As with most destinations it is the quirks and differences found in a place which makes it interesting and distinct and lucky for us, Burma is full of surprises. With the ‘Beautiful Burma’ tour currently on the road out of Mandalay, we wanted to give you a list of random facts and tidbits you probably didn’t know about the country.
1. The cars are all right hand drive and they all drive on the right,……..
2. On Inle Lake locals use one leg to row their boats. This unique technique allows the rower to stand high above the water and use their hands to cast fishing nets.
3. Everything that can be is gold – as in everything! The effect is such that Burma literally glitters. In every town and city you will find statues, monuments, pagodas and monasteries and places of worship covered in gold and even the markets are full of small golden Buddhas’, gold leaf and golden charms.
4. The gold leaf is bashed flat by hand, not machines. The men spend hours and hours whacking the books of gold leaf so that the gold spreads from a small bit into a wafer thing ‘leaf’ brtween the pages of the book. The ladies then separate and package the gold leaf into tiny plastic bags ready to be sold. It is incredibly hard work.
5. Burma is home to over 135 distinct tribes.
6. Phone boxes don’t exist.
7. On Inle lake they have a stilted Burmese cat sanctuary
Just a few interesting points of note from this very different country. There is plenty more intriguing elements to this beautiful and culturally unique country….all will come out in this blog soon.
