Loikaw, Myanmar - December 10th - 13th, 2016

The minibus ride to Loikaw was, perhaps for the first time ever, pretty painless. The painful part of this portion of the trip happened when we arrived. Loikaw is an off the map destination from which you can hire a guide and visit the nearby tribal villages. Since tourism remains minimal, the available hotels are sparse and largely unadvertised/reviewed. Our hotel turned out to be terrible value - $40/night for a room with an attached bathroom that was covered in mold and ants (keep in mind that we usually try to spend less than $20/night). The trouble with combining your shower with the bathroom (In Asia there is no quarantined shower/bath area, it is all in one tiled room), is that if the floor is not sloped properly, the shower water will not drain and stagnant water means mold. The additional problem with the hotel is that they misinformed us about the guide situation. It was not $35/day including transportation, but rather $35/day not-including transportation which would cost close to an additional $50/day. Likely these figures still seem pretty reasonable to you, but let me tell you, when you are used to around $1-2 for a complete meal and less than $40/day in total, close to $100 for a guide is excessive! We attempted to find other tourists to split the cost with us, but alas in a place with a modest tourist scene, finding them turned out to be a challenge. Through sheer grit and determination (plus 12 hours of asking around) we landed a guide/driver that we hired for 160,000 kyat (~$120) for two days.

Our guide’s name was Win and he was glorious! Since we hired him last minute and he was on his way to a wedding reception when he got the call, he brought us along with him as his guests. We felt a bit like wedding crashers and were certainly not dressed for the occasion, but soon discovered that the bride and groom were excited to have us there. We congratulated the happy couple and took our seats, where we were served massive amounts of rice and curries. Our meal was an awkward one since the videographers and camera men couldn’t get enough… it felt strange (and quite pleasing if we are honest) to be a celebrity again. The wedding reception was surprisingly similar to a reception in the US. The guests were served food and chatted amongst themselves while the bride and groom walked around saying hello to everyone.

After a quick dine and ditch at the wedding reception, we headed toward the Kayan villages. The Kayan tribe are known for the “longneck” women because the traditional dress includes wearing gold colored rings around their elongated necks. On the way, we stopped at animist spirit poles, where we learned about the native religion. One pole is erected each year to represent a connection between the earth and the heavens. The tribes gather at the spirit poles every April to kill the most attractive rooster and astrologists read the rooster’s thigh bones to predict the future. Yes, you read that correctly. Next, we traveled to a Buddhist worship site comprised of silver, rather than gold, pagodas. Apparently, the Kayah state was once known for its silver production, so the locals in the area favor the color silver. Here, we finally got the answer to one of our reoccurring questions: Why do all pagodas have a pole nearby with a chicken sculpture on top? The answer to the question was stated very matter of fact, as if it was normal and obvious: the chicken sculpture is simply used to mark the religious site.

Top right: wedding reception; middle right: silver pagodas' bottom right: animist spirit poles; bottom left: me with two traditionally dressed Kayaw girls. 

We arrived in the Kayan village of Pan Pet in the early afternoon. At each of the four houses that we visited, we met with the traditionally dressed elderly woman and whatever family was around. Our guide did his best to translate for us, although it usually had to be through a younger family member that spoke Burmese. The experience was unreal. The women (some in their 80’s) showed us how they shuck rice, spin raw cotton, make jewelry (including their neck rings) from raw metal, cut firewood, play a handmade guitar, and shoot a slingshot. They were all very friendly and proud to show off their skills (which were incredibly impressive). In most cases, their husbands had passed away many years ago, and the elderly woman carried on doing all of the necessary tasks. The vast majority of younger woman did not wear the traditional dress, either because it is heavy and uncomfortable or because they cannot afford the rings, which are solid bronze (used to be gold) and extremely expensive. The poverty was… humbling… with no electricity, very very few possessions, and tough living (to say the least). However, just as in the farming village near Inle Lake, the people seemed exceptionally happy and so incredibly strong. It again left us feeling soft and lazy, but so grateful for what we have. After leaving each house, we presented the woman with a small bottle of cooking oil, which they were beyond grateful to have.

