When the military seized control of Myanmar in 1962
the country went from being one of the richest in Southeast Asia to one of the poorest.
One of the byproducts of that is that a lot of traditional cultures were
sidelined, because of the expenses involved.
We're here at Inthar Heritage House where they're now
breeding Burmese cats, which pretty much disappeared across the country until
they were reintroduced from British stock.
We've just been on a big tour around the lake
and have arrived just in time for feeding time. As you can see
there's loads and loads of beautiful Burmese cats. I couldn't be happier.
One has decided to make me a table.
We're right now at the Inthar Heritage House
where they have a wonderful selection of cats
down below
but we've come up to eat in the restaurant up here and the meal has been fantastic.
Now, here to tell us about the foods are two beautiful
young ladies who have been working and running the restaurant.
This one is
personally I call it "gossiping food" because usually you'd have it like during snack time
around 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon,
tea time, around this dish we can gossip up
on the entire village, for example, but it's basically
Inle tomato salad, Nyaungshwe style, which is a little bit different from other areas.
and the cracker is rice cracker
that you grill under a
very hot... you grill it, you don't deep fry it.
That's very good. Healthier!
It looks a bit like the Indian poppadom.
As well, but crunchier.
And this one is fried spring onion
with a little bit of garlic, ginger and
with a little bit of tomato
brown bean with
rice powder. Usually we eat it for breakfast as well.
But it could as well be eaten at lunch time.
Is that the same thing that we
used to have pehbyoke. - No, this is another bean which is brown colour.
And, of course, tamarind salad, fresh tamarind salad.
- We really enjoyed eating this.
It's only seasonal, so you can only have it
for about six weeks a year.
After that the leaves become too big.
- So this is springtime for the... - Yes, and red bamboo shoot salad.
You've got to like the fifth taste [umami].
Of course, this is avocado salad with a little bit of sesame
This is the lettuce stem.
- Oh I thought the banana stem, but the lettuce plant, they take the stem
...the tender stem and make the salad. - Yes, with lots of fresh
lime and again brown sesame.
And this one is snow pea leaves
similar to the tamarind leaves, also seasonal.
So, the sauce is basically the same, only the leaves are different.
- So, this has peanuts in it.
I tend to put sesame seeds on a lot of the salads.
- You can, as well, if you want. - And it has tomato as well.
And then of course the famous salad laphet thoke.
- Oh, so, this is laphet.
Laphet we are all very familiar with, but
it's best to eat it right here. - Yes, and then here is
yellow tofu crackers and
the rice crackers. That's it. - Great!
Sometimes in this room we also
do cooking demonstrations or cooking classes for the visitors
and sometimes, for those who live here
or stay here, because we also have six bedrooms...
- So, you do have a guesthouse as well. - A kind of a mockup hotel
which is used for the practising part for the students, as...
...we also run a [hospitality] training school.
Because under this house we have
a lot of projects actually
related to
like, empowering
or making our people gain
trust in ourselves
as we also have values
especially the Inthar people from here, which I am
half Inthar and...
- What is the other half?
- Shan and Hmong
We just want to rebuild, kind of like,
you know, build up the self confidence of people
around Inle lake, since we also have values [and traditions], because we have a lot of visitors and
people come here to know who we are
not only for the business matter, I think it is also
the tradition and the culture.
As the development progresses, I think we should be well balanced with it.
- We're all very happy that the country's opening up and we can all come back and enjoy.
- Yeah, old timers can come back too.
So, I was saying that six bedrooms down there are mockup hotels for the trainees.
We train 40 students a year in this house to hotelier services.
Also, in the kitchen there are students working there.
Those who are serving you, a couple of them are students.
As well as in the reception, as well as in the housekeeping. So that's how we work.
That's also how we generate income, so this can also be self-sustained
with or without me. - And you're training them to work somewhere else if they want to.
Oh yeah, transmission part is very important. We can't do preservation and conservation without transmitting knowledge.
- What is the story about the cats? - Return of Burmese cats, Burmese cat is also part of
national heritage.
It's just been reintroduced in the country, so we do have breeding centres
in Inle Lake Resort, that is the resort that I used to run before
with my husband, that's where I make money and this is here where
I am spending money with all the projects that we do.
You should see the aquarium as well, we also have a small aquarium
with endemic fish of Inle Lake.
Suu is the cat and fish lady, she is the one who's in charge of all these
exploration and research of Inle Lake and other
... species.
Whatever we can do privately.
So the story about these cats is just to rebreed them
and reintroduce them
in the country, because this is again national heritage.
- So, did the original cats disappeared?
- There are still very few, but
it is very very rare to authenticate them and
find them, so many of the Burmese cats
are very popular outside of the country
and no one in Burma knows what Burmese cats are anymore.
So, in a way, it's difficult to reintroduce them.
- But from what I read, they used to be more common.
When did they start to decline? - Actually as soon as the English left the country and, you know,
animals mostly were not in the priority list
anyway, which is completely understandable.
So, [the local cats] mixed breed with other species, meaning that
they are not authentic anymore. - They are beautiful cats,
they are really affectionate and clearly well looked after.
- We love cats, is that area made for the cats?
- Yes, this is their playground, they have a day room, a night room.
- So they can go right through there. - Yeah, they don't feel very comfortable
in the cage, but you have to protect them, otherwise [they can be taken]
however it is also nice to have a space for them so that they can run around
Kyau Suu is the one who look after them
She's also doing the family planning for the cats, interview for
for the adaptation program, vaccination... if the cat is sick she has to
wake up day and night to look after them as well as...
she arranges their marriages. - Well done. Very good.
- Thank you so much. - Thank you for your visit too.
So cute!