled, waved, blew the children kisses, shouted “Ming a la bar“ and took lots of photos.  It was a super festival, even if we only participated in a small bit of it.  All too soon our boatman pealed away when an opening appeared in the crush of boats and away we went heading south again to visit yet another monastery.

This one is called Ngaphekyuang Monastery.  It is special for its beautifully carved Shan Buddha statues, which were made between 1860 and 1890.   Ken, being Shan, is quite proud of them as they all have younger, thinner faces that the usual Buddha statues.  The monastery, also on stilts has a huge open space for worshipers and visitors to share.  Attached to it is another building that houses several vendors selling wares to tourists.  Finally, I caved in and bought a longhi and top to wear during the rest of our trip.    It was good to see the inside of this building as we have passed many large two story houses that all look open from the water and it turns out they are wide open.  Ken says only one family will own a house, but all the members of that family will live in it, sleeping together upstairs and living together downstairs.  No privacy at all that I can see.  Even on the lake there is a pecking order as there are very nice and very poor looking houses in each stilt village.

We stopped at the Golden Kite, a large stilt restaurant, for an early lunch.  I think Ken timed it so we could have lunch with the group before our departure.  Finally, at 12:30 we said our farewells to everyone and got into a separate boat Ken arranged just for us.  Our bags were already loaded into it and off we went, waving and blowing kisses.   I will actually miss this group of folk.  We have had a lot of fun together.

The ride to the town of Lake Inle and the jetty took 50 minutes with the boatman going full tilt on the motor.  A van was waiting for us at the jetty and off it went for another hour’s drive to the Heho airport, which is at 3,858 feet or a thousand feet higher and cooler than the lake.     Our flight was moved up 30 minutes, so we got an earlier departure than we expected and landed at Mandalay at 4pm after a 25-minute flight.   Our transportation was waiting even though we were early.   The last leg took an hour due to commute traffic and the fact that the hotel is in the heart of the city.   We were finally in our room at 5:30.   Having remembered the lovely pool at this hotel, we wasted no time getting into it again.    Dinner at the hotel was fine with us and then writing so I can send a few posts while we have a good Wi Fi connection.

Not sure if I will have any ability to send messages from the far north and the far west or not, but I suspect this might be it until we get out of Burma and back to Bangkok and Hong Kong.  No matter what, I will try to continue writing.

Sure hope you are and remain well.  It has been sad for us to learn that two people we knew in Grass Valley have died since we left home.   We have also heard that the weather there has turned.  We have not seen any rain on this whole trip beyond a couple of insignificant sprinkles.  Cool and wet actually sounds good from here.

Will send more as soon as possible.

With much love, Julia

By adventureswithjulia | Posted in 2012 Oct: Laos & Myanmar | Comments (2)

Heat of Bagan to the cool of Kalaw

October 22, 2012 – 10:49 am

Friday, October 19, 2012

Traveling from Bagan to Pindaya to Kalaw

We were out early this morning to catch a plane to Heho and spend some days in the Shan State, which is one of the seven minority districts in Burma.   At Heho, 45 minutes East of Bagan, we picked up our next bus and drove two hours to Pindaya, a town of 65,000 in the center of Burma.  The first thing we all noticed when we alighted the plane was the cooler and less humid temperature.  We all breathed a sigh of relief to have comfortable weather again.  The elevation at Heho is 3000 feet.  We took a scenic drive through the countryside traveling only 24 miles in two hours to our lunch stop in Pindaya.  With a temperate climate all year round and level to gentle rolling terrain, crops grow abundantly.  The landscape was a colorful patchwork quilt that could have been in many places in Europe.  Although the fields were relatively small, every square inch was under cultivation.  We saw many fields of huge cabbages being harvested as we passed.  We also saw tomatoes, cauliflower, spinach, corn, potatoes, kale, zucchini, Japanese sesame, wheat and beans as well as empty fields being plowed by 2-ox single plows.   Eucalyptus and pine trees are common at this elevation.  I wanted to stop and take photos, but was told we had to keep going or miss lunch.  The rutted dirt, gravel and partially tarred road was uncomfortably slow.

