This is my last day to explore Inle Lake area and I had already seen much of what’s around. Together at the hostel with 2 more solo travelers I met, we decided to visit Kakku Pagodas. We bought the trip at the Hostel that was basically a car that took us there, waited for us, and brought us back.
The journey takes around 2h each side. The place isn’t too far, but it still takes a while to get there. But it was worth it. This place is magnificent and from all the pagodas I visited in Myanmar, I haven’t been to such a place. It feels totally magical.
It’s a complex with more than 2000 stupas, most part different from each other and from an ancient era. Most stupas date from the 17th and 18th centuries. It’s a magical historical place. We were enchanted with it! There are almost no tourists there and there also aren’t a lot of people so we could enjoy the place fully.
The path is through the red dirt that amazes me. I haven’t seen dirt as red as the one in Myanmar. I loved to ride this car and enjoying the surrounding view while going across almost desertic roads and across villages to get to this place. Our driver was super-super nice. He was telling us some facts along the way. Pity that his accent didn’t allow me to understand everything… But I remember him saying that a few years ago the Burmese people didn’t like the tourists, just recently they found how beneficial tourism could be to them, so now they welcome tourists with a smile on their faces. He told us that Myanmar is now known as the country of smiley faces. I agree.
Before getting inside Kakku Pagodas we had lunch at the only restaurant nearby. It is a huge place and we were the only tourists there. After buying the ticket in, we are approached by different Burmese people asking to take photos. I guess they don’t see many tourists and that’s why they wanted to record the moment. This family had 7 members and we took pictures individually with each one of them. It was fun.
This is the sound of Kakku Pagodas:
There are so many beautiful stupas in this place that you lose them out of sight. The jiggling tops turn this place like a spot out of a fairy tale movie. It’s you, the silence of the surrounding nature, the birds and the tinkling sound of the Stupa’s umbrellas shaken by the wind. MAGICAL! We spent more than 1h just looking at stupas and appreciating the calmness of Kakku Pagodas.
On the way back we stopped at a Village just to walk among the villager’s houses and enjoy the peaceful ambiance where they live in. We haven’t seen people, it looked like a desertic village.
It was on this day that I met the 1st Portuguese travelers since I left my country. It’s Sara and André and they also have an inspiring blog with a wonderful photographic report of the places they visit. You can check their trip at: Go Meet Share.
I’m happy that I decided to visit this place as I feel that not many tourists visit it. It seems magical.
