Trekking
Trip Start
Oct 08, 2006
1
10
15
Trip End
Dec 12, 2006
Inle Lake, Myanmar
Saturday, November 25, 2006
We arrived in the mountain town of Kalaw at 5am
freezing cold, a local guide (Jimmy) greeted us with hot tea and
escorted us to a hotel. We flopped into a hotel that would let us in
early where we slept off the jet/bus lag. Later we found Jimmy and set
a three day trek to Inle Lake that would begin the next morning.
We wandered through the small market in the center of the town, where I
picked up a longi and button up shirt
Boy on Buffalo
. People where traditionalclothing, a longi (like a plaid sarong)and a collared shirt. They
looked so handsome that I thought I would change to fit in with the
locals. My efforts were acknowledges with many warm laughs and smiles.
We visited a monastery up the hill in Kalaw where we got a great photo
of young monks and the valley. During this time the older monks where
chanting in the background.The crisp clear air felt like fall back in
the Colorado..
The Trek to Inle:
The morning hike was a breath of fresh air for my mind. We quickly
wandered out of town through rice fields in the valleys and various
crops patchworks the hillsides
Buddha in Meditation Cave
. We passed green tea , cheroot,sesame, and mandarin fields each with their own distinct color on the
hillside.
In the afternoon we stopped for tea in a village where woman
sorted the different size tea leaves. I buy a stone pipe for a dollar
as thank you for the tea, perhaps it will make an excellent gift.
Everywhere we go the children find us. They stand politely and wait for
"tschu shen" candy. We brought bags of it for our trip as we will pass
hundreds of children during our trek.
We stopped for the evening at a families bamboo house and slept in
their shrine room. Under the house is where the cows lived and all
around the house the earth was turned waiting for seeds. Our guide was
accompanied by a cook who severed up some excellent Shan (local) food.
The sun set and the night grew cold quickly. As we tucked into our
blankets a woman with an infant on her back came in "massage" she said.
She palmed my legs and arms in a fashion similar to Thai massage
Chilies drying in the sun
. Thecold night made kept me from relaxing too much. Then I heard the baby
start to cry, and could only feel one of her hands. Then I could hear
the baby suckling and her second hand returned the massage. Crazy.
The night was cold, one of the coldest, and I didn't sleep so well on
the hard floor. The quicker I got up and started moving the faster I
warmed up. The day was a dream of: small villages, smiling children, ox
carts, rice fields, drying chilies, bamboo bridges. We spent the evening
at a monastery that also served an regional orphanage. The dinner was
different and equally as good as the night before, Curry stew, green tea salad and french fries.
This night one of the guides decided to drink some whiskey, which he
informs us makes him snore
Fisherman on Inle Lake
. This was the loudest snoring I have everencountered. My jaw clenched and my teeth grated for the entire night.
I was furious that I was awake for a second night in a row and that
made falling asleep even more difficult. I don't know what happened but
I awoke in the morning apparently because I had fallen asleep at some
point.
Ugne took the lead in the morning hiking enjoying the gentle grade of
the hills as we made our way down to Inle Lake. We arrived on
market day for that particular village on the lake, which rotates on a
weekly schedule. As the first foreigners to arrive we were inundated
with locals trying to sell their trinkets. And that's what most of the
stuff is, tourist junk
Harvesting lotus roots for fiber
. I don't want a little frog that croaks when yourub it with a stick. I don't want an Buddha for each day of the week,
or lots of other things that I can't even remember. I didn't come to
Myanmar because of the great shopping I would encounter- ahhhhhh.
After safely passing through the market we boarded a long boat that
zoomed us to the other end of the lake to Nwge Shew. This lake is home
to 150,000 people, many whom live on the lake in bamboo houses on
stilts. There are huge rice patties and tomato fields all over the
lake. The PA-O is the dominant tribe of Inle area, who have
formed their own government of sorts and they self regulate themselves
without interference of the Myanmar government
Hidden retreat house on Inle Lake
. They live classicvillage lives filled with agriculture and fishing for their livelihood.
After checking into the hotel I tried sending an email, the only way I
could send a message was only using the subject line. Needless to say I
sent my flight info to my mother so she would meet us at the airport in
Manila in a week.
Ugne and I found a family of masseurs that have a shop in town. They
are the second generation to practice and are busy everyday. I'm not
going to tell you what they charge, but it's a good rate for the area.
This massage answered the nagging question, how do you do a full Thai
massage in an hour
Local Shan Dinner
. Answer you call it a Burmese massage, they werefast. My guy was fast and accurate, Ugne's woman was fast and lazy. I
cringed every time I looked over at the two of them. All in all it was a
great way to end a wonderful trek and I finally got a wonderful night
of sleep.
Chez u bay,
Brandon
