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....
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.
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....
