AT THE EXCELSIOR
IHHVTC is part of the Inle Heritage Foundation, a not-for-profit organization working to preserve and enhance the culture of Inle Lake and the people who call it home. The Foundation began as just “Heritage House”, a stilt building in the middle of the lake used as a sanctuary for Burmese cats being reintroduced to the country.
A NATURAL THING
Aung Kyaw Swar is the owner of A Little Eco Lodge, a small guesthouse on the outskirts of Nyaung Shwe. We are looking out on a field of a couple of acres where in a few months – and then only for several weeks – a hundred heads of sunflower will bloom. The sound of monks from the nearby monastery is receding into the distance.
DAW MU HTAN
Tourism has changed my life completely. It has allowed me to learn about new places and cultures, and to be a part of helping the local community, especially, since I moved to Cambodia and worked for the Shinta Mani Hotels group.
SWE YI MYAT
Right from the start, Swe Yi incorporated community based tourism initiatives as part of the stay experience and convinced her brother, a skilled chef who worked in renown luxury hotels, to manage the F&B. With energy and passion she managed to position Kayah State and her Lodge as a new travel destination in Myanmar.
MYANMAR’S FACE-TATTOOED CHIN WOMEN
The tradition of female facial marking, is only found among those Chin groups that settle in the Southern parts of Chin State, in Western Rakhine, particular along the Lemro River, and in the neighboring areas of the Magway Administrative Division. Neither the groups in the North of Chin State nor those that live in Bangladesh (where they are called “Zo”) or India practice the custom.