These Shoes Are Made for Walking. . .

I've now been out of Bagan for a few days and am now lounging about in Inle Lake, biking through rice paddies, getting caught in rainstorms and testing out Myanmar's finest wine. The lounging has been well deserved as I literally walked to Inle from a tiny town called Kalaw.

Trekking to Inle is quite a popular venture forbackpackers of all ages and the streets of Kalaw are lined with shops advertising trek options. Before going out in search of the best option for us, Danna and I caught a couple of hours of sleep after a long night bus journey filled with loud Burmese songs and crazy music videos, even louder soap operas and eventually the same song being sang over and over by the bus driver and his mates at the top of their lungs.

On our way to Sam's Restaurant, a highly recommended tour group, we met a fellow North American named Jenna. The three of us went and listened as Uncle Sam pitched the different options to us for the 3 day, 2 night trek. Both sounded lovely and we ended up going with the slightly easier option in order to spend more time in the villages and getting a feel for rural Burmese life.

On the morning of the 16th, we gathered at the restaurant, where the French couple joining our group was already waiting, to meet our guides, Nanbo and Nankaw. They were two lovely early 20 something local village cousins that have been leading these treks for at least a year. As a group, we quickly divided into two sections with Team France blazing the way with one of the guides and their super long legs while Danna, Jenna and I stopped frequently to ohhh, ahhh, and take countless pictures of the lush, green fields and mountains. 

Kids from the village on our second night

Even though I had been told the trek would not be very strenuous, I had mentally prepared for a trek very similar to what I experienced in Thailand. I was very pleased, when we arrived at our final village in the evening to realise that my day had not consisted of a 3 hour vertical hike, but rather lazy walks up and down baby hills.

As Uncle Sam told us, the area had not had any rain for 3 weeks until the night we all arrived, and since then, it's rained every single day. The first day, we walked for about 3 hours before arriving at the village where we would have lunch. Nanbo and Nankaw cooked us a delicious, fresh meal in a traditional bamboo family home that contained two grandmothers looking after a couple of grandkids. The kids were scared of us and apperently started crying when the French couple entered the house. After we finished eating, an older gentleman who spoke English, came in and started talking with us. As always, there were a few language barriars and we understood that he was able to go quite far in his studies but are unsure if this was in Myanmar or one of the surrounding countries. He was also funny because after asking us where we were all from, he completely ignored the fact that Canada was a separate country and just kept calling it America.

In the short afternoon walk, we got caught in a rain storm and were required to break out the rain gear. I'm not entirely sure how I did it, but at one point, I swear I had 5 pounds of mud stuck to the bottom of each shoe! Thankfully, I wore my tennis shoes. Danna had on her keens and eventually decided it would be easier to walk barefoot rather than having her feet sliding around in her shoes and slipping around on the mud.

Our first night, we stayed in Nanbo and Nankaw's village at Nanbo's parent's house. It is a small village with an estimated 90 houses. After dinner, we sat in the 'kitchen' around the fire, while the women roasted corn as dessert. Nanbo and Nankaw were the only ones who spoke English but translated our questions. We learnt that Nanbo's parents have been married for over 40 years, have 5 children and they walk 2 hours one way to get to their fields every day. After the corn was finished, Danna and I taught Nanbo, her sister, and Nankaw how to play Go Fish.

The group plus couple we stayed with on our second night.

Our second day of trekking went much like the first with a longer morning walk, lazy lunch and nap in a village home and a bit more rain to round out the afternoon. This day, we walked through a ton of different fields and learned to identify the difference between mountain and water rice, chilies, lady fingers, eggplant, ginger, and peanuts. The views were stunning and the variety of greens, uncountable. It was great to alternate between good conversation and stunned awe at all we were seeing.

Again, that night, we stayed in a slightly larger village at yet another family home. This family seemed quite wealthy as they had two cows and a water buffalo living in a lean to in the yard. This couple had three grown children, all married and living in the village with their own children. After dinner, their eldest daughter, husband, 7 year old, and 5 month old gathered round to chat with us with the help of Nanbo and Nankaw's translations. They were a lovely family and it was fascinating to have the opportunity to talk with them and freely ask questions about their day to day living.

Our last day of walking, was primarily down hill as we made our way to the lake. Along the way, we caught glimpses of it and the ohhing and ahhing on my part continued. We rounded the trip off with a boat ride across the lake to the town of Naung Shwe where most, if not all, the backpackers stay. Along the way, we passed through countless floating villages, floationg fields, and fishermen balancing on one leg as they used the other foot and both hands to throw out or bring in fishing nets. It was a stunning, magnificent way to end a 40 kilometer or so hike.