Once again, getting there is a part of the fun.
The Myanmar rural life continues to be interesting, and we made a stop where several women were threshing wheat, again by hand. We were again in Danu country.
San San asked them about their work and wages - pretty much sunup to sundown and for 2000 kyat ($2) per day. They jokingly asked us to bring some snacks on our way back from Pindaya. San San promised to do that.
Caves mean limestone in this area, and we began seeing outcroppings, this one with a very nice pagoda on it.
We also began seeing a lot of these tough little transport vehicles, which San San said were from China and have been dubbed "Chinese buffalo".
There also were a lot of cattle and oxcarts, but I liked the image of this guy with his ox, carrying pole, and all purpose baskets, which San San said might be used for flipping water onto crops, carrying produce, or spreading manure.
Before going up to the cave we stopped at a 5 day market in the town and worked (literally, it was jammed) our way through it.
The cave itself was quite extraordinary. Its fame is based on a legend, of course, a prince who killed (with an arrow) a spider that was menacing people near the cave. He shouted "Pindaya" as he shot his arrow (means "I shot the spider" - new Jimmy Cliff song?) which is what I'm going to yell whenever I kill a spider from now on. So as not to disappoint the masses, both characters in the story appear larger than life at the entrance to the cave. Ignore the French tourist who seemed to think he belonged in everyone's pictures.
There were stairways and an elevator (all the best shrines have them) that provided some photo-ops of their own.
However, the inside was no letdown. Can't help but wonder what the total value of the gold leaf would be.
There was a huge group of kids from a teachers college, many of whom nabbed us for photos...
and at one point they all joined in a call/response prayer.
Those are real stalactites, stalagmites and columns.
We made a stop at a place where they make umbrellas from mulberry bark and bamboo, and were fascinated by the craft, so much so that I'm including several videos of it - oh, and Dana bought one that will be impossible for us to carry around Myanmar for 6 weeks.
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They include mulberry leaves in some of them....
gently remove the screen from the water...
remove the dried pulp from the screen...
construct the frame (skipping a few steps)...
glue the paper on the frame, and paint it.
We had lunch at a nice place that had a Thanakha (face powder display) - can't see it until it dries, and D didn't put enough on to be visible.
On our return trip we saw several hard-working Chinese buffalo carrying villagers home from the market.
Interesting fact: If you've ever wondered where the shape of pagodas came from...
this is a Bo tree leaf (sacred Buddhist tree - Google it)...
and this is its upper half.
We stopped off at the Hehoe airport on our way back...
after dropping off for the thresher women the oranges San San had bought for them, and flew to Yangon, back to our favorite wifi lodging, the Agga Youth Hotel.
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Sounds like Day 17 was full and with lots of contrasts---fabulous cave formations to bedazzling gold to long workdays for $2 per day. Hope that the umbrella can come to Portland.
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