Lunch at the Green Tea Restaurant in Pindaya, however, was delicious.  Similar to other Burmese meals, this one accentuated the wonderful fresh vegetables, especially the lightly sautéed chives that did not taste of onion, and the mixed vegetables prepared Chinese style.  Our table was outdoors on the deck and overlooked small Pone Taloke Lake and the fertile hills.    I have to give credit to Ken, Davies and ATJ for securing the best restaurants and the best seating in those restaurants at every meal on this trip.

After lunch we drove up a steep hill with several switch back turns to the famous Shwe Oo Min Natural Caves to see a massive limestone cavern filled to bursting with thousands of gilded Buddha statues in an astonishing variety of shapes, sizes and materials including teak, alabaster, brick, marble, cement and lacquer.  All of them have been brought or donated by pilgrims from many centuries ago until the present.  Each statue has a plaque telling the donor’s name and the date.  At the latest count there were over 8700 statues.   Once inside the cavern, there are so many statues that it is easy to get lost in the maze of aisles and dead ends of statues that climb up to the top of the cavern several stories high.  We came upon large stalactites and stalagmites surrounded by statues.   Water dripped from the top of the cave in many places and missed the statues only because plastic sheeting had been installed to direct the water away from the many Buddha’s.   We spent half an hour wandering around in barefoot amazement.   Fortunately non-slippery floor coverings have been installed for people to keep from slipping on the wet concrete pavement.    Back down the hill and into town, we visited a hand made wooden umbrella and paper factory; similar to the ones Mark and I have visited in Madagascar and Sri Lanka.  This one was not as organized as the others, but I managed to buy envelopes and hand cut paper sheets for personal notes.

Then we began the same bumpy 2-hour ride in reverse.  At some point we continued south passed Heho to the hill station of Kalaw, where the British civil servants came to escape the heat of the plains and where our accommodations for the night were located.   The Amara Mountain Resort, at 4400 feet, is a collection of Tudor style houses nestled into a meandering flower garden.  We were assigned to a house with 5 bedrooms and a downstairs living room, where the group congregated for cocktails.  Dinner was in another building of similar style.   The whole place was quite charming and our room was quite comfortable, if not grand.  It was very nice to open the windows, feel the cool air and sleep without the drone of an air-conditioner.

During the long day of airport waiting and bus riding I decided to write a bit of information on each of our fellow travelers.  The group is very congenial and each person has taken the time to get to know the other members.   We have enjoyed everyone’s company.  A brief description follows in no particular order.  If I have made any mistakes, please forgive me.

Richard is a retired attorney who specialized in trial work in the nuclear power industry for a number of years and then moved into real estate law.  He practiced in several states including Georgia, California and Arizona.  He is divorced and helps raise his 7-year old adopted Guatemalan daughter and 18-year old son.  He lives in Atlanta, but is planning to move to California soon.

Elinor lives in Camden, Maine and is the author of 14 cookbooks including three she wrote for William Sonoma.  She has another book in the works.   Her husband died unexpectedly on her birthday so she does not celebrate it any more.

John and Stacy live in Cohasset, Massachusetts.   John was a nuclear engineer.  Stacy was also in the nuclear industry.  Later John went into consulting and Stacy worked for an Institutional Investment firm.  Now she heads a special volunteer group for the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, while John is on the Cohasset Sewer Commission.

Barbara lives in Bethesda, Maryland.  She was the founder of a successful marketing and design firm and is now retired.  Her husband was unable to come due to health issues.

Ilze lives in North Adelaide, Australia and managed international programs for universities in Australia.  She is now retired.

Jane lives in Potomac, Maryland and is a public information officer with the National Institute on Aging in Washington DC.

Claudia lives in Bethesda, Maryland with her husband who did not want to come.  She worked with Jane at the Institute on Aging and is now retired.  Her passion is making sculptures.

Al is from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.  He is a Real Estate attorney who now manages his own properties.   His wife could not come on the trip.

Bill and Sherry are from Campbell, California.  Sherry has a PhD in French Literature and had a career in high tech.  She is retired and cultivates her passion for French culture.  Bill is retired from Dupont, was a consultant in Saudi Arabia and is currently working part time in residential real estate sales.  His passion is photography.

Ruth and Dan are both MD’s who live in Beverly Hills, California.  Ruth is currently an Ob-Gyn in a group practice in Hollywood and is about to become head of the Ob-Gyn department at Cedar Sinai Hospital.  She is the youngest person in the group.  Dan is a physician administrator.

