A rustic café that commits a quarter of its profits to the local community has opened on the banks of Myanmar’s largest lake.
The Pink Headed Duck Café overlooking Kachin state’s Indawgyi Lake serves Myanmar coffee and homemade pies amid a setting of reclaimed timber.
Local carpenters fashioned two slabs of teak dumped by lumber collectors into the centrepiece of the bar, turned three disused oxcart wheels into tables, and transformed a 20-year-old teak boat into a couch and high table.
Meanwhile, the pillow fabrics come from a renowned local textile shop, combining cosiness with the aesthetics of this beautiful spot.
Sustainable tourism outfit Face of Indawgyi is behind the open-air bistro, which is based on the first floor of a teak house in Lone Ton—the only village on the lake where foreign nationals are permitted to stay.
The social enterprise plans to open a guesthouse on the same piece of lush land; it also offers mountain treks, bamboo bicycles and stand-up paddleboards.
The café—named for the elusive waterfowl long thought to be extinct until a series of credible sightings recently in Kachin State—will first help fund a community cobblestone path leading to the water.
Its fare reflects seasonal ingredients and the favourites of the Shan-ni people, a subgroup of the Shan who live around the lake as well as in other parts of southern Kachin state and northern Sagaing region.
Visitors can wash down vegetable curry, steamed fish wrapped in banana leaf or unique coffee leaf salad with some award-winning Sawbwa Coffee, which perhaps would have been the choice of the sawbwas, or princes, who ruled over the lake and much of the lowlands centuries ago.
Butter-crust pies and artisan breads come fresh from the oven every day—often topped with homemade jam using fruit from trees on the property.
The café, together with local farmers, has also created the first Indawgyi coffee and tea blends along with qishr, an Arabic brew made of spiced coffee husks.
Indawgyi Lake can be reached from Yangon and Mandalay via bus or train. Domestic air routes to Kachin capital Myitkyina also cut the travel time to a quick flight and then a four-hour car ride.
International travellers have visited the lake in August without having to quarantine due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, we advise you first contact the café and check the situation before setting off.
Address: 71 Taung Tan Thar quarter, Indawgyi city (Lone Ton), Mohnyin township, Kachin state
Contact: 0977 887 2956 (English), 0925 318 4226 (Burmese)
Hours: 7am to 7pm everyday
