If you haven’t seen my latest work from Burma, check it out ~

~ A Graceful Spirit ~

~ The Markets of Inle Lake ~

~ Lotus & Silk Weaving ~

~ Shwedagon Pagoda ~

Former capital of the Royal Kingdom of Laos
Kingdom of a Million Elephants
“Royal Buddha Image”
The Jewel of Laos
I’m taking a little holiday. Finally.

The largest ethnic group of Inle Lake are the Intha, which means “sons of the lake.” The Intha are a Tibeto-Burmese people who migrated from Burma’s southern Mon state to Inle Lake in the 18th century and today speak an archaic form of Burmese. They number about 70,000 and live on and around the lake in teak and bamboo houses built on stilts. They’re self-sufficient gardeners and fishers. The Intha fishermen (and a few women) are known for their standing, one-legged boat rowing style, which helps them to see beyond the thick reeds and plants that grow in the water. In addition to the Intha, people from the Pa-O, Taungyo, Kayah, Danaw and other Shan ethnic groups live around the lake. There are about 200 villages in total.

Some of the unique aspects of the lake are its man-made floating gardens (primarily tomatoes and beans), a natural hot springs (soaked in by locals and tourists), silk and lotus textile weaving (including silk longyi in traditional Shan designs and a special “lotus robe” for highly ordained Buddhist monks), and the production of Shan handbags, cheroots (stogie cigars) and yellow tofu. A five-day rotating market brings people together to buy, sell and trade everything from produce and cattle to lipstick and handmade machetes.

As most Burmese are devout Buddhists, the lake and surrounding villages are home to numerous monasteries, nunneries and sacred sites. Among the most interesting (and photogenic) are the fields of ancient stupas at InnDein and Kekku and the teak monastery of Nyaungshwe. The lake’s most important temple is Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda, home to five highly-revered, gold Buddha statues. During Buddhist lent in September/October, the statues are put on a golden boat and taken to the surrounding villages to drive away evil spirits.

The most abundant fish of the lake is Inle Carp, a staple of the local diet and primary protein in the Intha’s signature dish, htamin jin. This dish is made of fresh or fermented Shan rice kneaded with boiled fish (usually Inle Carp), fresh tomato paste, mashed potatoes and garlic, and topped with garlic oil and garlic chive roots. It’s usually served with Shan tofu (a crunchy, “twice cooked” tofu made from yellow split peas) and a small dish of oil with red chili flakes. (Eat your heart out!)

As an eco-region, the lake is host to some 20,000 brown and black head migratory seagulls from November to January and is home to a number of wildlife species that exist nowhere else in the world, mostly snails and fish. In recent years, the lake has suffered from serious environmental degradation and its size decreased by a third. Most of the damage has come from chemical pesticides and fertilizers used for the floating gardens. Farmers have been unaware of the side effects caused by these chemicals but are slowly being educated about their dangers, as well as sustainable and organic farming. Also, increased population (sewage), tourism (noise pollution), deforestation from “slash and burn” farming on the surrounding hills, and global warming have added to the degradation. In the summer of 2010, the lake reached its lowest point in 50 years, and perhaps all but one of the fish species native the lake have gone extinct. The waters are polluted and unsafe for drinking, fishermen are finding it hard to survive, certain flowers on the hills are no longer blooming, and so on.

As most people are still living off (and in harmony with) the lake and surrounding land, its conservation is critical to their survival and the survival of the lake for future generations. The government is now collaborating with UN-HABITAT to restore the lake’s environment and ecosystem before it’s all gone for good. And the lake is inscribed on UNESCO’s tentative World Heritage list, which would further support its conservation. Let’s hope that when the economic sanctions on Burma are lifted, the global community will step in to help the country protect its natural and cultural heritage.

In the meantime, there’s still much to enjoy about this peaceful pocket of paradise on Earth, so here you go!

Kyaiktiyo (pronounced like Chai-tea-O) Pagoda is the third most sacred site of the “Golden Land” of Burma, after Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon and Mahamuni Temple in Mandalay. According to legend, a hair relic of the Buddha holds this massive boulder in its precarious position.

Located in a beautiful jungle forest region in Burma’s southern Mon state, it’s a pilgrimage to reach Mount Kyaiktiyo no matter how one makes the journey. Most people take the bus to the base camp town of Kinpun, then pile onto the back of a large truck with about 35-40 other people for a high speed ride up a bumpy, windy mountain road for about 45 minutes (like a real-life roller coaster ride), and then walk up a very steep, windy hill for another 45 minutes or so to the top. Some people also walk from the base camp to the top, about 5 hours, which legend says will bless them with wealth and recognition if done three times consecutively in a year. And a few walk from the town of Kyaiktiyo, about 7 hours. A number of hermits (dressed in brown robes) walk the long road up to the site too.

The great boulder is covered in gold leaf applied by pilgrims and topped by a small stupa. It’s an amazing natural phenomena that must have been regarded as highly sacred in the pre-Buddhist Nat religion (and in fact there are numerous Nat references at the site complex). The main legend associated with the rock is that the Buddha gave a strand of his hair to Taik Tha, a hermit, who in turn gave the strand to the King with the wish that the hair be enshrined in a boulder shaped like the hermit’s head. The King had supernatural powers from his father, an alchemist, and his mother, a serpent dragon princess. They found the rock at the bottom of the sea and brought it by magic boat to Mt. Kyaiktiyo where the strand was enshrined. The name Kyaik-htiyo means “Pagoda on a Hermit’s Head.” It’s interesting to note that the Golden Rock follows the pattern of how ancient cultures not only worshiped rocks for their powers but gave them human attributes.

