Not long after the monkey poo soup incident our bus arrived at a town called Kalaw which is a lot colder than the rest of the country because of its high altitude. We'd come here to trek - my last trek was three months ago in the Indian Himalayas and I was ready for another one despite the tough conditions and not being able to wash for many days! We spent one night in a guesthouse in the town (with holes in the walls for windows but no glass? It was a chilly night!) and embarked on our trek the next morning with very small bags whilst, thankfully, our guesthouse transported our big backpacks to our next destination; the trek was for three days and two nights and would eventually take us to Inle Lake where we'd collect our bags and continue with our travels around Myanmar.
The first day was mainly uphill but it was the most rewarding for views! On one side we could see an endless cloak of multi coloured crops dotted with bamboo huts and buffalo and on the other side was a valley within which you could see the giant ripples in the earth where the mountains had formed all covered in trees in umpteen different shades of green. We got talking to our guide Yelay who was so friendly and funny, he really made the trip for us because he was always making little jokes and pointing out interesting things along the way such as shrines, crops and explaining village traditions. One of these explanations was about why the remote village people wear bright orange turbans...now, I didn't completely follow the story but it had something to do with a forest, a pregnant dragon and two eggs with humans inside!! We stayed in a tiny village that night and we were the only foreigners for miles; our beds were blankets on the first floor of a farmhouse with the family sleeping on the other side of the room. The villagers speak a different language to the rest of the Myanmar people so we couldn't communicate with them very well however they were all very curious to see who the new strangers were! Yelay cooked us dinner - we were ravenous after walking for seven hours - so we sat cross legged at the low table and he wouldn't let us start until he'd delivered all ten platefuls of different vegetable curries, rice, stir fried veg and noodles. He was an incredible cook (cooking is his "number three hobby after roller skating and photography") and I particularly loved the pumpkin curry.
We woke up as the sun was rising, had rice and mandarin oranges for breakfast and had a 'wash' in the ice cold, murky water in the bucket next to the squat toilet at the end of the garden; this water is meant for chucking down the hole to 'flush' it but we had no other option - how the locals wash remains a mystery to us! Our journey that day began with a descent into a valley, the morning mist had gathered in between the mountains and as we walked down it felt like we were walking into clouds, it was breathtaking!
We stayed in another village on the second night and there were quite a few other people on treks staying there from all around the world, some of them we'd bumped in to along the way. We had another feast cooked for us and stayed up chatting for hours enjoying Myanmar beers from the tiny local shop. Our sleeping arrangements that night were quite unconventional...we slept in a monastery! It was a large, wooden building with just one massive room inside housing a shrine and numerous Buddha statutes - the girls slept on the floor of one side of the room and the males and monks slept on the other! Yelay told us we weren't allowed to wear shoes inside, walk fast or talk loud however we were woken up at 4am by a load of monks running around, shouting and chanting at the top of their voices!! On the third day we finally reached the lake, this was by far the hottest day and we were disgustingly sweaty, muddy, tired and stinky when we arrived at the jetty.
This is our 20yr old local guide, Yelay. He told us our fans are actually meant to be given out at funerals but we'd been fanning ourselves with them in the street blissfully unaware!
The countryside in Myanmar is stunning!
We'd often pass little farms and villages.
We walked past crops of cauliflower, ginger, chili peppers, potatoes, tea, rice, corn, peas and many more...the smells were amazing!
The first day was mainly uphill but it was the most rewarding for views! On one side we could see an endless cloak of multi coloured crops dotted with bamboo huts and buffalo and on the other side was a valley within which you could see the giant ripples in the earth where the mountains had formed all covered in trees in umpteen different shades of green. We got talking to our guide Yelay who was so friendly and funny, he really made the trip for us because he was always making little jokes and pointing out interesting things along the way such as shrines, crops and explaining village traditions. One of these explanations was about why the remote village people wear bright orange turbans...now, I didn't completely follow the story but it had something to do with a forest, a pregnant dragon and two eggs with humans inside!! We stayed in a tiny village that night and we were the only foreigners for miles; our beds were blankets on the first floor of a farmhouse with the family sleeping on the other side of the room. The villagers speak a different language to the rest of the Myanmar people so we couldn't communicate with them very well however they were all very curious to see who the new strangers were! Yelay cooked us dinner - we were ravenous after walking for seven hours - so we sat cross legged at the low table and he wouldn't let us start until he'd delivered all ten platefuls of different vegetable curries, rice, stir fried veg and noodles. He was an incredible cook (cooking is his "number three hobby after roller skating and photography") and I particularly loved the pumpkin curry.
Eating chili pepppers as I trek!
Often Myanmar people will carry umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun.
There were locals at work in the fields, sometimes you could only see their pointy, conical hats or their turbans sticking out of the crops.
Under the dinner table lived a family of cats, one little scruffy kitten would not leave me alone and refused to get off my lap for hours.
We woke up as the sun was rising, had rice and mandarin oranges for breakfast and had a 'wash' in the ice cold, murky water in the bucket next to the squat toilet at the end of the garden; this water is meant for chucking down the hole to 'flush' it but we had no other option - how the locals wash remains a mystery to us! Our journey that day began with a descent into a valley, the morning mist had gathered in between the mountains and as we walked down it felt like we were walking into clouds, it was breathtaking!
Descending into the clouds!!
Chilies are laid out in villages to dry in the sun.
Exerting ourselves all day in the sun was hot work so we had a bath in a river!
Strong as an Ox!
We stayed in another village on the second night and there were quite a few other people on treks staying there from all around the world, some of them we'd bumped in to along the way. We had another feast cooked for us and stayed up chatting for hours enjoying Myanmar beers from the tiny local shop. Our sleeping arrangements that night were quite unconventional...we slept in a monastery! It was a large, wooden building with just one massive room inside housing a shrine and numerous Buddha statutes - the girls slept on the floor of one side of the room and the males and monks slept on the other! Yelay told us we weren't allowed to wear shoes inside, walk fast or talk loud however we were woken up at 4am by a load of monks running around, shouting and chanting at the top of their voices!! On the third day we finally reached the lake, this was by far the hottest day and we were disgustingly sweaty, muddy, tired and stinky when we arrived at the jetty.
Outside the monastery you can see the monks' burgundy robes drying on washing lines.
The interior of the creepy monastery we slept in - it also had many windows with no glass or curtains!
Two friendly Czech girls tagged along with us during the last day.
Once we had clambered in to a long boat the driver took us on the hour-long journey up the lake to a town full of guesthouses.
Wow! Enjoy every bit if the sweating, the temperature has just dropped here. Winter is upon us brrrrrr x
ReplyDeleteOh no!! I keep seeing Xmas posts on Facebook but it seems so long away out here x
ReplyDelete