Our 3-day trek from Kalaw to Inle Lake is behind us. Most fantastic experience of the entire trip so far! I thought trekking was just another word for hiking, but its different. Trekking is somewhere between hiking and backpacking. Its multi-day traveling overland by foot but with only a small pack— you are housed and fed along the way.
We booked our trek with a small family-run trekking business in Kalaw recommended by Lonely Planet (yes, we are still trusting them). We met our guide, Aki (pronounced ah-KEY) the afternoon before we left. She is the daughter of the owner of EverSmile treks; an 18-year old girl who had it all— brains, looks, attitude, energy. She was an awesome guide and one of the highlights of the trek itself. There’s no way to do the trek yourself, as it follows a maze of footpaths that are not signed and it goes through tribal land and villages that you cannot enter without an authorized person.
The trek was intense— 7-hour days of very fast walking over all kinds of terrain, much of it challengingly un-even— mud, dust, dirt, train tracks, rocks, grass.
Not for the out-of-shape. Aki told us that on every trek one person falls and one person cries. I ended up having a mild fall and skinning my knee and a couple other people got sick, but as far as I know, no one cried.
I was the oldest one in our group by about 8 years (Penny 2nd oldest). Lots of big ups and downs. They fed us really well though— delicious food prepared by the local villages. Lots of veggie dishes and hardly any meat (maybe one meat dish at dinner out of about 10 dishes that were laid out at the table).
There were 8 people in our group:
Me, Penny, Chun Hao (sweet guy from Hong Kong who works in the computer chip industry but was hard to understand his english), Kim (20-year old from Switzerland who planned to visit every single country on earth), Colleen and Amanda (both from the Bay Area!), Hanna (British and incredibly entertaining, especially when drinking), Stephen (Canadian living in Sweden doing computer engineering— friends with Hanna and also highly entertaining).
The trekking time was spent talking and getting to know one another and all about the various places everyone had been and was going, but there was also a good amount of time to just think and reflect. Aki, the guide, told me that she had found god on a trek (‘he’ had talked to her in a dream during a rough trek with some folks from Paris who were unhappy it was raining and muddy), and it is apparently not unusual to have a life-changing experience during a trek. As a matter of fact, I had some pretty good personal revelations myself that I am still processing days afterward.
We took maybe 4 breaks a day for lunch and snacks and to visit various villages that aren’t accessible by car. The countryside was breathtakingly beautiful and picturesque. The first day week trekked through jungle, but after that it was mostly meadows, fields, chaparral and a different-colored patchwork of crops: white mustard plants, red chili peppers, yellow sesame, and all shades of green. The dirt itself was a dark red due to lots of iron. The landscape here reminds me a lot of California in its mountains and its aridness.
At night we froze our asses off though— we all slept side by side in the same room on mats on the floor of a building in a village (2 different villages in 2 nights) and didn’t sleep great at all. In the outhouses you had to squat over the toilet and then flush it down with a pot of water. There were no showers unless you wanted to use another bucket of freezing cold water (I actually did this on the 2nd night).
I think I am now a trek enthusiast and want to do a trek in Nepal (Chun Hao did a 4-day trek there and said it was the best trek he’d ever done and has done many). It probably won’t happen on this trip though since the best time to do it is fall.
Will post photos soon— internet connection not great. Penny will also post her thoughts on the trek.
Penny’s version:
The highlight of our trip so far
DAY 1 - Trekking from Kalaw to Inle
I’m not sure words can do justice to how awesome our trekking trip from Kalaw to Inle was. We’ll post some pictures and hopefully they will speak better than words, but here’s our best attempt.
We hiked through jungle/forest, to the top of small mountains, along fields of agriculture, through hill tribe villages, and more. Our guide, Aki, has led treks for 6 years, and is just 18 years old. She is getting ready to head off to Cambodia for a short study program and then back to Myanmar for University. We started at her mother’s business “Ever Smile Trekking” and joined 6 other travelers for the first day, with 2 more joining us on the 2nd day.
