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Shan State { 86 images } Created 30 Nov 2014

Photos from Myanmar taken in January 2010, October 2012 and December 2019.
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  • After spending one night in Yangon, we started our trip to the Inle Lake region. The best known village where you can hire a boat driver to the Inle Lake is Nyaung Shwe. The majority of the tourists come here for starting boat tours. Most of the boats gliding on the Inle Lake are fisher boats.
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  • Many locals, like this young man, become fishermen like their fathers.
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  • A fisherman using the one leg-rowing technique on Inle lake.
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  • A man is spreading out his net to catch fishes.
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  • The same man is inspecting his net. In the background you can see another fisher probably looking for a good place.
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  • According to "Wikipedia" - Local fishermen are known for practicing a distinctive rowing style which involves standing at the stern on one leg and wrapping the other leg around the oar. This unique style evolved for the reason that the lake is covered by reeds and floating plants making it difficult to see above them while sitting. Standing provides the rower with a view beyond the reeds. However, the leg rowing style is only practiced by the men. Women row in the customary style, using the oar with their hands, sitting cross legged at the stern.
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  • As the landlubber i am, i'm still asking myself how to climb into a small boat without falling into the water. Then, when i've safely entered the boat, i'm still a danger for the passengers when i'm trying to sit down, causing the boat's shaking.
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  • A fisherman using a traditional cone-shaped fishing basket. Most of the Burmese people living around Inle Lake are "Intha" people, which means "sons of the lake" people. There are about 200 villages spread around the lake.
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  • Originally and long time ago, the Intha people were an ethnic group living in Dawei, a city located in south Myanmar, before they settled down in the Inle Lake region. The Intha speak quite the same archaic burmese dialect used in Dawei.
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  • We stopped the first time at a place where we saw two long-neck women. In Thailand all of these women are more or less required as a tourist attraction, like animals in a zoo. I read in some pages that it is not the case in their homeland, Myanmar, where they are primarly selling things to locals or to the tourists. The two women we saw in the hut were selling nothing, just giving forced smiles to the tourists.
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  • Most of all the essential items required in live are produced by the locals like this blacksmith.
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  • A man prepares a piece of iron to be forged.
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  • While we entered the blacksmith house, there were four men swinging their hammer at the same time to forge a blade.
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  • Another naturally product of Burma is the silk obtained by the lotus plant. The fibers are spun later to silk.
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  • A woman dozing in a boat on Inle lake.
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  • View on an old stupa near the shore of Inle Lake. According to "Wikipedia" - The stupa is the latest Buddhist religious monument and was originally only a simple mound of mud or clay to cover supposed relics of the Buddha (cetiya). After the parinirvana of the Buddha, his remains were cremated and the ashes divided and buried under eight stupas with two further stupas encasing the urn and the embers. Little is known about these early stupas, particularly since it has not been possible to identify the original ten monuments. However, some later stupas, such as at Sarnath and Sanchi, seem to be embellishments of earlier mounds.
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  • An oncoming boat steered by two young burmese ladies.
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  • Inle lake is the second largest lake in Myanmar with an approximately north-south expansion of 22km and a maximal east-west expansion of 10km.
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  • The houses built at Inle and its surroundings are usually constructed with wood. In the water, the floating village houses are built on stilts. Bamboo is one of the main components of these buildings, as also the scaffolding around the skeletal construction as it is shown on the photo.
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  • Two women transporting handwoven bamboo baskets with their boat.
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  • Gulls resting beside our boat.
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  • A mother and her child in front of the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda, one of the holiest site in Burma in which festivities are held for 18 days between september and october. The famous Pagoda festival houses five Buddha images, which are unrecognizable nowadays because of the golden leafs covering thickness. So today, nobody can precisely say what the statues represent exactly. It's reported that the five figures were created in the Pagan Dynasty during the reign of King Alaungsithu who died in 1167.<br />
During the festival four of the statues are carried on a royal barge, then they will navigate to 14 villages around the lake. The fifth Buddha image will remain into the Pagoda.
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  • Still cruising and enjoying the views around Inle Lake.
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  • The boats are means of water transport on Inle lake. Behind the boat driven by a woman you can see swimming gardens.
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  • On our way back to Nyaung Shwe we saw many Intha men beating a long stick on the water surface to frighten the fishes away into a net.
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  • Our friend, Moe Thu and his two children in front of the Nyaung Shwe primary school. On that day diplomas and prizes were distributed to the best students.
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  • Two young monks walking on a street of Nyaung Shwe.
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  • A boy looking out the window as we passed his house under a hot midday sun.
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  • A young farmer using a water buffalo to plough the field. You need some practise to control this huge animal. I tried to plough the same field with another buffalo, but i failed miserably.
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  • Welcome to the wild east :-)
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  • After i lost the control of the water buffalo causing the dissatisfaction of the farmer and the devastation of his field, we decided to turn back to Nyaung Shwe. On our way back, another farmer was pouring seedlings along the field.
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  • While we were walking on a small path leading to the centre of Nyaung Shwe, we noticed a group of children playing close to a man who was teaching his son how to ride a bicycle.
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  • This two kids were shy, but very happy to pose for the camera.
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  • Many people who live in houses on stilts - usually set in the middle of Inle Lake, are afraid to send their children to Nyaung Shwe when they reach the entrance age of five, because they could drown in the deep water area that surrounds their habitation on their way to school. So, a lot of children start the primary school very late, as soon as they are able to swim freely.
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  • Since ever women carry their children this way, all around Asia.
