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and
rains. It rains especially
between June and October. The
temperature varies greatly and
high temperature normally occurs
on the rainy days of the month
of July.
While insect researchers come to
Putao during the wet season,
bird watchers usually visit the
place during the winter so that
they can study winter birds
closely. As for the mountain
climbers, the cold December and
January are the best time for
them to enjoy mountain climbing.
To
come to Putao one has to travel
for 732 miles from Yangon to
Myitkyina first by car, train or
plane, and then continue the
journey of 218 miles from
Myitkyina to Putao only by
plane. If you want to visit
Putao, you need to bring with
you a sleeping bag; a tent and a
pair of boots are required as it
can rain anytime there. Some
tobacco leaves will also be
needed to put inside the shoes
and then wear them because it
will protect you from land
leeches by doing so. It should
be noted that you should avoid
wearing bright colored clothes
and wear only clothes of pale
colors not to attract the
attention of forest animals such
as bears. Putao, the city in the
midst of snowy mountains, is
famous for the presence of its
medicinal plants and herbs such
as Masho, Khantauk, Machit U,
Shee-pa-dee, etc. The fame
of the place also can be
attributed rare forest animals
such as musk deer, takin,
Phatgyi and to the rare
species orchids including the
black orchids which can be found
in that area. In addition, a
kind of rare mushroom known as “Matsutake”
comes from Putao.
“Matsutake” is a kind of
mushroom which grow from the
lower stem of the red pine trees
which can be found only top of
the ice mountains of over
100,000 feet height. The red
pine is a tree the wood of which
is used in making coffins among
the Chinese people. (It is said
that the corpse placed inside
that type of coffin made from
the wood of the red pine – will
last for twenty years without
going bad.) Matsutake,
the mushroom found on red pine
trees is highly valued because
it cannot be grown but grows
only naturally. The mushroom is
consumed by people as food and
it costs about $500 for a dish
of Matsutake in
Singapore. What a strange about
Matsutake; it is that
they will never grow again at a
place which has been exposed to
cigarette smoke. Therefore in
order not to harm the
environment and rare species of
plants and animals, visitors
should avoid using mosquito
repellent creams containing
chemicals and insecticides in
the area.
The
major ethnic races living in
Putao are Li Su, Khamtee
Shan, Ra Wan and Jane
Phaw races. Each race has
own dialect and traditional
clothes. However the common
characteristic is that they are
all simple, honest, helpful and
hospitable. Therefore a visitor
who comes to visit Putao can
stay not only on guest houses as
Khakaborazi guesthouse but in
local houses that belong to the
local ethnic people.
Mulasheedi village where
Li Su people live is about
eight miles far away from Putao
and can be reached by car. The
meaning of Sheedi is a kind of
grass used in thatching.
Mulasheedi suspension bridge is
one of the tourist attraction
sites in Putao. Visiting Putao,
one can study the culture and
tradition of the Li Su
race such as their habit of
going to the church on Sunday
and drinking traditional brew
and dancing Cha-Cha dance in
pairs shortly after the worship.
Another village called “Hta
War Yan village” which is
about twelve miles away from
Putao is situated on the side of
Malikha River, home to
Khamtee Shan race.
Traveling up to Hta War Yan
village from Putao and then
crossing the Malikaha River, one
can reach one of the famous
pagodas in Myanmar, Khaung Hmu
Lune pagoda. This pagoda had
built since King Ashoka’s
monarch over 2500 years ago.
This is from the upper part of
the Myanmar and is compared with
two other famous pagodas;
Shwezigon from the middle part
and Shwedagon from the lower
part of the Myanmar, in a
classic poem. A big celebration
of pagoda festival holds every
year in the month of November
with the accompaniment of
traditional weaving contests.
If
you travel from Hta War Yan
village to Namkham
village by sailing along the
Malikha River, you can also see
Lan Kut village on the
way. What is unique in that
village is that plow is done
with the use of elephants. Along
the Malikha River, the scence of
people panning for gold is also
a common sight too. Being home
to Rawan people; due to its
systematic and proper town-plan,
the place is regarded as modeled
village of the Putao district.
Namkham in Rawan dialect has the
meaning of “the land of gold”.
However it is not only gold that
is found in the area, but
silver, rubies and jades are
also treasures commonly found
there. The scenery is quite
beautiful during the month of
December and January when the
plants bear fruits such as
Washington fruits, Grape fruits
and American lime fruits and
some other over hundred kinds of
fruits. Namkham village is not a
place where rice can be grown
due to the excessive cold
weather of its location which is
the foot of the mountain range.
However the place is rich with U
Le’ trees which grow naturally
in this area. The native Rawan
people therefore take the kernel
of the trunk of U Le’ tree and
make it into powder that they
eat in place of rice. The snack
made by the powder of U Le’
trees is served as special food
in the traditional festivals of
the native people. The common
foods eaten in the place are
fermented bamboo-shoots, the
root stock of the taro, crushed
buds of the cane and the buds of
cane mixed with the rootstock of
the taro made into a soup. As
for the accommodation, the homes
of the native people will make
guesthouses for visitors.
Because the natives have a
belief that the arrival of a
visitor at their home is a sign
of good luck they are
excessively hospitable, and kind
and helpful to visitors treating
them with food and even
entertaining them with their
traditional dance at night.
If
you want to visit the town,
Machanbaw, you can go there
on foot traveling for about
eight mile or take a boat or a
raft along the Malikha River –
Machanbaw is a place of Jane
Phaw race and it’s name have
derived from the term Ma Kyan
Baw. The ending sound “Baw”
means “joint” and it is named in
that place due to the presence
of confluence of Malikha River
and a mountain torrent in the
area. Stone sculptures and
beautiful decorations with stone
art can be spotted at the place
of confluence. Machanbaw is also
a beautiful place with a great
many of coffee plantations, tea
plantations. The visitors to
Machanbaw can enjoy a relaxing
stay in Gubar guest house. One
of the prominent signs of
Machanbaw is a stone dragon
which is a natural reef that
looks like a dragon. Although
the stone dragon had some bumps
on it which look like the scales
of a dragon, now only few of
them remain there on the reef.
According to the legend it is
said that a real dragon was
transformed into a stone dragon
there because of the curse of
the widow whose son, that is
about to novitiate according to
Buddha’s order, was eaten by
that dragon.
When
one wants to return back to
Putao from Machanbaw, after
crossing the Malikha Bridge, one
will arrive at a small village
of Shan race called Naung Khaing
village from where the journey
of about 14 miles has to be
traveled by car to reach back to
Putao.
For
those who would like to visit
places of natural beauty and
love adventure; Putao, a small
town where is full of natural
beauties and interesting items
without the human attractions of
its virgin and harming of the
environment, is a unique place
to visit. |
