Kalaw Trekking with Mr. Dark

It?s 7:30am in this small village in the hills of Myanmar. It?s me, Hadas, Mirit, our guide Mr. Tun, and our cook Mr. T. Yesterday we hiked into this village from Kalaw and today we will be going back. We?re all a little tired from yesterday since we didn?t get here until 8pm, in the dark. But we had such a great day yesterday that even after 11 hours of hiking we were still laughing and joking at the end.

It started early yesterday morning when the 3 of us went to the five-day market in Kalaw. Then we met Mr. Tun at the guesthouse at 9am and began our trek walking south out of the village. It had rained the entire night before and it was still misty when we left. Along the way we met up with Mr. T, the cook. Going out of town the 5 of us walked along, following a road and then going along the railroad tracks through the hills. Since it had been raining so much Mr. Tun suggested the RR tracks for the morning, worried that the trail would be too wet and muddy. It was probably a good thing because when we finally veered off the tracks we came to a creek that had a bridge that was completely washed out. We had a good time deciding whether or not to cross; in the end we forded it no problem.

The amazing thing about it all was that after about 1 hour into the walk, the sun came out and for the rest of the day we had blue skies and sun! None of us could believe it. It?s been either cloudy or raining every day since I?ve been in Myanmar.

So we had good weather and good company. Our guide, Mr. Tun, speaks English fluently and is such a good-natured guy. He?s 49 years old and has done various work over the years including working with foundry techniques and doing environmental work for the Burmese government. We were able to ask him so many questions about the people, the food, the culture, the government, everything. And the Israeli girls were so excited about being here and learning about everything that it made for a really fun time.

We had lunch at Ywar Pu Village at a house with a beautiful view of the valley and fields below. In that area they grow rice, cauliflower, peppers, mustard, beans, pumpkin, and potatoes. The lunch was made by Mr. T but we ate in the house of a local family.

After lunch we continued to walk through the hills, stopping to have tea with a monk, enjoying the views, taking breaks in the villages, and meeting some of the locals. The people here are so friendly and genuine, completely unspoiled by tourists (yet). The women and children are so beautiful ? such nice features and good skin. It was just so relaxing to sit with them, drink tea, and talk with Mr. Tun about life in his country. Mr. Tun was having a good time with us too and enjoying our enthusiasm and having laughs with us, so much so that he took us to a few extra places and then underestimated the time it would take to get to our destination for the night. The big joke became ? how much farther Mr. Tun? 45 minutes. We went through that for more than 3 hours!! We thought we were going to walk all night. We even renamed Mr. Tun to be Mr. 45 Minutes or Mr. Dark since we wound up walking in the dark for the last 2 hours. Still a great time had by all.

Leaving the town of Kalaw for trekking

Enjoying the scenery

A novice monk curiously watches us

Add comment July 17th, 2002