Travel Day 1163 – Kalaw, MYANMAR
Yesterday evening right before all the hiking agencies closed, I had signed up for a little day hike without actually knowing what to expect…
Leaving Kalaw to go Hiking to Villages
Well, technically I expected an experience similar to the amazing hike to Pankam Village by Hsipaw, but after arriving in Kalaw yesterday afternoon, it was quite obvious that things were very different here. The main reason for these differences was probably the location, as Hsipaw was north-east of Mandaly and a little bit away from the main tourist trail, Kalaw on the other hand was right in the middle. Actually everyone either coming from Bagan or Mandalay towards Inle Lake was passing through Kalaw, making it a convenient stopover especially for those with little time to explore the rest of Myanmar…
This obviously showed in the attitude of the people and the setup of this vaguely colonial town with the complete lack of any British hill station flair. Instead, almost every second shop around the big local market tried to sell completely overpriced hikes to tourists while making all sorts of promises at first and then switching to rudeness when one wasn’t signing up right away. This was especially the case with my guesthouse and the pushy Sikh guys who were running the place. They really made sure to pull out all the stops to have me go on a hike with them…
Vaguely Colonial Houses in Kalaw
These annoying attempts had of course the reverse effect on me and I rather would have gone all alone than with them. But luckily in the end I found a nice old man who seemed to be genuinely interested in showing me the area, instead of only trying to make the most money. So, first thing in the morning after browsing the local market for some snacks, I reported to his little shop and to my great surprise my guide for the day were actually two young girls. Well, it seemed that one girl was actually a hiking guide while the other was becoming one, but I thought that it was quite funny to set off with two young girls rather than the usually old man…
But it was all good. The girls turned out to be from a local Pa-O village around Kalaw and they were supporting their families with the work as a hiking guide in the area. They actually knew a lot about the local life in the villages, they spoke different local dialects and they were quite keen on showing and explaining everything to me along the way. Although I have to say that I could have passed on them showing me all the local leeches which happened to be out and about on the little side tracks we were taking on our way out-of-town…
Big Local Market in Kalaw, Myanmar
With sandals and shorts I felt completely ill prepared and reminded of the time when I was Fighting Leeches in Nepal. The next thing that happened as soon as we were out-of-town was that my camera broke. So, not only did I constantly have to check my feet for leeches while walking, but I also couldn’t take a single photo of the villages or landscapes that we passed during the hike. Needless to say that this was not the best of all days and I was not really a happy camper while we kept fighting our way through the undergrowth and over slippery, muddy ground towards the next village…
This was certainly not the kind of experience that we got in Hsipaw and even if the two girls were doing everything they could, including cooking some noodle soup for me from ingredients that they had carried up from Kalaw, I still much rather preferred the option where the local family had prepared a meal for us. Also the fact that the two local families we visited made sure to try and sell me some souvenir handicrafts that they had arranged for tourists, didn’t help to make me feel better about the situation either. But at least this proved to me that it was a great decision to rather spend some extra time in Hsipaw and going for a hike over there…
Find all Kalaw photos here.
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