TAUNG GYI :

Taung Gyi Market :  It is the most fascinating place to watch the daily life of the minorities and their activities. One will be un-forgettable to see the flock of the tribals or ethnic people who come down the market to sell their luscious vegetables, fruits, and flowers at every five days market.

Taung Gyi Museum : It is an ethnographic museum in which one can see the life-size statues of minorities with the respective colorful dressing, their traditional weapons and utilities in addition to the dress of the late Shan Sawbwars (Dukes or Lords). It opens from 09:30 to 15:30 to except Saturdays and Sundays.

TAUNG GYI ENVIRONS

Nyaung Shwe : Nyaung Shwe is the start for a visit to Inle Lake. The lakeshore and lake islands bear villages on stilts mostly inhabited by Inthar people. This ethnic group has migrated the region from the Tanintharyi peninsula in southern Myanmar. The Inthar settled in the area between the fourteenth and the eighteenth century. Their way of life is closely connected to the lake. They build their houses and pagodas on stilts in the water, grow their fruit and vegetables in floating gardens and harvest fish with cone-shaped nets stretched tautly over wood and bamboo frames. They engage in many home industries like weaving, woodcarving and forging (precious) metal. Many Inthar are buddhists and famous for their religious festivals and boat contests. There are approximately one hundred buddhist kyaungs around the lake and perhaps one thousand stupas. The Inthar are related to the Bamar people and dress just like them. Their customs and traditions are very much the same. They also speak the same language although they use different words for some objects.

Near Nyaungshwe there are some peaceful PaO vilages. The women wear dark blue or indigo clothes and colourful tubans. The villagers are very religious farmers and always busy. They grow wheat and rice as well as many kinds of fruits and vegetables, tea and coffee, not to mention lots of garlic. The main source of income for them however is the cultivation of leaves for the cheroots or Burmese cigars.

Far away from Nyaungshwe there are some Padaung villages. The Padaung are an ethnic minority of seven thousand people living only in this area. The women wear heavy brass rings around their neck. They are called long necks because the rings push the shoulder bone downward which seems to make the neck longer. Some Padaung families live separate from their tribal village in or near Nyaungshwe.

The ancient village of Indein on the western shore of Inle Lake used to be the seat of a government official in the time of the Shan kings. The official was a revenue collector of a lesser rank. The village is situated at the foot of a hill. On top of the hill is Shwe Inll Thein at the end of a long covered walkway with over four hundred wooden columns. The collection of weather-beaten stupas from the sixteenth and the seventeenth century has so far escaped restoration. The temple complex has nice stucco reliefs and devas or divine creatures and chinthes or griffins among numerous stupas. Many statues were robbed or damaged in the course of time because of unscrupulous traders and bad weather conditions. The slim design of the stupas is a clear testimony of former Shan architecture.  

Inle Lake: The Jewel of Shan State, is located about 30 km to the south of Taunggyi. This vast, beautiful and picturesque Lake, sheltered among the hazy blue mountains of 1524 meters, stretches 22.4 km long and 10.2 km wide. The lake itself is about 900 meters above sea-level and studded with floating islands. It is famous for its unique one-leg rowers, floating villages and colorful markets. Ywama, the site of every five days floating "markets" and Inle Kaungdaing Natural Spa are the places to be visited. Inle silk is quite popular in Myanmar and hand-looms silk weaving can studied at Inpaw-Khon village.

The celebrated Phaung-Daw-Oo Pagoda is situated in this Lake. Its festival is full of pageantry and ceremonial splendor that held once a year in October. There is the one special thing very peculiar and different from other countries. During the Pagoda Festival, the traditional unique one-leg rowers boat races is the most fascinating events. It can only be seen during the festival of Phaung-Daw-Oo Pagoda that held in mid October.

