It is a bit chillier in the lake area. Today a guide for another group arrived wearing his longyi, a wool hat, sunglasses and a down parka.
As we left the dock I tried to amuse the small boy helping with out long boat. I pretended that I would just jump onto the boat, that I was going to walk off the pier before the boat was close enough, that I would just swim to the boat. Finally he started laughing and shaking his head. Then we were on our way for a day on the lake.
Our first stop was the Jumping Cat Monastery, known as Nga Phe Kyaung. The monastery used to be known for…try to guess…jumping cats. The monks here would teach the cats to jump through hoops to amuse visitors and entice them to donate more. The latest head monk isn't so into cat tricks, so now the cats just wander and lay in the sun.
The real attraction at the monastery is the stunning collection of Buddha images in Shan, Tibetan, Bagan, and Inwa styles, many of the cases are over one hundred years old.
After the cats, we went to Phaung Daw U Kyaung, the holiest religious site in the southern Shan state. This is the home to five images, five golden statues that are thought to be Buddhas - thought to be, because nobody has seen them in quite a while. They are so layered in gold leaf that they are simply blobs now. But each blob has a tiny little nub. The nub is layered in the gold leaf as needed to indicate which way the Buddha underneath is facing. The statues are reportedly from the reign of King Alaungsithu (1113-1167).
Only men are allowed to place the gold leaf on the statues, and the statues are housed in the center of a large prayer room with a "No Ladies" sign on the platform. Some of the "ladies" laughed when I declared that I was using my Lady Eyes to see everything anyway. An idealistic member of our group inquired as to why Buddhists would exclude women when their religion is so welcoming and peaceful and everyone and everything is respected. Our guide said that the trustees of a monastery or religious site can exclude women however they pleased, because they paid the bills, essentially. He also said that the Myanmar culture is very male-centric (and what culture isn't, by the way?). In every family the father is the head of the house. Children are taught respect for father and brother. "Treat your so like a lord and your husband like a god."
Each year, the Phaung Daw U festival takes place over twenty days, when four of the five statues are ferried around the lake from village to village on a ceremonial barge. The smallest statue stays at Phaung Daw U to act as guardian of the temple. Years ago, all five statues were being taken around the lake, but in the middle of the lake, the barge capsized. One legend has it that that only four of the images were recovered, but when the people returned to the temple, the fifth was found sitting on the pedestal, covered in lake weeds. It has remained in the temple every since. On the wall of the temple, there is a map of the processional route, along with photos of the barge.
The boat ride was worth it, though, just to see the Shwe Indein Pagoda complex. It is an as yet unrestored pagoda field. Full of pagodas of varying quality and age. Some had trees growing out them, so had Buddhas with no heads. It was visually spectacular.
We took the boat to our last stop, a small village where we could see families making rice crackers, and then we went to their village monastery to see the little monks.
As we left the dock I tried to amuse the small boy helping with out long boat. I pretended that I would just jump onto the boat, that I was going to walk off the pier before the boat was close enough, that I would just swim to the boat. Finally he started laughing and shaking his head. Then we were on our way for a day on the lake.
Our first stop was the Jumping Cat Monastery, known as Nga Phe Kyaung. The monastery used to be known for…try to guess…jumping cats. The monks here would teach the cats to jump through hoops to amuse visitors and entice them to donate more. The latest head monk isn't so into cat tricks, so now the cats just wander and lay in the sun.
The real attraction at the monastery is the stunning collection of Buddha images in Shan, Tibetan, Bagan, and Inwa styles, many of the cases are over one hundred years old.
After the cats, we went to Phaung Daw U Kyaung, the holiest religious site in the southern Shan state. This is the home to five images, five golden statues that are thought to be Buddhas - thought to be, because nobody has seen them in quite a while. They are so layered in gold leaf that they are simply blobs now. But each blob has a tiny little nub. The nub is layered in the gold leaf as needed to indicate which way the Buddha underneath is facing. The statues are reportedly from the reign of King Alaungsithu (1113-1167).
Only men are allowed to place the gold leaf on the statues, and the statues are housed in the center of a large prayer room with a "No Ladies" sign on the platform. Some of the "ladies" laughed when I declared that I was using my Lady Eyes to see everything anyway. An idealistic member of our group inquired as to why Buddhists would exclude women when their religion is so welcoming and peaceful and everyone and everything is respected. Our guide said that the trustees of a monastery or religious site can exclude women however they pleased, because they paid the bills, essentially. He also said that the Myanmar culture is very male-centric (and what culture isn't, by the way?). In every family the father is the head of the house. Children are taught respect for father and brother. "Treat your so like a lord and your husband like a god."
Each year, the Phaung Daw U festival takes place over twenty days, when four of the five statues are ferried around the lake from village to village on a ceremonial barge. The smallest statue stays at Phaung Daw U to act as guardian of the temple. Years ago, all five statues were being taken around the lake, but in the middle of the lake, the barge capsized. One legend has it that that only four of the images were recovered, but when the people returned to the temple, the fifth was found sitting on the pedestal, covered in lake weeds. It has remained in the temple every since. On the wall of the temple, there is a map of the processional route, along with photos of the barge.
After the temple, we took our long boats on a ride up the channel. There are bamboo dams with just enough clearance for the boat to slide through. We saw people doing laundry, water buffalo in the river, all types of boats. It was quite a ride.
The boat ride was worth it, though, just to see the Shwe Indein Pagoda complex. It is an as yet unrestored pagoda field. Full of pagodas of varying quality and age. Some had trees growing out them, so had Buddhas with no heads. It was visually spectacular.
We took the boat to our last stop, a small village where we could see families making rice crackers, and then we went to their village monastery to see the little monks.
The monastery was wonderful. We got to see where the monks live, and there were some young monks were chanting, it was very serene.
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