Throughout the trip we spend time talking with our fellow travelers, getting tips from their travels and sharing the experience of the trek together. We are super lucky to be with a great group of people who are not obnoxiously loud like the group of 10 guys that left shortly before us (in a different direction!) We haven’t met many American’s on our trip so far, which seems odd since there are so many of us that travel. In our group there are other 2 women from the Bay Area, 1 who lives in a neighborhood close to us and works at a mental health hospital! It reminds me what a small world we live in.
Our first stop went to a reservoir built by the British that the town of Kalaw still uses. Aki stated that the British used to come for summer vacations because of the beautiful scenery there. From there we hiked up to a viewpoint and had a delicious lunch with fresh fruit, lentil curry, chapati, and avacado salad (much like our guacamole). We hiked from there to the Pa-low tribe’s village and had tea with a 62 year old man who is now retired.
Aki translated for us and we learned about his tribe, their story of origin, and what his day to day life is like. He offered us cigars. We asked lots of questions. We drank more tea and talked even more. He gave advice that he learned when he was a Buddhist Monk (every Buddhist in Myanmar must become a monk for at least 3 days). He was a monk for 4 years. He is proud to be a farmer and explained that even if the government is this way or that way, the people will always need vegetables.
He tells us of a farmer who came from the United States to visit with him, and tells us that we are rich to be able to afford to come to Myanmar. I feel lucky and privledged to be able to come to Myanmar and meet him.
We hike to some train tracks and then follow them to a train station next (also built by the British). Aki is excited during our tea and biscuit break there to see that we have arrived just in time to watch the afternoon train come in. An experience that needs more description but involves vegetables being sold or traded from the platform to folks on the train.
Our day ends with more hiking, past a stunning sun setting over the mountains, and into dusk. The hike turns colder as our sweat from the day’s heat cools and the stars come out. I am struck that these are at the same stars we see at home; that someone 1/2 way around the world or in the town next door can look up and see the same stars we are looking at.
We arrive at our last stop a little late (I asked a few too many questions at our tea break with the Pa-low Village). We settle in, eat a good meal, and head to bed. There are 6 mats lined up next to each other along a wall in a cement block and wood structure, complete with translucent windows and a metal roof. The room is large and cold and we huddle under 2 thick blankets waiting for sleep to come. Lights out at 9pm. We did a lot of hiking today (I broke my personal record with this day’s 34,000+ steps). The next day is supposed to start at 6:45am!
DAY 2
We didn’t sleep well. First it was cold, and second we’re on the floor with 4 other people. I don’t think I’ve slept on the floor with a group of people since my girl scout days. Its better than the train station though and I feel safe. We have breakfast inside since its so cold you can see your breath. Pancakes, fruit, coffee, tea, fried bananas, avocados with lime juice. It’s all delicious. No one takes a shower (its a "bucket bath” of super cold water behind a small open roof low standing enclosure made of wood). Did I mention it is cold? Our group tries to guess how cold it is while we get ready to set out for the day. There is a shivering dog that quickly adopts Ace and snuggles up to her leg as she stands waiting to go. We start our hike, somewhat cold and still waking up.
It doesn’t take long for us to get up to some more amazing views. We are peeling of layers of clothes as it warms up. We have already passed farms of different kinds (the various hill tribes are spread out and grow a variety of different agricultural products. We see tea farms, rice fields, a special mustard green (ingredient in tiger balm), wheat, corn, and much more). This morning we see children on their way to school, cattle going out to pasture, and pass an acerage of ginger plants.
Our first stop is just a snack shop where 2 more people join our group. They are 2 unique characters that seem like an old married couple but just met a couple days before in Bagan. They give us some energy and wake us up a bit. Today is supposedly going to be more hiking than yesterday.
We pass by a mystical mountain named for a folklore tale of when the king visited and jumped his horse over the mountain without touching (named horse doesn’t touch). There are fields of leafy greens (cabbage?), then fields of eggplants. We pass sesame plants (Aki says this kind is used for making oil) and then chilis.
