Against a backdrop of soaring, mist-topped mountains, packed teams of rowers raced decorated, wooden longboats across Myanmar’s iconic Inle Lake, Friday, in a unique display of strength, agility and above all, coordination.

The crew members row using just one leg wrapped round the oar: a style unique to the ethnic Intha people who live around the shoreline of the lake, in southern Shan State, about 420 kilometers (260 miles) northeast of the largest city, Yangon.

The races are a much-loved part of the annual Phaung Daw Oo festival, one of the country’s most important Buddhist celebrations, and one that’s been repeatedly cancelled in recent years as the country has reeled from crisis to crisis; the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the military overthrow of the democratically-elected government in 2021 and serious flooding in 2024.

This year’s event went ahead, despite a devastating earthquake in late March that killed more than 3,800 people nationwide and destroyed many homes in the Inle Lake area.

As well as the races, the more than two weeks-long festival sees four Buddha images from the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda carried on an ornate barge to 21 lakeside villages, so the residents can pay them homage.