Myanmar: Kalaw – Inle lake trek 3 days

Myanmar/Burma is still a relatively “undiscovered” country, compared to it’s surrounding SE Asian countries. This is mostly because of the fact that it has been under a military dictatorship for nearly 50 years and only became a democratic country in 2015. It is still very underdeveloped in many areas and even one of the most vulnerable countries worldwide for climate change.

I traveled around Myanmar for 2 weeks in February/March and spent 3 days trekking through the hills and villages between Kalaw and Inle Lake. Our guide Nang Moon told us a lot about the different plants, flowers and agriculture.

Our group consisted of a French couple, a Mexican girl, Japanese guy, American guy and Australian guy, so it was a good international mix of different people. This trek is doable for basically everyone, as the majority of the route is flat, and there is plenty of time for breaks in between. What makes this trek so popular and interesting is not the amazing views, but the encounters with the inhabitants of the local villages, the people working on the land greeting you with their beautiful smile, kids running around, waving as you walk by. This creates the perfect opportunity to learn more about the local life outside the cities.

The people of Myanmar are one of the kindest and most humble ones I have met during my travels. Especially during this trek I noticed how hard they work for so little. Compared to other South-East Asian countries, such as Thailand and Vietnam, the inhabitants outside the big cities (Mandalay & Yangon), Burmese people are still honest and don’t see tourists mainly as walking ATM machines. This is probably due to the fact that Myanmar has been under a military regime for about 50 years until 2011 so the amount of foreign visitors have only started growing since 2012.

Ok, back to the trek.

Day 1 started beautifully with blue skies and a bright sun, making us hungry enough for the big ass lunch we had in one of the villages. Our guide Nang- Moon was also our personal cook and prepared all of our meals throughout the 3 days, together with a family in the village. It was so good and so much! Especially all the different salads and the ginger soup were delish!

Day 1, lunch spot.

Mother and child in village, during our lunch break. 

Unfortunately, the sky transformed into grey clouds and as we continued walking we heard the thunder coming closer. As we were in the middle of a wide open field, with no place to hide in sight, the sky bursted open. I wasn’t prepared for ANY rain during this trip as it was supposed to be dry season, so every inch of my body was wet and my legs were muddy because I ran to the nearest village I saw at the horizon. An old lady opened her house for us and another group of trekkers and she even made a fire for us to heat up and dry our clothes a bit. Such a sweetheart. We reached the village where we were going to spend the night, just before sunset. The village was basically one “street” with a couple of houses and stables where mountains of ginger and chillies were kept.

Our dedicated sleeping area was one room where we all had a little colourful mattress placed next to each other, very cozy.  Since we had a tropical  outdoor shower (read: a basin with cold water, partly surrounded by some plants), I decided that the rain was enough shower for that day and Mariana (the Mexican girl) and I spent our time with the grandma and Nang-Moon in the kitchen. Everything was prepared in one single pan over one fire, so it took quite some time to prepare all the different dishes, but it was worth the wait.

Late afternoon in the village. 

Grandma cleaning the pots and pans for dinner. 

Grandma in the kitchen, where she slept as well…

I woke up early the next day so watched the sun come up. We started day 2 with a filling breakfast. The landscape was a bit different from the first day and we passed more people on the way. We got the chance to try the work of the farmers who were harvesting ginger, which wasn’t easy.

Day 2, ginger farmers, all women.

The second night was spend in a village where a multi-day event was happening. According to our guide this was an event to celebrate boys becoming monks. When we arrived in the village, there was loud music going on, but nobody dancing or anything. Apparently, later that evening there would be a big dinner in the monastery, but we weren’t there to see, but we definitely enjoyed the music that didn’t stop until LATE and started playing again around 4/5 AM. We expected a lot of activity going on the next morning when we left the house of our guestfamily, but there was barely anyone around. A bit bizarre.

On the road, one of the many encounters with curious kids. 

Day 3, beautiful mom with her baby boy. 

The third and last day contained less walking as we continued our trip to Nyaungshwe on a long-tail boat crossing Inle lake during the afternoon. On the way to our lunch spot we passed by a Monastery where summer holiday activities were organised for the monks and other children. They were following a dance class. Outside we found a lot of chillies chilling on the floor, together with the typical red outfits of the monks. Right before reaching the place to eat we passed by this lady who was making Burmese cigarettes. She was so fast, it was quite fascinating to see this from close by. (scroll down)

Day 3, chillies drying near a monastery. 

Day 3, woman making Burmese ciggies from scratch.

Another big lunch later, we were ready for some tanning on the boat (or at least that’s what I thought(: ). It wasn’t the most comfortable trip, but we passed through the floating villages and farms, where people live above the water in wobbly wooden houses built on poles. There are about 200 floating villages and the income of the inhabitants mainly comes from fishing and the “agriculture” in the water, where they produce tomatoes, aubergine and more. Sadly, this ecosystem is in danger due to the over- and wrong usage of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, in combination with climate change and a growing population. Hopefully they will be able to maintain their traditional lifestyle.

This trek is doable for everyone and doesn’t really require a specific level of fitness. Just keep in mind that the nights will be pretty basic, as you’re staying in tiny villages with the locals. No hot showers and electricity, but an awesome experience, with very kind people!