Shades of Shan
This traditional highly colourful and practical rural craft, still practiced in Myanmar today, has its origins steeped in history. In pre-colonial Burma, a white umbrella or ‘hti byu’ was a sign of sovereignty limited exclusively to the Burmese king and his chief queen. It was one of the five articles of coronation regalia and use of a white umbrella by anyone other than the king and his chief queen was seen as a declaration of...
A slow train to ‘nowhere’
This sleepy ponderous train ride gives us a sense of overall fulfillment when visiting the old British Burma colonial hill-station of Kalaw. Boarding the train at Shwe Nyaung station, near Inle Lake, we’re struck immediately by the Spartan and somewhat grubby nature of the Upper Class carriages we’re to travel in. The curtains look as if they’ve doubled up as cleaning cloths and the seats as footrests, so we’re under no illusion that...
