Seat of Our Pants » inle lake and shan state

Inle Lake – One of Myanmar’s Big Four

Jaime — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:47:08 +0000

Tourism in Myanmar tends to focus on the Big Four – Yangon, Mandalay, Bagan and Inle Lake. If you travel to Myanmar on a package tour, which a staggering 85% of tourists to this country does, you’re bound to hit just those Four.

We like to think of ourselves as more of the off-the-beaten-trail kind of travelers. So, did we end up hitting the Big Four along with the rest of ‘em?

You bet your @ss we did. To our credit, we really did try to avoid at least one of them (Inle Lake), but we found ourselves there in the end anyway. The Book called it a MUST SEE and we had a few days to kill before we had to catch a flight out of Yangon. So, to the lake we went.

Was it amazing?

Well, yes and no. It was picturesque, for sure (check out the photo gallery below as proof). It was also the wrong season for it (the water level was very low) and swarming with package tour groups (yuck yuck yuck). Actually, there really wasn’t much to do there other than be part of a package tour (again, yuck, yuck and more yuck). We got the heck out of Dodge a day after arriving.

OK! Enough with the Negative Nelly tourism talk. Let’s enjoy some photos!

inle-lake-stilt-town-4

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Trekking Report: Kalaw to Inle Lake

Martin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:18:08 +0000

In order to get at least one trek done, we signed up for a walk from Kalaw to Inle Lake – one of the few treks in Myanmar that can be done without special permits. We were joined by a Slovenian couple, Robin the guide and a cook: a handy group size.

After a short taxi ride from Kalaw, we arrived at the trailhead – a dusty ox-cart track in a remote-ish Pao village. It soon became evident that we were doing the trek in the wrong season. Dust, dry heat and a persistent wind all conspired to turn the walk into a hot sand-in-between-the-teeth kind of affair. The day was made interesting by our guide, a guy that definitely knows a lot about a lot of things. As we walked he gave us a run-down on the customs of the local tribespeople, about local medicinal plants and about the agriculture of the area.

At the end of the day, we arrived at a Buddhist monastery, where the Abbot graciously allows trekkers and other wanderers to spend the night (donation greatly appreciated). After dinner, we retired early to mattresses spread out in the main prayer hall. We awoke at five thirty to the chants of little novice monks calling down the blessings on the land and the village. For us, this was probably the most memorable moment of the whole outing.

Day two saw us plod through more dust and dirt, as we descended from a low ridge towards the Inle Lake. It took us about four hours to reach the boat dock, where we boarded a riverboat to Nyangshwe.

I guess that any trek we’d do after the outrageously good trekking we had in Nepal was bound to be a letdown. One thing is certain: the trek must be far better in October, after the rains make the land green and lush again. Credit also goes to Robin the guide, without whom the walk would have been far less interesting.

Conclusion: Research your treks before you go to Myanmar and have your permits ready. The best trekking is in the restricted parts.

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Buddhist Kitsch

Martin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:12:28 +0000

Myanmar takes its Buddhism pretty seriously. There’s hardly a two-house town around that doesn’t have at least one temple or pagoda, and by now our eyes glaze over at the mention of any type of sightseeing involving a monastery or a paya.

We did however make an exception for Kalaw’s Buddha cave: a natural cave that has been enlarged and filled from floor to ceiling with Buddha statues and fairy lights. I can’t help but wonder what spiritual function these hundreds of Buddhas fill, and what the fascination with cheap neon lightning is all about.

Thankfully, there’s no foot wearing allowed in there, so they do have that going for them.

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Kalaw – Quaint, Comfortable and Completely Deforested

Martin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:01:26 +0000

curiously timed bus ride (we left in the afternoon and arrived at one o’clock in the morning) has brought us to Kalaw: a small town nested among the outliers of the Shan hills. For Burmese standards, it is a tidy, well-functioning town with good infrastructure and neat architecture.

Kalaw is, unfortunately, the only place in Myanmar where you can just show up and trek – there’s no need to spend time and money on acquiring various permits. The area, which was deforested already fifty years ago, is home to a handful of minority peoples, each with their own beliefs and traditions.

We will use Kalaw as our base for a short trek towards Inle Lake. Ideally we’d spend more time here, but we are running low on time. Expect a full trekking report as soon as we’re back!

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