A Little Bit About Of Pa.Oh Land

Kyauk Ta Lone, east of Lake Inle, is only about ten miles (sixteen kilometers) southwest of Kak Ku. The Pa.Oh has invested in tourism, having built the beautiful Golden Island Cottages hotel in the middle of Lake Inle and another one on the eastern shore.
The government has recognized U Aung Kham Hti as a National Leader. My Pa.Oh friend told me that the Pa.Oh area, including Kak Ku and Indein, become fully accessible to foreigners. The Pa.Oh follow Buddhism devoutly and, unlike their Karen cousins, barred Christian missionaries from their homeland.
But oddly enough, it was an American missionary who several decades ago wrote the only English-language book about the Pa.Oh, a book that is very difficult to come by unless one visits their cultural center in Taung Gyi. I recall the title as being The Pa.Oh People of Shan State, Union of Burma, by William Dan Hackett.
Easily identifiable because of their distinctive clothing, the Pa.Oh wear black garments and brightly colored turbans, often a towel. Menswear consists of loose-fitting pants and jackets; the women wear skirts and decorated smock like tops. The farmers grow cereals such as rice and corn and many different vegetables, fruits, stimulants, and spices-gourd, soybeans, pumpkin, cucumber, potatoes, beans, tomatoes, sugar cane, peanuts, sesame, avocados, bananas, apples, lemons, pineapple, grapefruit, oranges, papaya, coffee, tea, onions, chili, ginger, and lots of garlic.

Their fields appear neat and orderly and their houses tidy, with colorful shrubs and flowers around them. They raise cattle and use oxen for transportation and work in the fields. Their main cash crop, however, is the thanapet leaf of the cordial tree, which serves as a wrapper for the popular cheroot. Nearby Taung Gyi is known to produce the finest such cigarillos, to which I can testify, having bought some for myself. The Pa.Oh have a reputation for being among the most skillful traders in all of Shan State, and in major towns, especially Taung Gyi, they own several businesses.The Pa.Oh is viewed as conservative, generous, peaceful, and deeply religious. Their daily lives are typically guided by their religious beliefs, which include nat worship. On the full moon of the lunar month of Tazaungmone (in November), they celebrate a famous hot-air balloon festival when they release large self-made hot-air balloons into the night sky, where the fiery balloons waft along like bright stars. But the highlight of the year for all Pa.Oh takes place on the full moon of the lunar month of Tabound (in March) when Pa.Oh National Day is celebrated at Kak Ku. Hundreds of tents and stands are made ready for the thousands of Pa.Oh who stream from the hills into the tiny village bringing their goods on oxcarts. The shy but hospitable Pa.Oh do not find it disturbing when foreigners join in their celebrations.