Nyaung Shwe/Yaunghwe, a former Shan capital on Inlay Lake, also spelled Inle Lake, is the main and oldest city of a total of some 200 settlements of the Intha and other tribes living around the lake. It is found on the northeastern shores of the lake, on the edge of the ubiquitous ‘Eichhornia crassipes’, commonly known as water hyacinth, which surrounds the lake in a wide belt up to 3 miles/5 kilometers wide. These water hyacinths are contributing significantly to the lake’s demise at a rate that suggests the lake will no longer be around 150 years from now unless something is done about it.
Nyaung Shwe is the so-called “gateway” to Inlay Lake for visitors arriving from Heho Airport. Sao Shwe Htaik, the last of a group of a total of 36 Shan princes, called ‘Sawbaws’ (the title of a hereditary prince) lived here until 1948 in a stately teak building which is now a museum. He became the first president of Burma on January 4, 1948 and served until 1952.
The 36 Sawbaws met regularly during the British colonial era in the Taunggyi parliament to discuss and decide on matters relating to their Shan people.
The city is a quiet and pleasant place to stay, but it has, apart from some more or less interesting ruins around it, the ‘Yatamamanaungsu Pagoda’ near its center which houses ‘you will be sick’ and ‘you will be old’ figures on stained glass glass as well as the famous wooden Nyaung Shwe Monastery, there is not much to offer tourists. It is more the place where you can sleep, eat and start your excursions in and around the lake.
From Nyaung Shwe, regular boat services transport guests to their hotels on the lake and you can also embark on motorized or non-motorized boats or canoes to discover the lake and the Intha communities that live here. And that is what I will do now. I will start my ‘lake trip’ and my ‘port of call’ today is Nga Phe Chaung Monastery.
The monastery is located on Inlay Lake and is an attractive wooden monastery built on stilts above the lake in the late 1850s. Reaching the old monastery takes about 1 hour by boat. You are cordially invited to join me.
On our way to Nga Phe Chaung Monastery, our narrow but long canoe, which, incidentally, was built in Nam Pan, a village on the eastern shore of the lake south of Nyaung Shwe, deftly navigates through the tangled water hyacinth. led by his Intha. ‘captain’. He is also a fisherman, he grew up here and knows everyone and everything on and around the lake. You can go to Nga Phe Chaung Monastery and every other place in and around the lake also by motorized boat or canoe. That goes a lot faster and you won’t have to change boats but you will miss out on witnessing up close the unique flair with which Intha fishermen propel their canoes through the water. It is the famous ‘one leg rowing stroke’ that deserves to be described in more detail.
Our ‘captain’ (wearing a conical straw hat called a ‘Khamout’ that is typical of Inlay Lake) keeps his eyes open to avoid floating mats below the surface or clumps of tangled weeds. He stands tall on one leg, his left, in the stern of our canoe (a balancing act that is a feat in itself) while he has his right leg coiled around a long oar, gripping it firmly at the top. end (around the level of his shoulder) and keeping it firm between the calf and knee of this leg. He then leans his body forward and pushes the oar with his calf and knee back, a movement that propels the canoe forward. He then hooks the foot of his now fully extended right leg around the oar to pull him back and the process begins all over again. Seemingly effortless, he’s doing all of this in one smooth, gliding motion, which is a mesmerizing sight. But to top it off he is – with an almost bored expression on his face – smoking a cigar (Burmese cigar), which he holds in his left hand; truly amazing. I’m afraid my brief description may not be enough for you to form an accurate and true mind’s eye picture of him. One really has to see it. It is, again, amazing. So, to get at least one legacy from your trip around the lake, you should go on a rowboat, as it’s an experience you probably won’t forget.
The Intha have developed this fascinating and unique style of rowing along with their equally amazing and unique method of fishing. This is done by dint of a bamboo wicker fish trap, conical in shape, very tall (almost as tall as most fishermen), round and open at the base, pointed and closed at the top, and containing a grid network. Whenever you are on the lake you can see the fishermen, sometimes forming a line or semi-circle with their canoes and sometimes alone working. While loading the fish trap, they are paddling and look for movements below the surface of the water that indicate the presence of fish (which could be a long fat eel or a huge encrusted carp four feet or more) after which they push the trap – open end down and pointy top up – about the place where the fish are at the bottom of the lake and the fish are trapped and will surely end up in a pan or pot as a delicious dish on someone (such time his ) stomach.
Leaving Nyaung Shwe we also see many huge ‘Kyunpaws’. These are the floating gardens or farms where flowers and all kinds of agricultural products like tomatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumbers, potatoes, beans and legumes, brinjal, you name it, are grown and harvested throughout the year by the Intha. These Kyunpaws are made from clumps of grass that fishermen have to traverse to lay out a path. These clumps of grass are separated from their roots simply by cutting them. They are then tied and attached to large mats so that they eventually form an artificial island about 3 feet/about 1 meter thick that can be moved and is held in place by bamboo poles that are driven into the lake floor. .
The produce grown in these gardens or floating farms, while sometimes lacking the richness of flavor that fruits and vegetables grown in fertile soils often have, are sold not only in local markets on and around the lake, but also they are also distributed in large numbers to other regions and cities. For example, up to 80 tons of tomatoes a day can be harvested here, which explains why many (most?) of the tomatoes eaten in Burma are probably encrusted tomatoes.
Fishermen and floating farms can be seen throughout the lake, as fishing and farming are the main sources of income for people living on and around the lake. Other sources of income are, for example, the production of clothing, shoulder bags, cigarettes, ceramics, umbrellas, etc. A rapidly growing additional source of revenue is local and foreign visitors to Inlay Lake and its immediate and wider surrounding areas.
Almost all of the towns around the lake specialize in other trades, such as boat building, cigar making, silk and cotton weaving, and pottery.
Now we have reached Nga Phe Chaung Monastery, also known as ‘Jumping Cat Monastery’.
Nga Phe Chaung Monastery is located on Inlay Lake. It is an attractive wooden monastery built on stilts above the lake in the late 1850s. It takes about 1 hour by boat to reach the old monastery. The ‘jetty side’ of the monastery is not that impressive.
The monastery is known for housing a large collection of ancient Burmese Buddha images of different sizes, materials and areas that are worth seeing. Nga Phe Chaung is the largest monastery here. It is built on teak stilts in traditional wooden architecture, and at the time of writing, dating back about 170 years, it is the oldest monastery on Inle Lake.
This monastery is definitely worth visiting not only for its historical importance and architecture, but also for its many famous cats. Some of them are trained by monks to jump through hoops as long as you can somehow convince the cats that the best thing they can do is follow your command; and the other cats? Well, as you can see, they are sleeping.
OK, now I will go back to my hotel in Nyaung Shwe. Tomorrow I will go to Khaung Daing village, famous for its pottery.