Trip 2015-16. Day 321. Myanmar, Chin village

Independent visit to Chin village

Today the two of us planned to leave Mrauk-U and travel up the Lemro (Lay Myo, လေးမြို့မြစ်) River independently to a Chin village. We started at 11 in the morning from Mrauk-U trying to negotiate a fare to the river-side jetty. As always people were quickly interested in our need and we had offers of bicycle carriage for 5000 kyats and scooter (6000 kyats) and finally a safer motor-taxi (also 6000) as we knew much of the road was very poor.

We arrived to Sin-O, a small village on the bank of the river which both local and tourist boats use, 8 km from town. Fortunately, there was some river traffic and a boat came in with cargo of firewood, which agreed to take us north to one of the villages. We sailed for 1.5 hrs and began to reach the villages our fellow traveler had suggested.

We passed Paraghi and Kreischo and stopped at Sen-Shuew-Jew village. The driver asked for 2000 kyats (it seemed reasonable because we saw a local woman who traveled with us for half an hour pay 500). He introduced us to the village leader who agreed to our request to stay for a night at his house.
There was a lot of interest in our arrival by the locals. We felt at the center of cheerful attention: full of shining smiles and children's laughter. Many of the children had self-invented toys made of wood, plastic bottles and old cds.

We walked around the simple bamboo houses and every family was friendly and wanted to be photographed. We met an old woman with the striking and complex facial tattoo, still clear against dark aged skin. She was the only woman with the feature, very telling of how long it has been since they ceased this childhood practice. As far as we understood this used to be done to stop the kidnapping of beautiful young girls 70 or more years ago.

We were invited to have dinner with women and children from our host family. We had rice with many vegetable dishes like beans, boiled squash and various greens; spicy fish in red sauce and highly seasoned small fish. The locals ate with their hands, we were offered spoons. The man of the house had dinner leftovers late in the evening sitting under a dim lamp charged with a small solar panel.
The river is the source of all life in the village, providing water for drinking and cooking. Women walk down the hill with big jars to the shore several times a day. They bring their clothes and pots to wash. All the locals also bathe in the river.

The conditions in the village are basic. There're two toilet units next to the new school but nobody uses them. The communal toilet area is in the forest on the way to the river...
In the evening I played a jaw harp much to the amusement of children and adults who came to visit us at our sleeping area. The children also brought their handmade guitar and flute :)

Many of the houses have solar panels charging batteries to provide a little light in the evening. We comfortably spent a night on the open area of the house on the bamboo mats with a mosquito net that we brought with us.

In the morning I helped the women to wash the dishes in the river and we visited a very basic village classroom.

Our host took us on a village boat back to the jetty in Sin-O at 8 in the morning. We payed him 4000 kyats. An apparent government worker overlooking the tourists boarding their boat was quick to approach us and question about the night in the village. He said permission was still required from Naypyitaw. Luckily we had a letter from our guesthouse in Mrauk-U (we are still unsure of the content though) and he was quickly satisfied. Independent travel seems to be frowned upon here... We suggest that if you want to visit these villages without a tour-guide, midday is a good time to both depart and return to Sin-O (after the tourist boats leave).
Finally we got a motor-taxi back to Mrauk-U for 5000 kyats. The whole trip to the Chin village cost us 17000 kyats ($14) for 2 people compared to 50000 kyats per boat that tour-guides demand.