Dear friends,
Yesterday, I visited the Mine Thauk bridge that connects Eastern shore of Inlay (Inle) lake to Mine Thauk village. Inlay lake is the second largest freshwater lake in Southern Shan state, Myanmar; the largest one is Indawgyi lake in Kachin state.
Mine Thauk bridge is popular for its beautiful scene around and for its long photogenic1800 feet length distance. It is visited by many local people as well as tourists abroad.
The lake dwellers or "Intha": The description of Inlay lake cannot be complete without the lake dwellers called "Intha". Intha are the main residents of this area although there are other races living around the lake. Intha people live in villages along the shores of the lake. They are devout Buddhists and have their own dialect and culture. They use boats for going around villages, to the markets and their farms, most of which are floating plantations as can be seen in some of my photos.
The crop mostly grown on those plantations are tomato, chilli, gourd, cucumber, eggplant and bitter gourd , and Inlay lake is the place where majority of tomatoes are grown and distributed to other states and regions in Myanmar. Other crops from the region include rice, onion, garlic, sugarcane and maze and they are grown inland along the shores.
Intha people live in long legged houses in villages along the shores and their living occupation includes fishery, farming, weaving, handicraft making, blacksmith, silversmith, and tobacco industry. Intha people are well-known for their leg-rowing ability which enables them to see their ways through the floating plantations. You can see the photos of the leg-rowers from the internet. The photos were taken by me when I visited Mine Thauk village while crossing the long bridge. Thank you.
