ROWING IS A BIG LEG-PULL IN BURMA

Rowing a boat with your leg is quite a difficult feat, but the leg-rowers of Inle Lake are well balanced men.

Inle Lake lies in in the Shan state of north-east Burma at a height of 880 metres above sea level. The shallow blue lake, covering an area of 116 sq kms, is known for its unique leg-rowing fishermen who are never known to fall overboard.

Known as Inthas, local people numbering about 70,000, live in four towns bordering the lake, in stilt-perched villages around the edge, and on floating islands on the lake itself.

Micro-gardens flourish in the mud beneath their houses where chickens and other livestock forage for food. There are also large floating vegetable gardens made from lashed reeds and anchored by bamboo poles which rise and fall with changes in the water level, and so are resistant to flooding.

The Intha’s basic diet is rice and fish. Fruits and vegetables along with necessities are sold in the ywa-ma, a miniature floating market which circles the lake, visiting all the villages, every few days.

When not cooking and gardening, Intha women weave colourful tote bags which are sold to visitors in the corridor leading to the Phaungdaw-U pagoda overlooking the lake. They also produce hand-woven silk textiles and the cotton longyi, a sarong-type garment worn by men.

Intha men have a constant battle to keep the pagodas above water level as the floating islands on which many are built slip beneath them. Graceful leg-rowers glide by carrying mounds of mud to prop them up. Water hyacinth, a major problem, must also be cleared.

In October a spectacular water carnival takes place when a golden Buddha accompanied by flower-laden hlays is taken in a procession around the lake. Leg-rowing races with 10-12 men, all rowing on one leg to a boat, are a highlight.

With tourism on the rise, the best advice is to visit this special part of Burma before it changes. A luxury hotel with bar, spa and bicycles for hire has already been built on the lake-shore. Access is from HeHo Airport, 35 kms via a domestic flight from Rangoon or Mandalay.

Images: www.copix.co.uk

TRAVELLING HAT RECIPE

THAI ROAST DUCK CURRY

½ Chinese-style roast duck, chopped and with loose bones removed

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, finely sliced

1 teaspoon of turmeric, ½ teaspoon curry powder

2 cubes crushed garlic

1 tablespoon crushed fresh ginger root

1 stick bruised lemon grass

2 sliced and seeded small red chillies

50 m chicken stock

100 m coconut milk

5 tablespoons of grated coconut block

Juice of half a fresh lime

Dash of nom-pla (Thai fish sauce)

Fresh coriander leaves

Preparation

Heat oil in a pan and fry onion, garlic and raw chilli until soft. Stir in all the spices and simmer for 3 minutes. Add the lemon grass and pour in the hot chicken stock. Add the coconut milk and the cream of coconut, the lime-juice and finally the pieces of chopped duck. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes on a low heat. Remove when hot and garnish with fresh coriander leaves. Serve with steamed Thai rice.

Serves 3-4 persons

Images: www.copix.co.uk

THAI SPICY PRAWNS from the Travelling Hat Recipe Book

Serves 2-3

16-18 medium-size green prawns, shelled but leaving tails

3 medium cubes garlic

1 tps sambal paste

Black pepper and salt to taste

Coconut milk

Lemon

Thai fish oil/Nom pla

½ tin of chopped tomatoes

Butter

Cup Basmati rice

Place the crushed garlic, pepper and sambal in a tablespoon of

butter and cook for one minute, shaking the skillet all the time.

Cool slightly, then throw in the prawns and cook quickly

until pink on both sides. Do not overcook them. Remove to cool.

To the skillet, add a tea-cup of coconut milk, a tea-cup of tinned tomatoes, a

splash of fish oil, and a squeeze of fresh lemon. Stir and heat, but do not boil.

Add the prawns and stir until hot enough to serve.

Serve with boiled rice.

Garnish: chopped coriander leaves.

CHOKE ON YOUR SHARK-FIN SOUP!

Every year millions of sharks die a slow death because of what is known as finning: the inhumane practice of slicing off the fins and throwing the living body back into the sea.

Finned sharks either starve to death, or are eaten alive by other predators, but since they need constant movement to enable their gills to extract oxygen, a majority simply drown.

Shark fins are being "harvested" in ever greater numbers to feed the Asian demand for shark fin soup. The Chinese are the biggest customers for this so-called delicacy and like the Japanese intransigence over whaling, they show scant concern for decimating the world shark population.

Not only is finning barbaric, but the indiscriminate slaughter of sharks is unsustainable. Since the 1970s the population of several shark species has dropped by 95%.

Due to the clandestine nature of finning, it is difficult to record the numbers of sharks, and the species caught. Estimates are based on declared imports to shark fin markets notably in China, but also Singapore, Korea and Malaysia - all guilty of importing shark fin for restaurant tables.

Several organisations campaign to stop finning. A website seeking a worldwide ban on the practice, is STOPSHARKFINNING, which aims to see that all sharks caught are brought ashore intact.

The issue with sharks being finned at sea is that it allows crews to kill large numbers because they only have to store the fins on board (drying them on deck or freezing them). If forced to land the sharks, they cannot kill so many in one voyage. And the meat can be sold.

www.stopsharkfinning.net

Images: www.copix.co.uk

For graphic images of shark finning check out:

http://seapics.com/feature-subject/conservation-issues/shark-finning-shark-fishing-pictures-001.html

SPOTLIGHT ON MALACCA

Malacca is an engaging old town whose architectural gems include Portuguese, Dutch and British buildings, Chinese temples and Nonya (Straits Chinese) houses. Easily seen on foot.

Best Sights : Dutch town hall and clock tower on Red Square, Cheng Hoon Teng, oldest Chinese temple in Malaysia (1646) Baba Nonya Heritage Museum, a unique insight into the Nonya`s opulent lifestyle in Malaysia, at the turn of the century.

Must Do: take a trip down the Malacca river. Look out for the old Chinese clan buildings and unique Malaccan-style wooden houses with long verandahs and tiled steps.

Local Food: Malay and delicious Nonya cooking, especially Laksa lemak soup.

Best Shopping: antique furniture and clocks on Jalan Hang Jebat.

Location: 90 miles east of Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. Express bus services.

c.Christine Osborne author - Essential Malaysia-AA.

Image: Nonya house, Malacca, Malaysia

Source: www.copix.co.uk

BOYCOTT RESTAURANTS

SERVING ENDANGERED SPECIES OF FISH

The stocks of several species of fish are seriously endangered due to overfishing caused by demand from unscrupulous restaurants.

While these are located mainly in Asia, notably in China and Japan, several well known London restaurants are serving both bluefin tuna and shark fin soup.

Sharks and bluefin tuna are on the danger list, but while the fishing of both species is condemned by conservationists, neither NOBU`S celebrity haunt in Mayfair, nor the Dorchester Hotel`s CHINA TANG - run by Hong Kong tycoon Sir David Tang - will take them off their menus.

I call for a BOYCOTT of both these restaurants and any others you may come across when dining out in London. Or elsewhere.

About twenty species of shark are said to be under threat. If you see fishermen performing the cruel practice of `finning and tailing` and often throwing the sharks back into the sea to bleed to death, advise the Humane Society International and/or Endangered Species International.

Countries where this practise is rife include: Somalia, Kenya, Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, Phillipines, the Eastern Arab Gulf states and Yemen.

c.Christine Osborne

Image: Finning a shark, Monbasa, Kenya

Source: Grazyna Bonati www.copix.co.uk