Myanmar Lake Inle D90_3594 - a photo on Flickriver

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The Pa'O

The Pa'O, also known as the Taungthu represent the second largest population in Shan State after the Intha, but they remain little known. Local belief tells the story of Weiza the dragon that laid three eggs. The first gave birth to the Karen people, the second to the Pa'O and the third to the Padaung, or Karenni. Whilst the Karen have disavowed the legend, the Pa'O proudly pass the legend from generation to generation. Their typical turban refers to Weiza, where the man wear the turban with the end of the wrap to one side resembling the dragon's tail, whilst the women wear theirs to resemble a dragon's head.

The Pa'O are believe to have descended from Tibetan-Burmese origins. The earliest historical references to the Pa'O are from King Suriya Sandar, who in 600BC ruled the city of Thaton between Burma and Tibet. Thaton is now a major Burmese city in Mon State, and the Pa'O celebrate their national day, Shwe Sar Yan Pagoda Festival, on King Sandar's birthday.

Traditionally the Pa'O wore colorful clothing until the Pagan King Anawratha defeated Thaton King Makuta in 1057AD and enslaved the Pa'O, forcing them to wear dark clothing to signify their status. Following the conquest, the Pa'O moved from Thaton south west to Shan State.Today they number around two million, and are dispersed across Mon, Karen, Karenni and Shan States. Only in Shan State do the Pa'O still don their black dress, and they are active in agriculture. Their cash crop is the Thanapet leaf from the Cordia tree, which are used to wrap the traditional Burmese cigar, the Cheroot.

Lake Inle

Lake Inle is a freshwater lake of around 115square kilometers in Myanmar's Shan State located at an altitude of 880 meters. The lake is very shallow reaching no more than 2 or 3 meters depending on the season.

The lake is a tourist attraction for its images of the fishermen and their flat bottom canoes on mirror still water, as well as the the floating villages and markets. Time of course never stands still, and larger motor powered boats have made their way onto the lake, mainly as tourist transport, causing wakes that never existed before, while the market increasingly caters for tourist souvenirs. However given the political situation, tourism is still limited in Myanmar, but a number of very high quality lodges have sprung up along the lake shores.

Shan State

Shan State forms Myanmar's border with China, Laos and Thailand, and encompasses a quarter of Myanmar's total territory. Shan State derives its name from the local Shan people, who live largely rural lifestyles.

From the 1948 Myanmar independence, Chinese state and ethnic activity has increased, as have armed rebellions fueled by the emergence of war lords, who developed Shan State into a major opium growing area. Accordingly, the state is better known as the Golden Triangle or Shwe-Tri Gan and to this day, Myanmar is the world's second largest opium producer after Afghanistan, whilst the local people growing poppy continue to live below the poverty line. Heroin base is mostly produced within Myanmar and then transported by donkey across the mountainous Thailand border for conversion to heroin and transport to Bangkok and wider trafficking.

The heavily armed insurgence groups, including the 20,000 strong United Wa State Army (UWSA) that represent an undefined independent Wa State which would enclose Shan State, still render the zone unstable. The Wa people openly use the Yuan as currency, as opposed to the Myanmar Kyat, and in 2008 parts of Shan State were ceded autonomy.

Myanmar

Burma, or Myanmar as it has been renamed by the military dictatorship, derives its name from the Burmese word Bamar, which is pronounced 'Bama', and became 'Burma' in the colonial days. However in old Burmese it is pronounced Mranma or Myanmah, thus giving rise to Myanmar. The renaming remains the subject of debate, where the UN refers to 'Myanmar', the US, UK and France still refer to 'Burma', and yet the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal refer to 'Myanmar'. We've followed the UN and used current naming throughout this collection of photos, however with the alternatives included in the tags.

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Taken on: December 22, 2009

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D90_3594

0912

Myanmar

Burma

Shan State

Shan

Lake Inle

Lake

Inle

Kan

Intha

Myanmarese

Burmese

Floating

Village

Villages

Market

Tribe

Tribes

Villager

Local

Locals

Person

People

Vendor

Vendors

Woman

Women

Nikon

D90

18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G VR

YoungRobV

Rob&Ale « less

Sets appears in: • Lake Inle

Camera: Nikon D90, f/14.0, 1/800 sec, 50mm (=75mm), ISO 1600 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D90
Lens:	18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Aperture:	f/14.0
Exposure Time:	0.001 sec (1/800)
Focal Length:	50mm (35mm equivalent: 75mm)
ISO:	1600
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Gain Control:	High gain up
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Ver.1.00
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