The village of Nyuangshwe on the mouth of the Inle Lake is a
backpacker’s heaven. At least it was some 11 months back. With tourism comes
money and with it comes the want of more money. Its saddening to see that the
simple people in the villages around the lake are so under the influence of the
$$ that, you almost want to run away from there. But having said
this, nothing can take away the beauty of the place.
The traditional way of fishing on Inle
Lake Inle might be the biggest tourist draw for the people
coming to Myanmar. The lake is big and there is one more resort every year than
there used to be. The sales staff in the cottage industries around the lake, have
been employed with a minimal knowledge of English with words like, ‘Best price’
and ‘discount’ looming large, and once you buy their stuff, they all say ‘lucky
money.’ Ya you only realize how lucky they got considering that they sell their
goods at double the prices than that of the town.
Well, now about the good part. The people and the pure
pristine scenery!
The Burmese have a way of offering things, they do it with
the right hand, bending their head in respect and touching the right elbow with
the left hand. When they smile its mostly genuine. The little waterways that my
boat driver took, provided me with some of the genuinely curious faces peeping
out of the wooden windows in the houses that stood on stilts. The other kind of
peeping in was when the sales people winked at my boat guy for him to get the
bait in. After falling prey to the silver stop and handing the girl who used
the word ‘halo’ as a full stop after every sentence, I decided I am going to
bargain. But before I could speak anything at the wood carving place, the girl
said, the pli iii 5000 , but I give you fo 4000 ok .. vely chep’ . At places
like these I thought I bought what I could in the limited local currency I was
carrying, only to support the villagers there.
No bargaining please .. only lucky money!
The Palaun women are the postcard tribal woman of Myanmar.
You must’ve seen an image of a woman with brass rings on her neck , as a result
of which the head seems further away from the collarbone. These women live in
the mountains but they earn 10 times of what they do in the mountains selling
milk by just posing for camera’s on the lake Inle. Such is the tragedy! But
everyone wants a picture of them, thankfully I didnt see anyone posing with
them. Originally made to wear the brass bands to look less attractive to the
invading armies of tribes, no one would’ve thought back then that these very
rings would make them the number one tribal picture of Burma.
The best picture opportunity of Lake Inle however is the
traditional fishermen in their tiny vessel fishing with the unique conical
shaped net. On my way back from the lake as the sun was about to set I saw a
couple of fishermen posing for a big group of tourists with high end cameras,
the good part is that they were having fun with this and I guess it involved no
money and even if it did, that meant a good feast on the full moon day.
The sunset over the lake is beautiful; more so because the
group tours have retired to their high end hotels on the lake and the water
feels less crowded.
Lake Inle for many is the high point of Myanmar. For me
however it was a bit disappointing with due respect to its beauty. It was like
an Israeli I met on one of the Islands said, ‘Hmmm this lake .. not as good as
Daal Lake in Srinagar, this country not as cheap as India’
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