One fine day he got up and decided to move to the country's capital, Yangon. A) Yes. Suddenly. One morning in 2005. The occurrence was of Than Shwe, the then president of the Military Junta that ruled Burma for 48 years (1962-2010). Although the thinking head of the move was his personal astrologer, who encouraged him to set up a city in the middle of nowhere where the confluence of the planets and the stars were propitious. No sooner said than done. On the 11th of 11 (the stars said it was the big day) of 2005, at 11 o'clock, Naypyidaw was born, 400 kilometers from Yangon.
The list of eccentricities that the largest country in continental Southeast Asia (bordering China, Laos, India and Thailand) experienced during the dictatorship would give several reports. But this one goes to Inle Lake, its greatest natural jewel, with an area of 12,000 hectares and one of those landscapes that seem to have been frozen in time. It has its explanation: Burma remained isolated from the world during the regime. It was literally impossible to cross its borders, which earned it a trade blockade from the United States and its Western allies.
the sons of the lake
This secrecy means that, even today, on the fresh waters of the lake, sheltered by the blue mountains dotted with stupas of the Shan state, you can see the fishermen coiling a leg on the oar in mode juggler total. And always from one end of the boat. The goal is to have your arms free to be able to handle the net with which to capture the animals. They're called fish men for a reason.
They are the protagonists of the most characteristic picture of this region (and of the whole of Burma, together with the temples of Bagán) located to the east and populated by 200 villages whose houses, restaurants, silk looms, shops, monasteries and schools are housed on stilts. Those who inhabit them belong to the Intha ethnic group (one of the 150 in the country), whose meaning is none other than “children of the lake”.
"Indeed, a sense of purpose appears to have evolved in humans so that we can accomplish big things together"… https://t.co/EUodJJhbrG
— Mariandl Hufford Mon Jul 26 12:05:26 +0000 2021
They live from that, from the fishing . And of what they plant in the floating gardens that roam freely to the amazement of the few travelers who arrive. Things of the aforementioned isolation, so do not hesitate: it is time to enjoy this beautiful Asian corner that has not yet been exploited by tourists.
You can start your tour from Nyaung Shwe, the base of operations for tracking the area. With a backpacker atmosphere and full of half-paved streets, bikes well loaded with locals and local food places (modest, but with incessant Christmas-style neon lights on the facades), many choose to sleep in this town instead of doing it in the new luxury hotels suspended over the lake, much more expensive.
The transfer of the market
Its pier is full to the brim at any time of the day and night, but especially at the very first hour of the morning, when it becomes a coming and going of boats to the top of fish, fruit, vegetables... Just to see the locals bustling about on the water is already worth the early morning.
Then his thing is to get on a boat (protected with an umbrella: the sun is brutal) and visit the pagoda from Phaung Daw Oo and the village of Inthein, reached via a narrow canal where kids play, jump and shampoo. You also have to know the markets, floating and rotating, since they change places every five days. Like the one in Nampan, meat from photogenic picturesque postcards to the max.
You have to walk among the stalls of gigantic chickpea or tofu cakes, energy drinks (they are huge fans around here), dyes to lighten women's skin (just as successful), medicinal concoctions to cure impotence or the evil eye (more than the same), sun-dried fish, aubergines, rice, tomatoes... They wrap everything in plastic bags with the company image of the young singers in fashion in China, Cristiano Ronaldo or Messi. The fruits and vegetables come out of the floating gardens anchored on the water by long bamboo sticks, one of the many costumbrista scenes that still make their way in this unusual piece of Southeast Asia.
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