Rih Lake

Tourism or tourist attraction is unheard of it in the Chin State before because the government of Myanmar never allow tourist to visit the state until until recenly citing security concern but it was not the real case. It is just part of the government close door policy.

The Chin State is unexplore land for foreigners since Burma got independence from British in 1948. General Ne Win's close door policy and isolationism and Myanmar Sosialism totally closed the interation between the foreigners the people in the Chin State for half a century. The military government forbad any foreigners entering the Chin State since 1988 to until recently.

Recently few foreigners such as religious leaders or leaders of nonprofit organization or some workers of UNDP are allowed as tourists. Hikers are allowed also as tourists. The government slowly opened up tourism in the Chin State a year a go to promote tourism in Myanmar to get foreign hard currency.

Here are some tourist attraction in the Chin State. Tourist can visit there with tour guide through tour agency in Mandalay or Yangon.

Rih Lake (Rih Dil)
Rih Lake is near Indian-Myanmar border. It is about 1 miles from the border.  It is one of the most magnificent and beautiful lakes in Myanmar and is the largest lake in the Chin State.  It is about 63 miles from the city of Falam, the old capital of the Chin State and is about 32 miles from the city of Tidim.

The lake is one mile in length and half a mile in width. It is about 3 miles in diameter. The deepest are is about 60 feet in depth. It is a human heart shaped lake and is popular for its color and shape. It is a legendary lake believed to be a passage to the Souls in their eternal abode "Pial-ral" in the Chin tradition . The lake has no inflow and outflow of water. But the water is very clean like a crystal water. People can ride the tour boat. it is pretty cheap. There are many kinds of delicious fish in the lake that tourist can enjoy in the local restaurant.

There is a peculiar story about the lake. In the ancient time there were many elephants and other animals around this area. When the hunters shot thems by gun or arrows they went to the lake and disappeared. Many animals who were wounded disappeared in the lake. They never came out again. So the lake is a mystery lake for the local people. They believe that the lake poses some unusual power. Local people believe that the natural spirit (khuachia/evil spirits) dwell in the lake and they protected the animals.

The British armies got here in the lake 19th century. They were very curious when they heard the story about the lake from the local people. Then they dug the canal to drain all the water from the lake to see what is inside the lake. But as soon as they dug the canal they all got sick severely. They were sick again and again whenever they dug the lake. Finally they gave up digging. People can see the old canel until today that the British army had dug to drain the water out of the lake.



    The new town of Rihkhuadar near the lake


   The burmese army post is in the upper right side


        Some tourist lodges near the lake





The upper left corner is the land of Mizoram, India. The Tio River runs in the middle of the map. The left sife of the Tio River is India and the right side in Myanmar. The Falam-Rih Road come from the lower left corner; the Tidim-Haimual Raoad comes in from the upper right corner

 (Ref. Google Images)