Kayan woman. The bottom right photos shows a Kayan woman attempting to teach me how to make cotton thread from raw cotton - fail. 

Around the Kayan village of Pan Pet. 

On the way back from Pan Pet we stopped at Umbrella Lake – a natural spring where hot gases are emitted into a large mud puddle causing “umbrellas”. As we might have guessed, this too had been converted into a religious site and it is said that seeing an umbrella brings you good luck (we now have double good luck, we saw two). We then went to visit the hut of a Kayah woman (yes, the nearby tribes are named: Kayan, Kayah, and Kayaw – very confusing). The traditional dress of the Kayah woman is meant to represent a bird. They wear a tunic with a red cap, large and heavy earrings, and wrap their knees in cotton thread soaked in black lacquer. Both the Kayan and Kayah traditional dress looked incredible uncomfortable. Accordingly, the next generation of Kayah women also choose not to wear the traditional dress (except for on special occasions when it allows them to dress more provocatively than they normally would). It is sad to see that the traditions are largely dying with the older generation, but in all fairness, I would not want to wear either of those outfits either.

The views around Loikaw. An umbrella at umbrella lake is shown in the top left photo. 

The next day we went to the Kayah village of Dharamagyi. Special permission was required to go to the village (due to ethnic armed forces who maintain control over the village) and tourists have only been allowed to visit the village for about a year. When we arrived at the village, we were paired up with a local villager that spoke both Burmese and the tribal language. Much like at Pan Pet, we visited five different houses and met with the traditionally dressed elderly women. The houses were constructed differently than in the Kayan village - each had a thick straw roof and was surrounded by a fence. The villagers had just received power about three months before, but most could not afford to hook it up to their houses and continued to use small solar collectors to run a couple of lights at night. Some women played us traditional music on a bamboo string instrument or bamboo harmonica, while others showed us how they make millet alcohol or remove the seeds from raw cotton before threading it by hand. At the last house, the woman was so fascinated by my white skin that she stuck her whole head under my dress. I thought she was trying to look at my underwear! While leaving the village, the guide showed us the cemetery where the dead are buried with literally all of their possessions. All of the deceased’s clothes, kitchen equipment, tools, etc. were put in a small roofed platform in a nearby tree. No need for a will in this culture! 

Kayah women.

The Kayah village, houses, and cemetery. Old rooster thigh bones are shown in the center left photo, while an animist device to prevent bad spirits and people from entering your home is shown in the center right photo. 

Interacting with the Kayah people. 

Before saying goodbye to Win (our guide), he drove us around Loikaw so we could buy some traditional foods for our dinner. We bought bamboo stuffed sticky rice with beans, fried pancake balls with green onions, Loikaw pork sausage, and local millet beer (which tastes more like wine and is likely about 12% alcohol). We had a feast in our hotel room that night while we discussed our impressions of the previous two days. Overall, we felt lucky to have had this incredible experience before tourism becomes too big and starts hindering the tribe’s traditions and daily way of life. Adding to the trekking experience from the week before, we reflected on what truly brings happiness and felt shame for being so self-absorbed at times – wanting more when others have so little. Yet, this all becomes a bit of a mind f*ck when you then pose the question: Would donating money and/or introducing them to the Western world really bring more value or happiness to their lives?  

Loikaw feast. We did not eat bats, however, which were for sale at the market (bottom right). 

We had the morning and afternoon the next day before departing on an overnight minibus to Bagan. Seeing that we already knew the overnight minibus was going to be hell (there were no other travel options) we slept in before exploring the nearby Taung Kwe Pagoda which is located on a large limestone outcrop. Besides the views, the highlight here was the tourist monks taking selfies! Finally ready to leave on the minibus that evening, there was a massive argument among the locals about the seating arrangements on our all-Burmese minibus (with the exception of one Canadian). As is always the case, the 12-hour bus ride was miserable. We did not sleep at all and the locals were extraordinarily loud especially when it came to blaring Myanmar music from their phones and hocking loogies which were spit in a mystery location directly behind my head.

Taung Kwe Pagoda and Andy demonstrating that we are way too tall for just about everything in Asia 

Buddhist monks and nuns. In the bottom right photo Andy is being a celeb and posing for a photo with a local.