Barely arrived in Myanmar, the first destination of our world tour, we head to the small village of Kalaw, the starting point of the mythical trek to Inle Lake. We can't wait to stretch our legs and immerse ourselves in nature!
We booked a 3-day, 2-night trek with an agency specializing in small group hikes. It seems complicated to venture out alone as there are no marked trails or official guesthouses along the way! Each guide chooses their own route and arranges overnight stays in villages with families they know.
Day 1: 22km – Approximately 6h30 of walking (with plenty of breaks...)
We set off on foot directly from our hotel where our guide Rohit meets us, a young 24-year-old Burmese man with good English. A pleasant surprise — no one else has signed up and we're therefore heading out on a private trek! This quickly proves to be a very good thing, given our numerous photo stops, drone sessions for Johan and bathroom breaks for me — yes, my stomach is acting up!
Discovering the Burmese countryside
Very quickly, we find ourselves outside the city weaving between orchards and plantations! From tea to corn, passing through wheat, ginger and mandarins and much more, this morning is a magnificent excursion discovering the Burmese countryside. The terraced crops, hand-harvesting and free-roaming oxen are a real treat for the amateur photographers that we are! Well, we'll admit it — as city dwellers, we're quite glad Rohit is here, as identifying crops is not yet our strong point! Rohit is also incredibly talkative and happily answers all our questions about the region — a real luxury to have him all to ourselves!
Multicolored landscapes and buffalos everywhere!
At noon, we enjoy a delicious Nepalese lunch (there has apparently been quite a lot of Nepalese immigration in the region) at the Sky View, a well-known viewpoint in the area. Mmmh, the delicious chapatis remind me of the Annapurna trails!
Women haymaking in the fields
The afternoon is a little less varied as we follow the railway track for a long time… Between the 2 daily trains, the rails appear to be a rather handy local pathway! A somewhat more monotonous stretch, until Rohit shouts at us to dive into the bushes… and then the evening train passes right in front of our noses! We've dawdled so much with our photos that we're a bit off schedule! More of a fright than anything else — in the end it's quite funny to see the train so close up and the passengers waving hello to us from the window!
We finally leave the tracks to climb up to the village of Pattu Pouk where we have our first homestay. The view is wonderfully clear and the sunset is just as swift as the drop in temperature… very quickly we put on our fleeces and down jackets!
Living like the Burmese
We are welcomed into a traditional bamboo house where 3 generations of the same family live together. The living conditions in the villages are even more basic than we expected! No running water or electricity (just a few low-powered solar panels). Our bed (meaning a mattress on the floor, blankets and a mosquito net) is in a corner of the main room, the toilet is in a hut in the courtyard and for washing there's a concrete tank in the garden… needless to say we have a somewhat approximate wash and drink as little as possible to avoid having to get up in the night!
The meal is delicious: we enjoy lots of different small dishes made with vegetables from the garden and the grandmother comes to have tea with us… communication is difficult but pleasant nonetheless!
As we are tired, freezing cold (I'm glad I brought my Thermolite sleeping bag liner) and there's nothing to do… we're in bed by 9pm!
Day 2: 27km – Approximately 7h30 of walking (with breaks...)
We wake up early to the sounds of the village… they're blasting music nearby! It's tough to get out of bed as it's still very cold! We wolf down a delicious local savoury breakfast before heading off around 8:30am for what turns out to be the most beautiful day of the trek!
The sweet and savoury breakfast — incredibly generous… we're truly treated like royalty!
Today the landscapes are much more varied and colourful! We cross vast plains, climb through drier and hillier areas, and admire loads of chillies drying in the sun and even cherry trees in bloom!
Winter rice paddies are beautiful too!
We love it, we take loads of photos and (once again) fall quite behind schedule, especially as we stop for an hour in a café to recharge the drone batteries… which was well worth it, given the beautiful aerial photos from the afternoon!
The midday break is very welcome as it is extremely hot. After an excellent lunch, we quickly set off again to tackle a few hills! The end of the day is simply extraordinary — we witness the return from the fields of the farmers in the village of Pe Thu Porkk where we are going to sleep. There are so many people and oxen on the paths!
We love the terraced rice paddies! More drone photos: www.johandroneadventures.com
Our accommodation is just as basic as the night before — this time in the wooden house of a rather elderly farming couple who don't seek much contact. But just as well, we're exhausted and once again we go to bed very early!
Day 3: 17km – Approximately 5h of walking (still with plenty of breaks…)
Wake-up at 6:30am as Rohit wants to arrive at the lake right on time… he's beginning to know us well. The wonderful smell of fire motivates me to head out for a walk before tucking into the delicious honey pancakes that Rohit prepares for us!
The village is already wide awake and all around, villagers are lighting small fires in their gardens to warm the air and make tea… as a result the already misty atmosphere is wonderfully enhanced!
The mist slowly lifts above the wheat fields — it's simply breathtaking!
After 2 hours of walking we enter the protected zone of Inle Lake and the path becomes far less pleasant as we encounter other groups and follow the main road for quite a while before branching off and descending steeply towards the lake. The vegetation becomes greener and denser — cacti and bamboo in abundance! At that moment, I'm a little disappointed by the view! I don't know why, but I imagined a spectacular arrival with a 360° view of the lake! But not at all — the view is quite obscured and we arrive via a long arm of the lake, not on the lake itself.
Fortunately, my disappointment is short-lived as after lunch and our farewells to Rohit, we board a small private boat with all our bags (we had left the bulk of our luggage in Kalaw) to cross the lake.
A perfect end to the trek: by boat on the lake!
And that's the reward! We sail among stilt villages and floating gardens, passing by pagodas before reaching the middle of the lake and watching the traditional one-legged fishermen in action with their large baskets! A perfect end to the day to close out the first trek of our world tour!
Hiking to Inle Lake, the most popular in Myanmar