Living just a few kilometers away from the bustling settlements and well-worn paths around Myanmar’s Inle Lake are villages that still live off the grid. A strong sense of community has helped them adapt to the modern world and continue to subsist in a fast-changing country.
My connecting-the-dots from the popular Inle Lake to Shan Hills started as I wandered the streets in search of things to do in the area. A travel-agency boldly announced trekking options, but a smaller sign that talked about a ‘home-stay’ got me interested. The deal was made in minutes and my plans for the next two days was set. I was heading to the hills next morning and stay in a village inhabited PaO people, one of the many indigenous communities in Shan state.
Shan Hills, as seen from Inle Lake.
We began early next morning. It was a pleasant post-monsoon dawn when a thin layer of clouds kept the air crisp – perfect for the long walk ahead. We quickly put behind us the line of restaurants and lodges on the edge of Inle Lake and hiked up the green hills to the east. The path took us up the gentle slopes through the clearings, past wooded sections, occasional opening into corn fields and subsequently through cheerful grassland slopes with a scattering of colourful flowers. The few hamlets we saw along the way were small, with only a handful of houses located adjacent to the fields.
During my photography tour to Myanmar last year, we were gallivanting in a small village in central Mynamar, in some very picturesque locations. At the hour of sunset, we found these guys engaged in a serious game of Kick Volleyball. The houses of the village in the background, and the colours of the evening sky added to the drama.
Kick Volleyball is like volleyball, played with feet instead of hands in several countries across South East Asia. The ball used is half the size of a regular volleyball, made with cane and responds very well to the kick. I guess it requires a considerable amount of skill-acquisition to play the game.
In the last five years or so, I have developed a growing fascination to everyday life of Buddhist Monks. I have spent considerable amount of time watching them when they pray, work, seek alms or go through their daily chores.
It is also a happy coincidence that the countries I have visited exploring as a travel photographer in the last few years–Bhutan, Myanmar and Cambodia–have a thriving population of Buddhist Monks.
This image was made in Mandalay, Myanmar, the erstwhile capital of the Burmese Kings. Thanks to the patronage of these kings and subsequently from the general population, Mandalay is home to many monasteries and a large number of practicing and learning monks. This photograph was made early in the morning, before the sun came up in the east. This was the penultimate day of the photography tour I was leading in Myanmar. We had a few successive days of very-early morning outings, but despite that, decided that we should go out to watch the monks seeking alms in the morning hours. A short walk later, I found this bunch of young monks being lovingly fed by these restaurateurs. It’s a moment that has stayed strongly in my memory and I wanted to capture this as an image to share what I saw.