Trekking from Kalaw to Inle Lake

Another early morning to catch the bus out of Bagan and we saw the hot air balloons flying over the temples at sunrise, they must have had a beautiful view...

We purchased tickets for a larger bus and got on our way but stopped every few minutes to take on more passengers, when the seats were full they pulled out the plastic stools and filled the aisles with them. It was packed!

This grandmother and child were sitting next to Don and I was knitting, she was very interested in what I was doing.

And they kept coming...

It was a long bus ride over the mountains with lost of interesting stops...

The women are so graceful carrying their wares on their heads...

This old lady was smoking a pipe...

We finally arrived in Kalaw and were dropped off on the side of the road to find our way to the night's accommodation which turned out to be a little out of town in a beautiful valley...

I had arranged for a private guide for our two day trek from here to Inle Lake but he did not show up to meet us that evening so that left us without a guide. The owners of the guesthouse quickly got us booked in with another group of trekkers that we met the next morning.

Now about this trek...it was 38 km over two days over the mountains and into the southern part of Inle Lake which was our last destination in Myanmar. Don wasn't too keen on the idea but I wanted to do it so he went along with it especially if we had our own guide and could set our own pace. Now we were with a group of five more who were all half our age!

Being dropped off at the start of our trek...

There was a couple from France, two girls from Germany and a young woman from Malaysia and our guide Mr.Z and off we go...

At the beginning we were walking through freshly cultivated farmland...

And small villages...

With lots of cute kids!

We stopped in one of the small villages for tea and the lady was showing us her weaving...

Our guide, Mr. Z serving us tea.

Some of the group...

The lady weaving...

Again a very gracious lady...

As we continued to walk the vistas got wider and the hills started to appear...

I was usually the last in line as everyone found their pace, sometimes we walked alone and other times we walked and talked...

Bringing up the rear...

As we kept walking the scenery was stunning, in fact it reminded me of walking in Umbria when we were in Italy...

There was lots of farming activity as we went along, these women were cultivating ginger...

The ginger smelled so good...

But don't know quite what to think of these strangers...

Through all of the way we walked we did not see any machinery as everything was done by hand or with the water buffalo which is a prized possession here...

 In all the villages we passed they seemed to be well cared for...

 

 We finally made it to our lunch stop which was in a small village and made by the local family...

Don is wondering where the heck are we now?

The cooks and the food...

The best thing was what they call avocado salad but it tastes like Mexican guacamole, the avocados are huge here.

On the way out of the village I took this picture which I like, the lone girl in the window...

 

So after our lunch and rest we had three more hours to go, it took us about 7 hours the first day and we walked 21 km. The last part was the hardest as there were more hills and the paths were muddy and we were all getting tired! 

Yes the stop for the night is on the other side of the mountain you see in the distance, up and down...

At the top of the last climb that day....

And then we were there!

We stayed in very basic accommodations, no electricity or running water, here is the place we washed...

And here is where we all slept which was in the loft of the house on hard mats and it was so cold that when we woke we could see our breath. I slept with all my clothes on and was waken every hour by an old man who got up and peed over the rail! It was an experience but we were tired starting off the next day.

We can't believe we are here!

 

The village is very small and the family we stayed with runs a small store from the front of their house. 

They have three daughters who work hard and help out with everything. Here is a picture of the mother and one of the daughters in front of the house...

Since the village is halfway on the trek it gets a lot of overnight visitors. As we walked around we found one of the Trekkers had brought balloons of the kids and they were having lots of fun...

A couple of pics around the village...

Signs in support of their new government were everywhere.

We were up bright and early to finish the trek and were treated to the traditional face cream before we got on the way. It actually felt quite cooling on my skin...

None of us had the energy we started with the day before but we had to be off...

Through more beautiful landscapes...

There were more rest stops that day...

And toilet stops...

And picture stops...

About halfway through the last day a number of us, including me started having trouble with our feet, blisters, sore toes and sprains. Few of us had really good hiking shoes and it was the cause of the trouble so I limped along for the last few hours.

We then made it to the outskirts of Inle Lake where we had to stop to pay an entrance fee which was the equivalent of 20USD. This is an annoying practice here in Myanmar as we had to pay to enter Bagan as well.

The local men checking us out while all the women were passing us on the road going to work!

We were almost there...

And I was never so happy to see a boat as I was to get in the boat at the south end of Inle Lake...

These boats would take us to the other end of the lake and our accommodations for the next few days.

So we walked 18km that day for a total of 38km over two days. The first day was tiring but not so much, the second day did me in! My feet were sore for days after but so glad to say we made it even though we were the oldest in the group by far! Also happy that our private guide didn't show up and we got to walk with and meet some amazing young people so yeah for the old folks!!!