Trekking to the Inle Lake - Myanmar
Oh Myanmar. As mentioned in the last blog the people in Myanmar are what made me fall in love! The rural villagers always have a smile on their face and are so curious. I couldn’t stop smiling as well. All that without wanting anything from you, just because that is the way they are. Especially the kids welcomed us warmly without being able to talk at all to us. But not only the kids. Also, the fisherman on the famous Inle Lake posed for us and waved without selling anything to us. Of course, they also might profit from tourist coming to their town, but I never got the feeling that this is what motivated them.
I decided to make a three days trek from Kalaw to the Inle Lake to explore some nature as well. It as the best I could do! The nature is stunning and as mentioned the small villages are so cute and without much comport. Still, the locals do not seem to be bothered by it and have such a loving and positive attitude. The hiking trip was pre-booked online and with a small group of eight. We met other groups on the way for the meals we had or for the night but on the day, we took different routes. By the way, the food was all vegetarian because meat is as mentioned a luxury food in Myanmar and buddhist food is vegetarian as well.
When we got to the Inle Lake we got a ride over the river and they let us off near the hostel or hotel we each booked. Non off them stayed in the same place I was but I met them afterwards again at the vinery. The huge lake is famous for the floating gardens and also the fisherman which stand on their tiny boats on one leg while rowing with the second leg and at the same time handling their fishing gear. Absolutely fascinating. There are also the long neck ladies, known for the golden rings around their necks with whom they expand their necks each year. But they mostly work in stores which are known to be tourist traps so my group decided not to go and do a larger boat trip instead. I which I had a better camera back then. So many picturesque moments! I did my best with the camera I had. Looking at those still makes me happy! I definitely recommend to do a hiking trip, they have them in different length, depending how fit you are and for me it is what made this trip perfect. In the following my impressions.
Market in Kalaw before we got started for our three day hike.
Night in a monastery.
This is how the monastery looked in the morning. We sleeped in a huge room with around forty people, one of them was snoring like hell...
Lokal farmers and our guide energyzed in the morning.
I just love this nature!
Morning fog.
We passed by a school. This paintings are so unique.
Local family. They wanted to see the picture afterwards and were so exited about it.
Beautiful farmer. This village is so back to basics.
This smiles! I was in awe!
The nature around Inle Lake was so diverse.
Floating gardens.
Finaly on of the first traditional one legged fisherman at the lake.
... and another one. He was actually posing for us I think.
Girl "driving" her siblings to school. At least that is what I guessed.
Sunset from a vinery. Totally recommend to go there! The town is really small so just get a bike, my hostel had them for free and they weren't even locked because no one would steal them.