Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
seems more like a monk's bid for immortality than a holy shrine. Further afield, there's the
Thanbyuzayat war cemetery
and the remains of the infamous World War II “Death Rail-
way”, and a seaside pagoda at
Kyaikkami
.
Bilu Kyun
Despite its disquieting name, Ogre Island -
Bilu Kyun
- is actually something of a rural
idyll,ratherthanthehauntofman-eatinggiants.ThelargelyMonvillagesthatdotthisbucol-
ic 32km-long island are linked by a web of rutted tracks, with more buffalo carts than cars.
Islandersdividetheirtimebetweenfishing,growingriceandworkinginoneofmany
cottage
industries
, and it's the chance to watch the latter that makes a visit here so absorbing.
There are several stories behind the island's name, the most likely being that the head-hunt-
ing aboriginal people who originally populated this area were pushed onto the island by the
arrival of the more sophisticated Mon, who - fearing their neighbour's proclivities - called it
“ogre island”.
Workshops on the island produce a wide range of home-grown products, from bamboo or
banana-leaf hats to
toddy
and even rubber bands. The small factories generally welcome vis-
itors and there's little pressure to buy, but as most places are hard to find, joining a
tour
is the
best way to get the most out of a day on the island.
PALM WINE AND TODDY TAPPERS
Toddy
,orpalmwine,isresponsibleforhangoversfromNigeriatoPapuaNewGuinea.All
over Myanmar, where it's known as
tan-ye
, you'll see spindly bamboo ladders leading up
spikypalmyrapalms-asuresignthatatoddycollectorisatworknearby.Acollector,also
known as a
tapper
, will fasten a bamboo tube around the cut stem of the tree's flowers,
and gather the sweet, white sap that drips out. The sap is then left to ferment naturally for
a few hours, producing a cloudy, lightly alcoholic beverage. Sweet and lightly sour, toddy
must be drunk on the day it is produced, before it turns into vinegar. Happily for the toddy
tappers, however, leftover toddy can be evaporated and turned into delicious and exceed-
ingly addictive lumps of caramel-coloured
jaggery
, often served at the end of a meal and
jokingly called “Burmese chocolate”.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: BILU KYUN
Tours
At the time of writing it was not possible to stay on the island overnight, added to
which the unreliable ferry timetable and slow island transport all become serious incentives
tosignupforthe
Breeze Guesthouse
'spopularday-trip(K15,000-19,000perperson,depend-
ing on group size), which takes in a good selection of the workshops, and stops at a swim-
ming hole; all transport and food are included. Most of the mid-range hotels will be able to
organize more flexible private trips along the same lines.
