Myanmar
Thale

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    • Day 23

      Inle Lake: Thursday Farmers Market

      March 12, 2020 in Myanmar ⋅ ⛅ 84 °F

      The Farmers Market occurs every 5 days at this location. It serves as an economic hubs of Inle Lake where the farmers from the mountains and floating islands meet the fisherfolk of the water to trade their wares and use the profits to buy the other essentials of life on offer at the stalls.
      Without Mala, our guide, leading the we would have gotten lost in the labyrinth of local produce and wares. We loved the experience of being surrounded by the Myanmar very loving people, squatting down and negotiating their sales. We were told that everyone gets off work to go and shop on Thursday at the Farmers Market.
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    • Day 23

      Inle Lake: Farmers Market (Continued)

      March 12, 2020 in Myanmar ⋅ ⛅ 84 °F

      This market happens every 5 days. It’s THE place for the locals in the surrounding villages to buy, sell, barter their goods. Some villages are in the nearby mountains, others are the fisherman or floating island farmers near Lake Inle, still others are from silver making villages or weaving villages, etc. It was fascinating to learn that everyone in the respective village does the same thing! Some villagers travel far, so they come the night before to set up their stall and/or to shop.Read more

    • Day 23

      Inke Lake: Farmers Market (Continued)

      March 12, 2020 in Myanmar ⋅ ⛅ 86 °F

      Unknown to many, there are more than 10 different Shan tribes living in total harmony in Inle Lake. They each have unique characteristics and speak their own language. At the market the vendor can be identified by the colourful headress they are wearing.

      1. Intha means Children of the Lake, and the language closely resembles of the Myanmar people. Legend says that Intha people living on Lake Inle are the direct descendants of Dawei. The Intha people are hard-working folks. The women roll cigars and weave. Intha fishmen are well-known for their one-legged rowing skill

      2. Known as the “Kaw” or “Yi-Kaw”, the Akha live in highlands about 1,000 metres above sea level. They are slash-and-burn agriculturists and have moved from place to place in search of fertile land. Their total population is approximately 200,000 in Myanmar.

      3. Khun m: The Khun and Shan-Gyi are of Thai-Shan heritage. Khun lives predominantly to the east of the Thanlwin River while Shan-Gyi lives in the west. Both the Khun and Shan-Gyi have their own writing and literature.

      4. The Lahu-Na people are good-natured and open. They are welcoming to guests from other regions, and the villagers always help one another. To top this off, Lahu-Na men are said to be very kind to their wives.

      5. The Lahu, who bear striking similarities to Native Americans, are also categorised into three subgroups. They are the Lahu-Shi, Lahu-Na and Lahu-Ni. They speak different languages and wears different traditional costumes.

      6. Lisu: A Lisu New Year celebration is celebrated for three executive days in each village. At each village, the dancers form a circle around the sacred New Years tree and do simple dance steps to accompanying of three-stringed banjo music.

      7. Shan-Gyi means Bigger Shan. They live in the valleys of the Shan Plateau and are rice farmers by tradition. The Shan-Gyi, along with the Khun and Thai-Lu, are a subgroup of the Shan people in Myanmar.

      8. The Eng are related to the Wa tribe and is also known as the Va people. They live in the foothills of the Kyaing Tong basin. Marrying young at the age of 14-15, the women spot colourful ornaments and black garb. The Eng is fearful of the water spirits and therefore build their villages away from swamplands and rivers.

      9. Akhu: A super small subgroup of the Akha people, the Akhu people live in four villages in the Kyaing Tong region. Interestingly, the entire community of Wan-Jai Village attends a Baptist church service on Sunday night.

      10. Thai-Lu: A subgroup of the Shan people, the Thai-Lu can trace its roots to the Sip-song-pan-na of Yunnan China. They are dispersed all over the Shan State in Myanmar. At Wan-Paw Village, the Thai-Lu people happily harvest their crops.
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    • Day 23

      Inle Lake: Hpaung Daw U Pagoda

      March 12, 2020 in Myanmar ⋅ ⛅ 88 °F

      The pagoda houses five small gilded images of Buddha, which have been covered in gold leaf to the point that their original forms cannot be seen. The gold-leaf application to such excess is relatively recent. Old photographs hanging on the monastery walls show some of the images in original form. It is reported that some gold has been removed on occasion to reduce its mass. Only men are permitted to place gold leaf on the images. Another part of the ritual for pilgrims is to place a small robe around the images, and to take the robe back to their houses and place it on their own altar as a token of respect for the Buddha and his teachings.

      The highlight is an 18-day pagoda festival held, during which four of the Buddha images are placed on a replica of a royal barge designed as a hintha bird and taken throughout Inlay Lake. One image always left at the temple. The elaborately decorated barge is towed by several boats of leg-rowers rowing in unison, and other accompanying boats, making an impressive procession on the water. The barge is towed from village to village along the shores of the lake in clockwise fashion, and the four images are left at the main monastery in each village for the night.

      The high point of the festival is on the day when the images arrive at the main town of Nyaung Shwe, where most pilgrims from the surrounding region come to pay their respects, the Saopha of Yawnghwe would personally welcome the images. The images would be taken from the barge and a grand procession would take them to the palace or haw of the Saopha, entering the prayer hall from the eastern entrance, and where it would reside for a few hours. The public was allowed inside the prayer hall of the haw to pay their respects.

      Sometime in the 1960s during a windy day, when the waves were high on the lake, the barge carrying the images capsized, and the images tumbled into the lake. They only recovered four images. but when they went back to the monastery, the missing image was miraculously sitting in its place.
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    • Day 15

      Tag 15 Inle See #Phaung Daw oo Pagode

      October 14, 2019 in Myanmar ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

      Hier ist nun ein für Buddhisten sehr wichtiger Ort. Denn hier trohnen die 5 Buddhas. Die mittlerweile kaum zu erkennen sind. Da diese mit unzähligen Schichten Blattgold ummantelt sind.😳

    • Day 23

      Market - continued

      March 12, 2020 in Myanmar ⋅ ⛅ 86 °F

      More colorful pics from the market

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