Lost in Time

Hilly, sparsely populated and severely lacking in infrastructure the villages on the banks of the Lemro river ,Chin province , Myanmar could well be stuck in their own time warp.

These villages are only reachable by boat , which takes a few hours from Mrauk U, once one of the richest cities in Asia . But that was hundreds of years ago when Mrauk U , from 1354 to 1700 served as a free port trading with Europe & was likened to Venice by traders of the time.

Barring the hundreds of temples, little of the past glory of Mrauk U remains . It is however our access to the  Lemro river and  the Chin province  ,  normally off limits to travellers unless with government permission.

The Lemro river seems to go on forever through the Burmese jungle

Life seems to have a pace of its own here

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We think these are peppercorns being dried in the sun

Theses house boats are people’s permanent homes

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The more prosperous house boat owners have motors which they use to tow bamboo downstream

Bamboo is traded in the villages and is used for home construction

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This dog did not take kindly to outsiders

The pigs however

seem more concerned with expanding their waistlines than us

Livestock is kept under the homes. This one is a goat pen

There is no electricity or running water in these villages

Yet inhabitants are resourceful with limited means

With no iIPads, computers or PlayStations children devise their own games

Here they bury an elastic band and the winner is the one who can fish it out on his stick

A home made bat and shuttlecock

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A swing made from jungle vine

A novel key holder

This hand plane used for house siding has not changed in design in 200 years

The village cash store has the basics

As does the school

It serves all the surrounding villages with all grades under one roof

Here Linda sings a few lines of Nkosi Sikelele Afrika to the somewhat bemused children

Who quickly warm up. Thanaka, a plant root, is painted on their faces for sun protection.

Twins & a proud grandmother

More twins

Even the bamboo cots are hand made

As is the cloth

Along the banks of the Lenro river a few members of the last generation of tattooed-face women still live. Traditionally, individual tribes would tattoo the faces of their girls in order to protect them against kidnapping by other tribes. Each tribe had its own distinctive tattoo.

Evidence of this ancient cultural practice will die out with this generation of female elders, as it has been outlawed by the Burmese government  since 1960.

The last of a generation of tattooed woman

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Getting a full-face tattoo is as painful as you can imagine, and the young girls, aged between 11 and 15 had to be held down by other villagers in order to bear the excruciating pain. The ink used for the tattoos comes from a special plant that some tribes mix with buffalo kidney, and is hammered into the skin with an instrument similar to a sturdy pine needle. Most of the girls were terrified during the process and recalled that they couldn’t open their eyes or speak for a week due to the swelling. They felt it was something they had no option but to go through.

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One could argue that the few tourists that are allowed here may turn this into a spectacle.

But perhaps however this fails to recognize  the Chin women in such matters. They understand that tourists value seeing their faces and traditions .Understandably they seek to extract as much from this opportunity as they can.

It would be different if this was a large scale operation organized and run by outsiders.

Reality is that this is a long way off the beaten track  with any commercial transaction being one of a very personal nature.

They pull no punches in price negotiations

Compromise

And a deal is struck

Chin province, Myanmar

Lost in time