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  • After spending a few days in Nyaung Shwe we decided to trek up to the Shan Hill villages for two or three days. On our first day we met a lot of friendly people and we were very motivated on the way up to the top of the Hill... which we never reached ...
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  • Many kids were observing us as we were ascending the path up to the next Shan hill village. We stopped near a house to refresh ourselves while our guide was buying a huge papaya from a woman, which she cut into small pieces for us.
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  • Our guide was happy as we told him that we would probably see an annular eclipse on that day. Unfortunately we had just one sunglass, so it was very difficult to distinguish the moon, especially for our guide, who had the strong desire to become blind :-); he was trying to look straight at the sun with unprotected eyes all the time, despite the fact that we told him not to do it without a sunglass. The scenery took place near a monastery and we were only five people - including two monks, to enjoy the show.
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  • After our funny guide recovered from partial blindness, we continued our trekking.
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  • A few men are erecting a wooden fence around one of many houses, scattered over green hills in the countryside.
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  • A woman pouring water on a rice field.
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  • A boy was starring at us as we passed his hut. Unfortunately i don't remember the name of the village. At that moment we were in hurry, so we just stopped there to buy some water and cookies. As we arrived to the next village, one hour after sunset, we noticed that there was nobody in the hut where we were supposed to sleep. Fortunately we were given hospitality in another hut occupied by many neighbours and the family themself. After being introduced, our hosts and their friends made fun about us while we took a cold shower at the washing area at night. One hour later our guide became sick. I gave him some medication and he sent them down the throat with an entire bottle of whisky.
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  • The next day we noticed that our guide was very sick. He was vomiting every five minutes. At that point we were asking ourselves if we should rest one more day in the village so that he could recover or stop the trekking and go back. Our guide refused, thinking he would get well in a couple of hours. That was a clear case of delirium :-). I felt very sorry for him. But we had a nice morning anyway.
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  • The local people were also interested to take pictures. There were a lot of villagers surrounding our hut and we learned how to use a slingshot. The chief invited us again to eat piles of rice, eggs and vegetables for breakfast... until our stomachs explodes and the rice came out of our ears. One hour later, we were ready for our way back...
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  • A nice burmese couple stopped their car in front of us as we were walking back to the village. One minute later they took us to the next local restaurant. Finally we made it.
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  • As we arrived near a floating village we made a last stop at a restaurant for relaxing a while and look how the people drive their boats.
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  • Our boatman steering his speedboat back to our guesthouse in Nyaung Shwe.
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  • A man fixing a cable on a telephone pole along a street in Nyaung Shwe.
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  • Three boys enjoying their walk on a main street in Nyaung Shwe.
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  • Children playing in the evening time.
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  • This photo was taken near the famous U Bein Bridge in Amarapura, a township of Mandalay.
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  • The tree set opposite to the U Bein Bridge is probably the most photographed tree in the region.
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  • A monk crossing the U Bein Bridge shortly before sunset.
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  • With 1.2km, the U Bein Bridge is said to be the longest teak bridge in the world.
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  • Two monks crossing the bridge while a magnificient sunset atmosphere surrounds the whole area. The best time for visiting the U Bein Bridge is early in the morning or late in the evening.
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  • A street scene on our way to Pyin U Lwin.
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  • Animal Market outside Nyaungshwe.
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  • According to "Wikipedia" - Annually, during the Burmese month of Thadingyut (from September to October), an 18-day pagoda festival is 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 remains 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 reside at the main monastery in each village for the night.
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  • Food offering for monks during Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda Festival in Nyaungshwe.
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  • A group of young monks during Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda Festival in Nyaungshwe.
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  • Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda Festival in Nyaungshwe.
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  • Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda Festival in Nyaungshwe.
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  • A girl and her young sister, somewhere outside Nyaungshwe.
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  • Old stupas near Kyauk Phyu Gyi Buddha Image, approximately 1 km south of Nyaungshwe.
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  • Kyauk Phyu Gyi Buddha Image.
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  • View on a wooden hut in the middle of Samkar Lake.
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  • One of many puppy dogs in Samkar Village.
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  • Statues at Thakaung Mwe Taw Temple, seen in Sagar Village.
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  • Three young ladies watching football from the other side of the wall in Sagar Village.
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  • A girl we met before on the other side of the river, watching at us from a small boat jetty.
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  • Sunset view over Samkar Lake and the surrounding hills.
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  • Children playing near their hut.
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  • View over the Pagodas of Indein, seen from a higher viewpoint.
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  • One of many Pagodas in Indein.
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  • A woman and her water buffaloes crossing the river which connects  Indein with Inle Lake.
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  • Intha fisherman catching fishes on Inle Lake.
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  • Intha fishermen catching fishes on Inle Lake.
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  • Intha fisherman posing on Inle Lake.
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  • Intha fisherman posing on Inle Lake.
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  • Intha fisherman posing on Inle Lake just before sunset.
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  • Intha fisherman posing on Inle Lake just before sunset.
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  • Their are over 2000 Pagodas at the Kakku Pagoda complex.
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  • Children, in a small village near the famous Kakku Pagodas
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  • Pagoda reflexion, seen in a small pond near the entrance to the Pagoda complex.
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  • Until 2001 foreigners were not allowed to visit the Pagoda complex. Later the place was opened to foreign tourists, but you had to hire a local guide. Nowadays foreign tourists are free to travel to Kakku individually without a guide.
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  • Kakku is set in Pa'O people's territory in Shan State. Usually, the journey starts by hiring a taxi in Taunggyi, the capital city of Shan State. On the way to Kakku you will pass many scenic Pa'O villages.
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