Taunggyi and Kak Ku
Taunggyi is the capital of Southern Shan State, another former British hill station and very prosperous. Tourists are not allowed to go any further east by road because of opium warlords, ruby miners and the occasional insurgency. We would make a a fast stop there just to pick up our Kak Ku guide at the Pa O collective office. You can only visit Kak Ku with a licensed Pa O guide accompanying you and this allows the Pa O to earn some of the tourist dollars from the site.
A long boat ride from Swe Inn Tha Resort back to Nuangshwe where the car was waiting for our road trip to Kak Ku via Taunggyi. But first, a stop at a Myanmar Vineyard. Yes, that is correct...a Myanmar Vineyard. By now, a drinkable glass of wine sounded mighty good so when Toe asked if we wanted to stop and taste some, he got an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
Aythaya Wine is the first western-style grape wine to be successfully grown in Myanmar and the project sponsors are Bert Morsbach and a group of friends from Germany. This hilly area is geologically the Southern extension of the Himalayas. Isn't that interesting? The wine was of a very high-quality and uses the services of a team of wine professionals from Europe both of whom happened to be sitting there while we visited. Aythaya produces three different reds - a Shiraz vintage; cuvee; and sweet dessert wine, their white is made from Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc grapes, and a Rose that uses the Italian Moscato grape. Very good wine. If you visit Myanmar, don't hesitate to buy a bottle or two. I wish I could say the same about a bottle of Thailand-produced wine that we tried last year. So abominable that it has the distinction of being the only bottle of wine we've ever flushed down a toilet.
More than 500,000 people live around Taunggyi and the primary crop is garlic, followed by onions. Drove past green field after green field of garlic and watched the people irrigate their crops by hand with a scoop..
Another local market on the road to the "long lost" ruins of Kak Ku in an area inhabited by the Pa O people. Kak Ku Pagoda complex is very unusual and little is known about its origins. The Pa O stupas surrounded the main pagoda in a huge circle and long rows. Many of the stupas are being renovated and whitewashed which really diminishes the charm in my opinion. Once again, Buddhist pilgrims gain religious merit by contributing to the restoration of the images. The stupas were decorated with fine work and Buddha images ..the intricate "crowns/umbrellas" on top....View image...and there are 2,400 Pagodas from the 18th century....View image...
We spent a fair amount of time walking around the complex admiring the old stupas, shrines and the crowns (or umbrellas) that always top them...
....especially a few precious old crowns on display, very large and covered to keep the elements from destroying what is left...
Kak Ku is not on the usual tourist itinerary (you need lots of time to thoroughly see everything in Myanmar) and only 4,000 people visited during the 2005-06 season. There is a large restaurant, Hlaing Konn, built overlooking the site and what few tourists there (primarily French today) were all having lunch before heading somewhere else.
On the one-hour drive back to Inle Lake, a "28 Buddha Statue Procession" was coming down the street. This ceremony brings good luck to the village and is performed only three times a year. ...View image...It is supposed to chase away the devil and the people in the procession walk a few miles from one village to another bearing the Buddha statue. For us, it was just being in the right place at the right time.
By car back to Nuangshwe, back in the boat, back on Inle Lake one last time today, with the Retreat Center visible on the hill in the distance, the same area we hiked the other day...
...and finally back to Swe Inn Tha Resort Hotel where we gratefully collapsed in our overwater cottage, completely exhausted...