According to a secondary legend, illustrated within one of the rooms at the site, the rock actually hovers in the air. Originally there was enough space for a chicken to walk underneath it. Then it sunk and only a partridge could walk under it, and then only a sparrow, and today the space is still there although we can’t see it (except for one small “hole” that we can).

The Golden Rock itself and the devotion it inspires is truly impressive, but the overall atmosphere was more like a theme park than a sacred site when I visited. There were hordes of people, and on the second day a huge flood of them arrived starting at 5AM (with loudspeakers). Families were camped out everywhere, kids were playing, the grounds were getting trashed, it was getting harder to photograph (and women aren’t allowed in two key spots), and I was getting very tired. I was also sick with a cold, slow moving and thinking, and pretty much annoyed by everything and everyone the whole time. However, as I was leaving and walking back down the road to catch the truck, hoping that I made at least one decent image of the rock, a sight on the road literally stopped me in my tracks and shifted my perspective: a young man deformed from the waist down was walking on all fours up the hill. He had skinny, crooked legs that he moved forward with his hands, one at a time. It was a miracle that those legs even worked at all. He carried nothing but a small basket strapped to his side for donations. It probably took him all day to reach the top. And on his face there wasn’t a trace of sadness or pain, only radiance and joy. We had a sweet little exchange and I could barely hold back my amazement, happiness and tears. Now that was a memorable experience, and that’s the true spirit of these places. The sites and symbols themselves are usually lovely, but it’s not about the photographs and documentary films we make of them, or the picnics and sleep overs we have beside them, or the hotels and souvenir hawkers that profit from them. It’s the depths of the affirmation of life that they inspire in us, and that was right there with this young man, like a brilliant light. No need to photograph him. It’s beyond pictures and my ability to describe very well. But that’s the real story for me at Mt. Kyaiktiyo.

The turban is wool in orange or red plaid, and sometimes a terry cloth towel is worn as a turban. According to Pa-O legend, once upon a time the dragon mother laid three eggs: the first gave birth to the Karen people, the second to the Pa-O people, and the third to the Karenni and Padaung. Out of respect to this legend, the Pa-O women style their turban like a dragon’s head. Anthropologists believe the Pa-O are descendants of Tibeto-Burmese people who arrived in Burma’s southern Mon state around 1,000 BC. Apparently they used to wear colorful clothing, but after they were conquered and enslaved by King Anawratha, they were forced to wear indigo-dyed clothes, which the women continue to wear today.

Aside from the clothing, just about everyone here wears thong sandals and many Pa-O wear a green canvas ankle boot that looks like a throwback to Red China. Almost everyone carries the Shan handbag too. Made of striped wool or thick cotton, the traditional handbag is red in color and sometimes embroidered with writings that say things like “I love you”, “I am Pa-O” and “Shan state.” Most Pa-O women wear gold earrings, usually hoops or dangling little bags of gold, and the younger women like to wear red lipstick, which creates a striking contrast with the whitish thanaka paste that most Burmese wear on their faces in various creative designs to protect themselves from the sun and enhance their beauty. (Made from the dried powder of the thanaka tree, this paste has been worn by the Burmese for over 2,000 years.)

I’m definitely into the Pa-O style and had the pleasure of being dressed up by them one day, complete with thanaka, although I didn’t look half as good as they do! Go-Go Pa-O!!!

Not long after this moment I met a woman yogi who told me that the gods or spirits were telling her to tell me to buy and wear a Shan lunghi (skirt) in red. Coincidence? Or do I have some mysterious connection with the Shan women? I do feel incredibly at home here in Burma, especially in Shan state. Maybe another lifetime!

By the time H.C. arrived at around six the place was so packed that I could only get glimpses of her from behind a thick crowd of people wielding all sorts of cameras. It was a small miracle that I got this photo of her in focus (but then again I consider every good shot a miracle). She’s accompanied by Myanmar’s President U Thein Sein, who gave her a tour of this massive temple complex filled with statues of Buddhas and surreal deities. She wore pants, he wore a skirt (the lunghi), both in light blue. They matched perfectly.

The next day H.C. met with Aung San Suu Kyi and the day after that photos of the two were splashed all over the papers of Yangon. They were hugging and laughing and seemed genuinely thrilled to meet each other, if not downright giddy. The Burmese seem to love America and they hope this meeting is the start of a brighter future with the U.S. and the rest of the world. Let’s hope so for them too.

Here are my three favorite images from a recent trip to Santa Fe to photograph its historic churches:

1. St. Francis of Asis church at Taos, painted and photographed beautifully by many artists for its architecture (in the New Mexico light)
2. Ceiling of San José de Gracia church at Las Trampas, decorated with 18th century designs believed to be the insignias of the village’s 12 founding families
3. Shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe at Chimayó

The complete set of images and article are at my website — High Road to Taos.