Padaung:Neck Stretching Tribe from Myanmar

Padaung is one of the ethnic minority groups from Myanmar about 7000 members in their tribe which has been made famous by the brass rings which women in the tribe wear around their necks. Members of the Padaung Tribe call themselves the Kayan; the Kayan are members of a larger ethnic group called the Karen People. The Kayan appear to be Mongolian in origin, and they have their own distinct language and cultural traditions. Many of them follow an animist religion, although some also integrate Buddhist beliefs into their religious practices and some are Christian. Padaung people like to live near the river valleys wherever they can.
The coils are first applied when the girls are about five years old, and the coil is replaced with longer coils as the weight of the brass pushes down the collar bone and compresses the rib cage. This results in the striking appearance of a very long neck. Traditionally, only Padaung girls born on a Wednesday of a full moon were destined to have their necks fitted with the coils.
Only initial discomfort is reported after the coils are set and as the distance from ear lobe to collar bone lengthens to as much as 10 inches to 15 inches in average. In general, a Padaung woman of marriageable age will probably have had her neck extended by about 11inches. Unlike normal accessories, these rings are for life and may only be removed with the direst of results. Adultery among Padaung women has always been punished by the removal of the rings, a fate almost literally, worse than death. This is an unusually cruel punishment as the cervical vertebra has become deformed after years of wearing the rings, and the neck muscles have atrophied. Unless she wishes to risk suffocation the unfortunate wife must pay for the infidelity by spending the rest of her life lying down or try to find some other artificial support for her neck.
There are several mythical ideas, perhaps formed by visiting anthropologists. Some think the coils protect from tiger bites, while some think the coils made the women unattractive to neighbouring tribes, and so protected them against slave trade. The rings also play a social role, with more rings serving as a symbol of status for women.
At first glance, the Padaung appear to belong to a different continent than Asia, their green and purple headdresses, white caftans and shining ornaments suggesting some African tribe or even the Plain Indians of old. Whatever you think of their customs, 'striking' is certainly the word to describe the Padaung of eastern Myanmar. At the moment they appear to welcome the odd visitor, smiling shyly at the cameras, patiently answering the questions that are put to them through the tour guides.

To the Glass Palace

Mandalay
Age :141 years
Temperature :Min 10°C - Max 43.3°C
Location :Latitude 21° 58' N, Longitude 96° 04' E

'by the old Mawlamyine Pagoda, lookin
eastward to the sea
There's Myanmar girl a-settin,
and I know she thinks o'me;
For the wind is in the plam-trees,
an the temple-bells they say;
Come you back, you British soldier;
come you back to Mandalay!
Come you back to Mandalay,
Where the flotilla lay:
Can't you 'ear their paddles chunkin'
from Yangon to Mandalay?
On the road to mandalay
Where the flyin'-fish play,
And the dawn comes up like thunder
Outer china'cross the Bay!'


(From ''Mandalay'' by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), the poem that gave the world its first inkling of the exotic city)

The principal cultural and economic city of upper Myanmar, and former royal capital, is located in Central Myanmar, 668 km north of Yangon, Mandalay still evokes images of a romantic bygone era. Also known as Ratanabon-nepyi (meaning Gem City), it was built in 1857 by King Mindon. The royal palace and its impressive surrounding moat sits at the foot of the imposing Mandalay Hill.
The city was named after the Mandalay Hill, which is situated at the northeast corner of the present city. The hill has for long been a holy mount and it is believed that Lord Buddha prophesied that a great city, metropolis of Buddhism, would be founded at its foot. It was King Mindon who fulfilled the prophecy.
The rhyming couplet easy to memorize the year of building the royal city is " Okkyit-Kyaw Aye / Mandalay " or " Aung Kyaw Chan Aye / Mandalay " ( i.e, M.E 1221 ). The city's layout of the construction is the same at that of the earlier Kingdom of Amarapura, and from the bird's eye-view, it has the structure of geographical squares and rectangular shapes, with streets and roads crossing one another at right angles. There are four parts dividing the city, namely, Ashe-pyin ( East Part ), Anok-pyin (west Part), Taung-pyin (southern part) and Myauk-pyin (Northern Part), with 54 plots. With the Ground-breaking ceremony, King Mindon laid the foundation of Mandalay on the 6th waning day of Kason, M.E 1221, (A.D 1857). The King simultaneously laid the foundations of seven edifices: the royal city with the battlemented walls, the moat surrounding it, the Maha Lawka Marazein Stupa, the higher ordination hall named the Pahtan-haw Shwe Thein, the Atumashi (the Incomparable) monastery, the Thudhama Zayats or public houses for preaching the Doctrine, and the library for the Buddhist scriptures.

When King Mindon passed away, his son King Thibaw ascended the throne, and in M.E 1247, Myanmar fell under the British colony. It was the old capital ruled by two successive kings the one where the last of Myanmar's monarchs reigned.

After the British had conquered Mandalay in 1886 they turned the royal palaces of Mandalay into their military headquarters and christened the complex Fort Dufferin.

How to get there ?????

Mandalay International Airport is the gateway. Mandalay is only over an hour's flight from Yangon. Myanma Airways, Yangon Airways and Air Mandalay operate daily flights. By road, it takes about 12 hours by Express coaches, and about 14 hours by train.