Myanmar - Part IV
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In addition to Boat Tour, the other activity we wanted to do whilst in the area was to go on a trek in the mountains. Inle sits in a broad valley between two groups of mountains. To the west, the hills are smaller, and many treks go through the hills between the lake and the town of Kalaw, about 30 km to the west. This route is much more of a long distance option, with some treks lasting as many as five or six days. To the east of the lake, there mountains are larger, but behind them is a large flat valley also filled with villages. While treks on this side of the valley are a bit shorter, between one and three days, these are much more true mountains, rather than just gentle foothills, like those to the west. We are fairly soft and lazy travelers, so we only wanted a one day gig.
The day before, after we had returned from our boat trip, we signed up at a local tour shop for a one-day trek. The man in the office gave us a simple itinerary of how our trek would pan out. He showed us on the map where we would head, and said our guide would pick us up in the morning. Sure enough, at 8 AM, our friendly guide was at the hotel ready to go. We ended up walking down the main road of town for a kilometer or two, until we hit the foothills and started heading up. We followed a road at first, but after another kilomtere or so it turned into a trail.
Right at the edge of the hills we made two stops right off the bat that took a little time. The first was at a monastery school, where young boys were learning both academic and religious skills. In Myanmar, all males are very strongly recommended to spend at least a week doing the life of a monk. Some spend longer, from one to three months, and others last a year, or even turn into career monks. |
The next stop was at a cave nearby. Caves hold special reverence in Buddhist culture, and this cave (and other caves nearby) held significance not only because of the spiritual connection, but also because of history, as they were used as shelters and rebel sanctuaries during the Japanese invasion of World War II. I brought two torches with me to Myanmar, including my nice Petzl headlamp. However, in the process of emptying my backpack at the hotel in preparation of trekking, I left the headlamp behind, thinking "what the hell am I going to need this headlamp for today??". Well, as it turns out, it would have come in great handy to explore the cave. It went a fair distance down and into the hill, including some chambers that were far enough back to be pitch black. Our guide helpfully offered up his cell phone for use as a flashlight. This worked great......until we accidentally turned the phone off and didn't know the passcode to turn it back on. Fortunately, by using the light meter on the camera, we were able to generate a small enough pool of light to get us back out. The floor was flattened, with steps, and handrails, so it wasn't that hard, but it was a fun couple of minutes, giggling in the dark and wondering what we were going to do next.
After spending some time exploring the cave and it's dual entrances, and shrines, we set up to get up the hill. After a few minutes up the trail, our guide stopped and over a banana, gave us a choice. We could either turn to the right, and take the standard tourist road to our lunch village. Or, if we wanted to, we could take a lesser-used trail, which was steeper and took a more wild path, to the village. We of course immediately jumped on the more wild trail. So, we took a left and headed up the hill. The first part of the trail was an alternating mix of steep headwalls to gain hilltops and ridges, interspersed with working crop fields.
We hiked pretty much non-stop for the next hour. Apart from seeing some friendly local boys coming out of the woods with firewood (good bet they were from the monastery school), it was pretty much steady uphill hiking through the forest. It wasn't quite jungle, but instead a cross between a lowland forest and a montane forest. The underbrush wasn't so thick that you couldn't walk off trail, but there were lots of decent sized trees and ferns and shrubs everywhere. The views behind us kept getting better and better, with views of the lake and valley evolving constantly. Also, the view UP into the mountains was spectacular, with multiple tiers of ridges climbing up to a small peak rising above everything else. We could see several small buildings in a village on one of the ridges, and the profusion of green was stunning.
As we hiked, we got to talking with our guide. His name was Thar Zi, and was from Mandalay. He was 29 years old and had recently moved to Nyaung Shwe to join his cousin and brother in running their tour guide operation. He was quite friendly, and was chatting freely with us and answering our questions. He had recently got married, a month prior, to a young woman who was from the area. Her parents were fairly traditional and didn't want her to leave, so they were living with them at the moment. Like many men in third-world countries, her father was quite the drunk, and it unfortunately caused lots of tension with him and our guide. Still, he spoke with the joy of someone who had just found bliss and was still bathing in the happiness. He was proud of his country, and was eager to meet foreigners and talk to them about their worlds, as well as their thoughts about Myanmar. Of course we had nothing bad to say, and it was a good way to keep up a good hiking pace. We finally stopped next to a stout outcropping of bamboo and had some more bananas and water. I love bamboo; it is so foreign to my upbringing in Colorado that they are one of those images, like palm trees and water buffalo, that invariably pop in my head when I think of "the tropics"
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After hiking up for another thirty minutes or so, we came across a bridge, rounded a corner, and there it was, the village of Nin Nyunt, our lunch stop. Built on the side of a small, sheltered valley within the mountains, the village consisted of a couple dozen simple, local homes scattered around the forest. Each one was built with the typical local bamboo frame and floor, and woven walls and doors and roofs. Almost every home is two levels, with the lower level providing dry storage and room for activities like tobacco leaf drying and pressing, and the upper level for living. Most homes have an indoor kitchen, although there is usually an outdoor ledge for cooking when the weather is nice. A separate room or two for sleeping, and a central living room. Most of the homes have electricity, so they do have lights and TVs. Almost all of them have separate outhouses with pit toilets.
While we waited for our gourmet and authentic Shan Noodles lunch to finish, we went strolling around the neighborhood. On one of the nearby streets there was a handful of kids walking back to their houses after doing whatever it is kids do in this area. They were rather shy, but we did get some smiles and some quiet hellos out of them. Our "authentic" lunch turned out to be nothing more than some instant ramen noodles jazzed up with some local greens and spices. I loved it and thought it was tasty, although Kelsey thought it was a bit bland. One good part of lunch was we got to enjoy a couple of packs of the local potato chips, which are damn good!
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After lunch our guide gave us another choice on route options. He said since we blitzed the route up to the village so quick that if we were interested he was keen to try and find a lesser-used trail that connected over to a different trail than the one we came up. Thar Zi wanted to find it so he could offer it on his later treks. So, he asked around a few locals and they all gave him some directions, and with a smile, off we went, up the hill on a much smaller trail than the one we had come up. It went up the hill and wandered along the face of the hill for a while, staying at relatively the same altitude.
We crossed a couple trails that were going up and down, but eventually the trail got pretty thick, and we realized we were dropping into the wrong drainage. We held a brief council of war and decided to head back to a known trail and take it down. The views from our turnaround were amazing. Our route down was pretty much straight down the hill back to the bottom. |
By the time we made it back to town, and back across to our hotel, we were bushed. I did the mileage on the computer when we got back to Vietnam and projected we had walked about 20 kilometers, and had gained and lost close to 800 meters. It was a pretty quiet evening and an early bed time for us, as we had to be up early to catch a bus. The weather ended up being really awesome, with mostly sun and only a few isolated clouds. It was a great day and a great adventure, and just what we were hoping for, and a fitting way to end our time in Inle Lake. Next step, off to Bagan!
On to Chapter V: The Road To Bagan....
All photos copyright Kit Davidson, unless otherwise noted.