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also be called the Shan Fashion Museum.Among the outfits you’ll also find a handfulof displays of weapons, musical instrumentsand jewellery.MARKETSThe focal point of Taunggyi is the marketarea on the main road through town. TheOld Market is dominated by foodstuffs andhousehold goods while the New Market hasclothes and black-market goods. Every fivedays the old market ground hosts a busytribal market that attracts lots of tradersfrom the hills.RELIGIOUS MONUMENTSThe main downtown pagoda is the Mya LeDhamma Yon (Bogyoke Aung San Rd) near themarket and nearby is the huge Gurdwara(Sikh temple) used by Taunggyi’s Sikh population.Taunggyi has a number of historicchurches and there are several Burmesestylemosques on the alleyways southwestof the market.Set among the pines above Circular RdWest, the Yat Taw Mu Pagoda contains a33ft-high standing buddha, constructedusing donations from Japanese Buddhists.Just north of Hotel Empire, Min Kyaungfeatures gaudy statuary and a pagoda styledafter the Mahabodhi temple at Bodhgaya inIndia.On the outskirts south of town, the hugewhite Sulamuni Paya has a gilded corncobstupa that pays tribute to the AnandaPahto in Bagan. You can continue uphill tothe ridge-top paya of Shwe Phone PwintPaya for dizzying views over Taunggyi andInle Lake.zFestivals & EventsAs part of the full-moon celebrations duringTazaungmon (the eighth month of the Burmeselunar calendar), the city holds a hugefire-balloon festival, when hundreds of hotairballoons in a kaleidoscope of colours andshapes are released into the sky to carry awaysins. The three-day festival takes place in Octoberor November and accommodation canbe very hard to find in Taunggyi at this time.4SleepingHotels in Taunggyi cater primarily to visitingtraders, so there are few bargains to be had.KBZ FC Hotel HOTEL $$(%22009; 157 Khwar Nyo St; s/d/ste $30/35/45;a) A recent renovation has changed the exteriorand name of the former Paradise Hotel.The current emphasis appears to be on TVs:THE INTHA OF INLE LAKEAlthough they follow Buddhism andwear modern Burmese costume, theIntha people of Inle Lake are culturallyquite distinct from their Shanneighbours. The ancestors of the Inthaare thought to have migrated to Inlefrom Dawei in southern Myanmar.According to the most popular legend,two brothers from Dawei came toYaunghwe (the original name for Nyaungshwe)in 1359 to serve the localShan sao pha (sky lord). The chieftainwas so pleased with the hard-workingDawei brothers that he invited 36more families from Dawei; purportedly,all the Intha around Inle Lake are descendedfrom these migrant families.A more likely theory is that the Inthafled southern Myanmar in the 18thcentury to escape wars between theThais and Bamar.the lobby boasts what is quite possibly thelargest one we’ve ever seen, and each of thegigantic suites is fitted with two flat-screenTVs! Unfortunately the standard rooms havechanged little and have the same aged furniture(and TVs) as its predecessor.Hotel Empire HOTEL $$(%23737; 31 Bogyoke Aung San Rd; s/d $20/26)Another substantial Chinese business-stylehotel, the Empire has modern rooms withTVs, and bathrooms with reliably hot showers.Staff here are more used to dealing withforeign visitors than at the other hotels intown.Khemerat Hotel HOTEL $(%22464; 4/B Bogyoke Aung San Rd; s/d $12/18)The closest Taunggyi has to budget accommodation,this faded block at the north endof town has large concrete rooms with rudimentaryfurnishings.Eastern Hotel HOTEL $$(%22243; 27 Bogyoke Aung San Rd; r $15-36; a)Exceedingly tidy, with vast wood-flooredsuites and rather tight standard rooms.Sun Minn Hotel HOTEL $$(%22353; 137 Bogyoke Aung San Rd; r $15-35; a)Cosy feel and a variety of rooms; ask to seea few. The more expensive ones have woodfloors and flat-screen TVs.189INLE EASTERN LAKE MYANMAR EATING EATING AROUND INLE LAKE