Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Shwe Myitzu Pagoda
10km north of Lonton • Daily during daylight hours • Free • Shwe Myitzu can be reached from the village of
Namde, halfway up Indawgyi's western shore and 8km north of Lonton, from where the pagoda is 2km down
an access road, with the turning signed in English
There is a plethora of local legends surrounding Indawgyi's origins, many of them related to
the mid-lake
Shwe Myitzu Pagoda
, which was built in the mid-nineteenth century. The pic-
turesque pagoda seems to float above the lake's surface for most of the year, except around
the time of the annual
festival
(held a week before the Tabaung full moon, usually in March)
when the waters recede to reveal two sandy causeways - one for humans and one for
nats
.
Today a concrete path covers both natural causeways, but even this is inundated during rainy
season, when it is replaced by a boat service.
Lwemon and Nammilaung
The most interesting places to stop on the western side of Indawgyi Lake are the villages of
LWEMON
and
NAMMILAUNG
. Neither receives many visitors, but both are filled with
attractive weathered teak houses and have basic snacks available. According to a local le-
gend, Indawgyi was once the site of a thriving city that was flooded by two
nagas
. Only one
person, a widow, escaped from the city alive and settled in Lwemon - there's a shrine telling
the full story in the village, 11km north of Lonton; on full moon nights locals claim to be
able to hear the sounds of the drowned city coming from below the water. Some 4km further
north from Lwemon, Nammilaung is home to a cane Buddha image and a family of working
elephants
, with plenty of attractive sandy lanes to explore.
HPAKANT: MYANMAR'S WILD NORTHWEST
An incredible ninety percent of the world's
jadeite
is mined in and around
Hpakant
in
Kachinstate,70kmnorthofIndawgyiLake.Thearea'smineralwealthissogreatthatlocal
people used to find lumps of jadeite when they were digging wells and house foundations.
Thissemi-precious stonehasbeenexportedtoChinasincethenineteenth century,butafter
a 1994
ceasefire
between the KIA and the Myanmar government paved the way for both
sides to extract Hpakant's jade, mining practices have become increasingly destructive.
TodaythecountrysidearoundHpakanthasbeenreducedtoahellishmoonscape;oncefor-
ested hills have been reduced to heaps of tailings, and in the town itself prostitution, drug
abuse and even murder are all on the increase. It is impossible for foreigners to get beyond
Nyaung Bin at the northern tip of Indawgyi Lake without tough-to-score permits, but the
extent of the mines is visible even on Google Earth. In 2013 it was reported that 43,000
tonnes of jadeite worth $8 billion was exported from Myanmar in 2011/12, less than 0.05
percent of which went through official channels - it's clear that somebody somewhere is
making a lot of money from Hpakant's misery.