A Hidden Treasure In The Deepest Area Of Shan State

KAKKU Pagoda : Kakku Pagoda, a hidden treasure and unusual, magnificent collections of Buddhist Stupa unheard of Historians lays in the deepest Pa-oh territory, 26 miles south of Taungyi, the Capital of Shan State. More than two thousand Stupas (Chettias) are packed in ranks covering an area of approximately a square Kilometer apparently unknown to outside world. Pa-oh people near and far usually flocks to this religious complex with hundreds of bullock carts to participate the annual pagoda festival that holds in the mid of March (Harvest Festival)The Kakku pagoda festival also draws thousand of pilgrims from all part of the Shan State.

Legendary : Once there was a Buddhist Shan couple that was very pious devotees lived in a small hurt nearby the hillside. They were living out off small cultivation, and they ever thought to extend their cultivation, but the nearby land is covered with big trees, and full of bushes that made the couple unable to widen their cultivation. In one evening they came out their hurt to watch the sunset, thereafter they saw a glisten light coming out from the bushes. Hurry, they went back to their hurt, brought the shovel and spade to dig the spot from which the light coming out. The couple dogged the earth very deeply, but their search was in a vain for a long time. At that time there was a flock of jungle pigs looking for food. A pig out of the flock came near the couple and helped them by digging the earth with her noose. Eventually, the couple discovered the Buddha Statues made by Gold and Silver right on the spot where the glisten light coming out. The next day, the couple built a small pagoda named “Wet Ku”, meaning the help of pig, in which the gold and silver Buddha statues are sealed up in a relic chamber. As the time passed by, the name Wet Ku, then changed in to “Kak Ku” or Kakku.

Another legend says that the first stupa were created by King Alaungsithu, the 12th century King of Bagan. The decorative sculptures and figures are 17th or 18th century but some of the structures are clearly much older.

There are no documentary records at present to highlight the first noble founder of this pagoda. As per legend, there were more than thousand Pagodas at the site and two big staircases coming up from the northern and southeastern side of the Pagodas from the valley. The legend continues that the big bell which sound could be heard from miles away was also hung in the complex of the Pagoda. Unfortunately, the Chinese invaders brought it long time ago.

Kalaw : The little town of Kalaw sits high on the western edge of the Shan Plateau. It was a popular hill station in the British days and it still has an atmosphere reminiscent of the colonial era. In the surrounding hills around Kalaw there are several villages of the Palaung tribe. The Palaung women wear traditional costumes which they wear mainly at special occasions like the tazaungdaing. This festival is very popular in Shan state where people let a paper balloon rise up into he sky which is lit by a candle. At the festival the Palaung villagers get together in their community centre where they welcome foreign visitors. Dressed for the occasion the women wear a traditional costume consisting of a dark coloured jacket and a red striped longyi. Married women wrap their heads with colourful scarves and wear a cane belt arount their waist. 

Around Kalaw there are some Danu villages as well. The Danu have no traditional dress any more. At the time of the tazaungdaing festival the women of the village Ywapu wear a colourful longyi with a floral motif. On their head they wear a scarf  in a matching colour. The older women in the village wear clothes with dark and sober colours. Ywapu is not far from the railway which leads to the station in Kalaw. The villagers make a good use of its unique location to sell their products at the local market of Kalaw. In Ywapu various baskets with cabbages and vegetables are ready for transport to Kalaw. With some good fortune these products are sold at a good price even before they reach the railway station. Many tribals from the surrounding villages walk to the station with merchandise in the baskets on their back like cheroots or cigars, flowers and presents for the children. Among them are many Pa O women with or without their family looking for a good bargain at the local market.   

Pindaya : Situated at the foot of Mene-Taung Range about 45 km north of Kalaw, is a picturesque place. This small town is famous for its caves (Pindaya Cave) in which thousands of centuries-old Buddha Images are seated. The images are of various sizes, some carved in the face of rock and some deposited in niches in the walls. The road from Kalaw to Pindaya (38 km) passes through a countryside of magnificent scenic beauty, and foreigners said it is pretty similar to the road to Switzerland

Pindaya Cave Entrance Fee    - US$ 5

Things to Buy : Colorful Hand-woven Inle bags and shawls, Shan jackets., Zine-me longyis and other cotton materials, hand-made bamboo parasols, earthen pots with beautiful designs, bamboo hats and wooden sandals.
 

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