Sue and Chris live in Cohasset, Massachusetts and are good friends of John and Stacy.  They were in the book publishing business for Simon & Schuster and are now retired.  They spend half the year in Florida.

Needless to say, everyone in the group is very well traveled and loves to share experiences and future possibilities.

Well, that’s it for Friday the 19th.    Time to sleep.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Inle Princess Resort, Lake Inle, Burma

After a light breakfast, we drove down the hillside to the town of Kalaw to walk through the local market and through the small town.  It was not very crowded and we were certainly the only tourists around.  We checked out the old British train station that still has 4 trains a day stop.  We passed by a military training center, where young recruits spend 6 months learning the ropes.  According to Ken, 2% of the population, or 1.2 million people are in the military.  Most everyone joins the army, which still holds the power in Burma.  There is a small Navy and Air Force, which have little power as they supported the opposition during the 80’s.  Interestingly, we have seen almost no sign of the military during our time here.  Ken has told us there is a large plain-clothes military presence that watches and reports undesirable behavior.   Otherwise there are a few policemen around.

We also passed a small Catholic Church under renovation.  An Italian priest, Father Antonio, settled in the town, built the church and lived in Kalaw until he died in 2000.  Davies said he met the gentle old man several years ago.  I walked around the back of the church and found a nun arranging flowers.  She spoke some English and told us her name is Sister Olivia and she is from Settwe, where Mark and I will be in a week or so.  There are 4 nuns and 1 priest who live nearby, run a boarding school with 37 students and tend to the church of about 60 parishioners.  I forgot to ask her to which order she belonged.  According to Ken there were many Christians in the area during British times.

Back on the bus we motored south to Lake Inle, pronounced “Inlay”.  Along the way Davies talked about WWII, flying supplies over the hump and the Burma Road.  Flying over the hump, although treacherous for the planes and pilots who made the trip, proved to be more successful that the road for getting supplies where they needed to be.  The road was not started until the middle of the war and was finished only a short time before it was over.  Built mostly by black servicemen, it was over 750 miles long and was used to move supplies to Chiang Kai-Shek’s Kuomintang army.  It went from Lashio, a town in central Burma, to Kunming in south central China.  The US did not put many troops or energy into the war in this part of the world.

Our last stop before Inle Lake was an interesting monastery, Shwe Yan Paya, consisting of two very different buildings.  The first was made entirely of wood on stilts and is currently used by monks as a residence.  The other is made of red-colored stucco and covered with unusual glass and mirror images of aspects of Buddha’s life.  Dozens of small gilt Buddha statues filled the many small niches set in the walls.  We saw several monks and managed, hopefully, to get some nice photos.

Shortly, we arrived in the town of Lake Inle and at the jetty.  Four motorized long boats were waiting to take us, 5 at a time, sitting single file to the Inle Princess Resort.    The afternoon had become quite hot as we had descended to about 2700 feet, so we were glad to each be given an umbrella to shield us from the sun.   We motored over the smooth water and between dense marsh grasses for 20 minutes.  It was a fun ride.  As we got closer to our destination the grasses closed in on us and barely allowed us to pass.  Then, there was a sudden opening and we could see the resort jetty and the main wooden structure.   Shortly, we were ashore, received our keys and in our individual cabins.  Ours faced the afternoon sun and was quite hot as the A/C was not on.   We got the A/C going, shut the curtains and settled in.  The cabin is very spacious and the bathroom has an outdoor shower as well as an indoor one—just like home.  Mark wasted no time organizing a pedicure for himself, so I decided to join him.  At 4pm two ladies gave us each a very nice pedicure at the same time.  While our toenails dried an iridescent purple color, we received really good upper back massages.  Very nice.  By the time we returned to our cabin, the sun was low in the sky and our room was much cooler.  I ordered ice.  Mark poured us each a scotch and we went out to our over water balcony to enjoy the sunset.  Can’t imagine why I ever thought Burma might be a scary place.

Mark joined Richard, Chris and John in smoking cheroots on the jetty.  I relaxed on the balcony and wrote until dark.  Then I joined Mark for a light supper and bed.   We continue to get up early for the group activities and are really pooped by 8:30pm.

More later,  Julia

By adventureswithjulia | Posted in 2012 Oct: Laos & Myanmar | Comments (0)