Kalaw to Inle Lake trek and Inle Lake

Kalaw to Inle Lake trek
I spend few nights in little town of Kalaw, enjoying the feel of small town with hills around, nice restaurants and  Indian sweets shops. I shopped around for the trekking company to find the best deal for trek to Inle Lake.

The trek.
We left in the morning, with just our day-packs packed with warm clothes for the cold evenings. Our backpacks were to be waiting for us in Inle Lake.
 Our group was a good international mixture of 2 couples and 2 singles and soon we are all friends. Our guide was everything you want from a guide, his English was perfect and we felt lucky.
Highlight of the first day of the  trip for me was a little village with a train station, which turns into a busy market 3 times a day when the train comes through. It all last for about 20 minutes and it was fascinating to watch people shopping from the windows of the train for flowers, vegetables, fruit and rice.

We slept in home-stay, sleeping all in one room. We had our own cook and the dinner was tasty. Unfortunately 2 members of our group got sick the first night.
Second day was the hardest with 22 km, hiking through fields with not much shade. We visited a local market ( not too special). The last few hours of the trek got better as the scenery changed a little and we hiked by a river. Most of us jumped in for a refreshing bath.

We stayed in a nice house with a terrace, had a good dinner and than had some local Grand Royal whiskey, the best whiskey you can get for 3 dollars per bottle ( and we didn't even go blind!). Good evening, good company.
Last day was the best, we got invited to a local wedding in the morning! We drunk tea and ate candy while watching the couple to tie the knot.
We only had four hours of hiking and the scenery changed a lot as we were getting closer to the lake.  There was a boat waiting for us to take us across the lake  to our hotel.
Evening was my turn to get sick.

                                                   Chilly peppers.. you could smell the spiciness...

                                Yes, those are towels on mens heads.

Inle Lake
We are all staying in the same hotel and spend the days exploring the lake together. We rented bicycles the first day and had fun biking all afternoon. 
The town where we are staying in is on the north side  of the lake and has canals with boats filled up with stuff for the market, tomatoes seem to be in season and I am watching man unloading boats and loading baskets full of tomatoes on the top of the trucks while writing this blog. 
We got on a day boat trip yesterday, but I was bit disappointed with how touristy all the places our guide took us were. We visited some work shops ( silver, silk processing and cigar making) and some temples which were not that special. The floating gardens the boatmen took us were not at all as exciting as the ones we saw few days ago after our hiking trips, at least he stopped by one of them and the brave ( not me) got to get off the boat and walk on them... and yes, they float.

I have all day today to walk around the town , before I'll take of for Mandalay on the night bus.  I am getting better and hope to be able to eat more than toasts and rice today.

It took few shots, enjoy....

Bagan and hot air balloons

Day 8

I am in love with Bagan. What a place! I was wondering what was so special about Myanmar, not seeing anything that wonderful so far... until today. 4000 old temples in one valley. Most of them are dark red  brick, all shapes and sizes, some have details painted on them, some you can climb to the top for a view, some are new, some are old.

I woke up early for the sunrise. I had to bike for half hour and got to the temples just in time for the colors to get amazing. What a beauty! I felt so happy, and than I saw hot air balloons coming my way... 7 of them, floating peacefully in the air, completing this amazing view. I had to laugh how happy I felt. Forget the fancy car I could have bought for all my traveling money... this moment will stay with  me forever.


Day 9
Ken is leaving. He has to deal with some personal problems so this is our last day together here in Myanmar. We might be able to catch up somewhere in Southeast Asia.

I woke up early and biked to watch the sunrise again. It is too pretty to pass on that, and I was up anyway with the music and prayers coming from the monastery near our hotel.
I found a hotel to move to the next day, that will be more affordable for me, since it will be just me. Decent room for $15, with not too bad outside bathroom with refreshingly cold shower.

I biked to Old Bagan in the afternoon and stopped at my favorite temple to watch the sunset. It was way busier than in the morning. God bless all the lazy tourists who like to sleep in, allowing me to have the temples almost for myself in the mornings.

Day 10
I am getting into a routine here.
I watched the sunrise, than biked most of the afternoon to more remote and less touristy areas. Watched the sunset and had few beers with some British travelers I met in town.

Day 11  Floating in sky over Bagan.
Since the first morning, I knew I wanted to go on the hot air balloon flight.  It is not cheep here, $300, for sure big dent in my budget, but .... money are for spending.... and Ken lend me some of his reminding US dollars so I don't have to worry about running out of cash    (Myanmar has no ATMs , so you have to bring all your cash with you and with the prices for hotels being almost double than what I have expected, budgeting is not easy.)
I got picked-up at before 6 am, another early morning for me.
It was interesting to watch the crew getting the balloons ready. We drunk some tea, ate some cookies and listen to the safety talk and we were soon ready to take off.
It was incredible.  We flew to the river than towards the temples. We watched the sunrise. The flight was very peaceful and mellow, not at all scary. Our British pilot expertly steered us over the valley and sometimes lowed the balloon to get really close to some of the temples. Landing was smooth and we ended the trip with glass of champagne. Over all one great experience.
The usual, pictures are more than words, enjoy.