Inle for tourists

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As a tourist in a poor place like Myanmar, we have a moral obligation to support the local economy; spending money on stuff they make is much more beneficial to the economy than filling begging bowls and most tourists would prefer to be tailed by vendors selling knick knacks than beggars. Nevertheless, after being dragged to several tourist traps we did exercise our right not to see any more.

Silk factory
The first stop was a very small factory where they spun, dyed and wove silk in an unusually nice work environment. I would like to believe that all factories were similar to this one. It was well lit, had plenty of air, and the ladies working there had ready smiles.

Not to say that the work is interesting. Mind-numbing would be the most appropriate adjective. I was mesmerized for the first minute watching them work the weft with their foot pedals and send the bobbin from side to side and was thoroughly bored by then end of 180 seconds. Really boring work.

The spinning and dying seemed to be marginally better because they weren't working with machines, but I'm sure having water-proof textile dye on your hands every day isn't great for your life insurance company.

But the prize for the most tedious labour was extracting fibre from the lotus plant and creating bits of thread out of the 8 inch hair-thin fibres. A shirt made from lotus costs about USD60 (compared to about USD5 for a silk shirt) and is hard to come by because lotus can only be harvested six months of the year. The other problem is that it's probably pretty hard to train someone to extract the thread without falling asleep on the job.

We left without buying anything, although Marion was tempted by an over-priced silk scarf. Like any tourist trap, the prices were pretty steep.

Cigar factory

I have no idea why we were taken to this place. There were six women and girls sitting on the floor rolling cheroots, two tables, an eclectic selection of irrelevant souvenirs, and hot tea. They didn't make any money out of us (I had had a cheroot at Shwedagon Paya with a monk) and didn't have any desire for another) but we did get to hear what does into a cheroot. I think I'll put one into my curry next time - there are more spices and flavours in it than I knew existed.

I wish I could remember all the stuff that went in with the tobacco: tree bark, cinnamon, pepper, garlic, ginger, etc. I'm sure rats tails and ground unicorn have made it into cheroots in the past.

I eventually weakened and agreed to smoke one, but didn't get far though it. Marion took a killer photo of me though.

After the cigar factory we went to lunch and were given instructions to have a look at the near by temple. Interestingly, the route to the temple seemed to be lined with all sorts of shops selling local handicrafts and with English signs - we weren't the first tourists to receive these instructions! It was a pleasant walk (most of the shops were closed because it was low season) but we never made it to the temple because not one of us wanted to. We had become like package tourists blindly following our guide and doing what he said. It was nice not to have to think.

The next stop was a gold and silver smith. Here we told the captain who was boss, or at least who was paying, and proceeded to the highlight of all tourist traps.

Cat Temple
Even the lonely planet acknowledges that the monks probably started training cats because they got bored meditating. Whatever the reason for it, the monks at this "Cat Temple" have trained the local Burmese cats to jump through hoops. Awesome.

The temple itself is pretty nice - made from teak and with several sixteeth century Buddhas seated in several altars. After looking around for a while we came to a tiled floor area in front of a senior monk (probably the abbot) sitting on a chair with a clowder of about a score of cats lazing around.

A few minutes later a monk arose from a near by bench and without any ceremony bagan coaxing the cats to jump through his hoop. While the kittens jumped only a couple of feet, the more acrobatic felines were head height or over. It was amazing. Not because cats were jumping - I've seen lions with lion trainers after all - but because it was done by monks in a temple with what were essentially house cats. I donated 1000 kyats to the temple and informed Peter that he had just donated the 500 kyats that I owed him.

We stayed at the temple for over an hour enjoying the views and giving the cats a bit of attention. Not everyone loves cats, but we made up for those that don't by loving ever cat.

Outside was a veritable array of souvenir stores and we were tourist again in our tourist boat.

Continued from A boat trip on Inle Lake

Related entries: A few pagodas on Inle Lake, People at the market, Living on the lake

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Comments

[PIero]

Kitten Temple...
Is this temple near Yangoon? I'll be in Yangoon this August. And..can you tell me the most beautiful place to visit near the capital??? Thamk's very much!

[pkeusgen]

Go to Shwedagon Paya in Yangon
This is a day travel from Yangon. But the best pagoda in the country is in the capital - [diary=61438].