Meeting a shy boy in the hills over Inle Lake, Myanmar (Burma)
Photo taken 2006-12-04, (dec 4th) at the hills over Inle Lake , Shan State, Myanmar (Burma)The day after we had an All-Day-Trip on the Inle Lake, me and the autralian traveller I met two days before, decided to do some more sightseeing in the aria, as we both planned to leave the next morning on a long bumpy busride to Yagoon. So we decided, after a whole day mostly sitting in a boat, and with the next day expecting 20++ hours on a bumpy bus, - to get some excercise and take a good walk in the nearby hills, and see some local villages. After all, the town at Inle Lake was a little more touristy than we prefeered, and we hoped to see some more of the "real life of people in Myanmar"
So we made a deal with the recommended guide at the hotel, and paid 7 usd each for the services of a half day foot guiding(, whith we thought was a little expencive compared to the total 10 usd for boat, boatdriver/guide and gasolin a whole day, the day before). We also after some consideration payed him anouther couple of dollars for a "traditional" meal made by his wife after the walk.
But back to the moment on the photo, after many stops, meeting lots of people on our way, and many more and some less interesting things along the way suddenly this young boy appear on our path, walking towards us untill he saw us. Then he stopped, and take a stand just outside the path, looking toward us shyly, not really daring to look directly at us. We stopped of course, watching him back and smiling to this cute shy boy, poorly dressed in just a t-shirt and a traditional longy, just as most kids in this aria (and I guess most of Myanmar) were. The longy is a traditional garmet used instead of by both male and females in Myanmar, - basicly a very simple sarong.
To make sure he gave himself a reason to stand there watching us strangers, he keep open up and fixing his longy, like if he could not get it to fasten properly, repeatedly looking up toward us in a shy but courious way. :-) After a little our guide asked him his name, and if he did not go to the school this day. The shy boy barely answered, but told our guide that he had to work for his family this year, but he hoped to go to school next year. Our guide gave the boy a little bit of candy he brought along, and thanked him for answering, and we all wished him good luck, and we all went on our way...
ps please comment the photo if you like, and grade it from 0 to 10(best) after your liking
egil viking . . . www.meihack.org
