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Myanmar: Inle
December 18th {notes from journal}
Fisherman with cone shaped nets and baskets on long handles; a market with a flotilla of boats as parking lot; temples with trained cats and Buddhas so gilded with gold leaf they appear as blobs; floating vegetable gardens; and demonstrations of local handicrafts: silversmiths make earrings and men pound out iron swords, women make paper with designs formed by flowers, cigars are rolled by delicate female hands, silk made from the lotus plant is woven on looms... this is Inle, a lake in the Shan State, 22 km long and 11 wide, with mountains on either side and villages upon its waves.
Along with Bagan, Inle is Myanmar's top tourist destination. A day-long boat trip aboard a vessel with comfortable chairs and cushions is the best way to see the lake and its way of life -- children fly kites from canoes tied up outside homes built over the water on stilts; men row boats with their legs; women do the laundry in the water outside their front door; reflections on the glassy surface of the lake tease the mind and trick the eyes. The reflections are the most beautiful I've ever seen, casting the images of neighborhoods and people and temples and flowering plants and blue skies with billowing clouds into the water.
It's a tiring day, under the sun on a boat... and, at times, a bit frustrating. At the Phaung Daw U Paya, the holiest religious site of the Southern Shan state, the 5 Buddha images (blobs) covered in gold leaf are somewhat off limits to women. "Ladies not permitted," sings state on steps leading to the altar. It's a bit annoying to be deemed less of a person than a man -- there is no other reason to deny us entrance to the altar. In Myanmar, they believe a male birth comes with higher merit; women can never reach nibbana (nirvana). If you ask me, women should be the ones allowed to the altar, to swath the Buddhas in gold... women need the merit having been born with less than men, no?
The other frustrating thing: there were no jumping cats at the 'Jumping Cat Monastery'. We wanted to see felines jump through hoops held in the hands of laughing monks. When we got there, cats and monks... everyone but the souvenir salesmen were sleeping. And finally, it was frustrating to go from one handicraft demonstration to the next, as if we were mindless sightseers on a package tour... It's not our style.
All that said, Inle is an interesting place. It's peaceful. It's beautiful. And at the end of the day, you can feed seagulls that soar above as you skim along reflective water as the sun makes its descent behind the mountains.
Fisherman with cone shaped nets and baskets on long handles; a market with a flotilla of boats as parking lot; temples with trained cats and Buddhas so gilded with gold leaf they appear as blobs; floating vegetable gardens; and demonstrations of local handicrafts: silversmiths make earrings and men pound out iron swords, women make paper with designs formed by flowers, cigars are rolled by delicate female hands, silk made from the lotus plant is woven on looms... this is Inle, a lake in the Shan State, 22 km long and 11 wide, with mountains on either side and villages upon its waves.
Along with Bagan, Inle is Myanmar's top tourist destination. A day-long boat trip aboard a vessel with comfortable chairs and cushions is the best way to see the lake and its way of life -- children fly kites from canoes tied up outside homes built over the water on stilts; men row boats with their legs; women do the laundry in the water outside their front door; reflections on the glassy surface of the lake tease the mind and trick the eyes. The reflections are the most beautiful I've ever seen, casting the images of neighborhoods and people and temples and flowering plants and blue skies with billowing clouds into the water.
It's a tiring day, under the sun on a boat... and, at times, a bit frustrating. At the Phaung Daw U Paya, the holiest religious site of the Southern Shan state, the 5 Buddha images (blobs) covered in gold leaf are somewhat off limits to women. "Ladies not permitted," sings state on steps leading to the altar. It's a bit annoying to be deemed less of a person than a man -- there is no other reason to deny us entrance to the altar. In Myanmar, they believe a male birth comes with higher merit; women can never reach nibbana (nirvana). If you ask me, women should be the ones allowed to the altar, to swath the Buddhas in gold... women need the merit having been born with less than men, no?
The other frustrating thing: there were no jumping cats at the 'Jumping Cat Monastery'. We wanted to see felines jump through hoops held in the hands of laughing monks. When we got there, cats and monks... everyone but the souvenir salesmen were sleeping. And finally, it was frustrating to go from one handicraft demonstration to the next, as if we were mindless sightseers on a package tour... It's not our style.
All that said, Inle is an interesting place. It's peaceful. It's beautiful. And at the end of the day, you can feed seagulls that soar above as you skim along reflective water as the sun makes its descent behind the mountains.
posted by Cheryn at 3:29 PM
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