Today’s itinerary took us to just three places, but they are all riveting.
We started the day by visiting the floating gardens of Inle Lake. The “technology” involved is worth explaining.
The villagers drag long strands of sea grass–as long as 50 yards–from the lakeshore to the site they’ve chosen for a garden and then pin it to the bottom with a series of long bamboo poles. They then “harvest” huge quantities of reeds from the lake itself and completely cover the seagrass with the reeds. Then a layer silt–also dredged up by hand from the lakebed–goes on top of that, and a final layer reeds makes the bed for a broad array of vegetables (Inle is famous nationwide for its tomatoes).
A number of the floating villages are actually quite prosperous.
The boatmen took us up and down the “streets” of the village, where we got a look at life lived on the water.
A quick journey to the southwest brought us to yet another pagoda that was a pilgrimage site for all of Burma. Hpaung Daw U Pagoda houses five small gilded images of the Buddha that have been covered with so much gold leaf by worshipers seeking to show their veneration that the statues are no longer recognizable as Buddha images, looking for all the world like five blobs. Every October four of the images are placed on a throne on an elaborate gold barge in the form of a Hintha bird–a kind of stylized duck associated with images of the Buddha and thus sacred–and taken on a ceremonial passage around the lake.
Our arrival at the pagoda was considerably less ceremonious. I had worn shorts and thus needed to cover up wearing my longyi. As I struggled to get it into shape, I was surrounded by a crowd of pilgrims all wanting to help.
After the pagoda we followed one of the boatmen across a rickety bridge and through a maze of walkways deep into the village. Just as we were getting vaguely nervous we emerged at a very nice open restaurant with views directly across the water and back to the pagoda.
The afternoon took us to one of my favorite places in Myanmar, Inthain, a village located far up a stream that feeds the lake. The boat ride takes you through an increasingly narrow passage with a bit of the feel of “Heart of Darkness.” Inthain itself is a fairly dumpy little place, but it is home to an unusual religious complex. The pagoda itself, Nyaung Ohak, is of relatively little architectural interest. But it is surrounded by more than 1000 stupas in various states of repair and disrepair. Walking through this “religious forest” is a memorable experience.
The walk back to the boat follows the course of a 1/2 mile long covered walkway, the ceremonial entry to the pagoda at the top. Or at least that’s the idea. It is now more like a serpentine shopping mall, with vendors packed close on both sides. What better place for our shoppers to take advantage of a few final opportunities at Inle?