I loved Myanmar and had some great experiences there but my favourite
part hands down was when I did the 70km trek from Kalaw to Inle Lake. I checked
into the Golden Kalaw Inn early in the morning and spent the morning wandering
around the tiny and beautiful town of Kalaw hunting down the best tour company.
At the end of the day I had booked a tour with the best which was of course the
first one I’d checked out which was offered by the Golden Kalaw Inn. For
40,000kyt ($40cad) I’d be going on a 3 day tour hiking through small Burmese
villages with the amazing tour guide Jojo. Since the tour didn’t start till
early the next morning I was able to explore the town, stop for chapatti,
potato curry and loads of indian sweets for about $1.50 and later meet and talk
with my fellow trekkers Eliza and the couple Thi Thi and Phil.


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Covered in thanaka and ready for another day of trekking |
After a great breakfast we were on the road again trekking for hours
seeing wonderful sights like fields of ladies and children picking fire red chillies,
men threshing rice, ancient old men behind ox driven carts and the adorable Burmese
children. We walked upon a school class practicing an end of school year dance
and a little later we came across some little kids and somehow ended up getting
in a burr throwing fight with them. One of the gems we found was when we came
across men making honey in a field. They had giant buckets of liquid gold full
of honeycomb and for 2,000kyt ($2) we walked away with half a litre of the
freshest honey I’ve ever had and a giant bag of honeycomb to snack on as we
walked. We stopped at a fresh stream and Jojo showed us this sapyati fruit that
when split the liquid inside is like soap, very useful for washing our honey
covered hands!
We spent our last night in one of the (slightly) larger villages where
we found ourselves back on the tourist trail with other groups around. One more
night with our group and meals around a kitchen hearth and sharing some Myanmar
beers and suddenly it was the morning of our last day. Now that we were back on
the tourist trail I could overhear some of the guides and we clearly had the
best and most knowledgeable guide. Plus he had great stores about the local
Hpa-Oh culture that involved alchemists and their dragon ancestors. We said
goodbye and parted ways when we reached the river and got on one of the long
boats. On the boat we passed farms that were actually in the water with the
houses on stilts, we saw the long neck weavers, monasteries, and the famous one
legged fisherman of Inle lake. Once we arrived in Inle Lake I said goodbye to the lovely Eliza and Phil and the crazy-not in a good way- Thi Thi, and found myself on
my own again (and loving it) and after the last few action packed days I was
able to relax in Inle Lake, see markets and visit the local winery. Months into
my trip and I hadn’t seen wine since vineyards don’t exist so when I heard the
Red Mountain Winery was located close to the town I had to check it out. The wine was pretty mediocre but I was happy
to pay the 3,000kyt for 4 tasting after so much time of wine deprivation and
the views were incredible from up there. Getting there I had walked half the
way and ended up hitchhiking the last bit and it was then I realized how
bizarre it is hitchhiking in Myanmar. They drive on the right side of the road
so when the driver pulls up to let you in he’s on the right side so you have to
go around the car into traffic to get into the passenger side. The Burmese man
who picked me up was an absolute sweetheart who repairs monasteries and seemed
genuinely happy to help out a random stranger, once again reminding me how
genuinely nice the people are in Myanmar.
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The rings around their neck are unbelievably heavy! |
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Normally they stand on one leg and use the other leg to paddle so they can fish hands free. This guy was just showing off. |