Trekking from Kalaw to Inle Lake

From Bagan, we took what turned out to be a very pleasant bus ride to Kalaw. We saw some great scenery along the way and the ride was mostly bereft of the nausea-inducing curves of the Laotian bus experiences.

The British established Kalaw in colonial times as a hill station retreat for their civil servant corps. Situated at 4500 feet, it was a cooler spot to be able to escape to during the heat of summer.

We absolutely loved Kalaw!  Wow. What a great little spot. There are probably 10,000 or so residents.  The town is surrounded by hills and there is awesome hiking to be had right out your front door step.  Just like home! During our trip research last year, Joanie and I had read about trekking from Kalaw to Inle Lake and we were very keen to include that in our Myanmar itinerary.

We spent 3 days in Kalaw doing day hikes, exploring the local market, and planning our trek with Sam’s Family Trekking service. Sam himself gave us the trek options to choose from in a very engaging briefing at his shop.  Sam is around 65 years old and has retired from fieldwork. However, his charisma and story-telling skills had us hooked from the get go.  We could not wait to get started. Our stoke was high!

The people of Kalaw (and all of Myanmar for that matter) were so incredibly friendly.  We got warm receptions everywhere we went. The local wine merchant even put in an offer for Rock, but we had to inform him he is not for sale. At least not yet, anyways :). While Kalaw is certainly in the guidebooks and well regarded, it sure seemed to be under-visited from our perspective. We felt like we had the place to ourselves.  The locals were fascinated to see a young family from America. That has been a consistently positive reception throughout our visit in Myanmar.

Our trek began right in town proper.  Over 3 days and 2 nights, we would travel through the local hills towards our finish at Inle Lake.  The trek cost $12 per person per day for a local guide, cook, lodging, all meals, boat ride across Inle Lake, and luggage transfer from Kalaw to our hotel in Inle Lake. We could travel for 2 years instead of 9 months if our $$ went this far everywhere.

We passed through small villages, visited with local farmers, and stayed with families in the villages themselves.  The experience was absolutely the highlight of our trip thus far.  It was so genuine.  Absolutely sublime. We have trekked in Nepal, Peru, and many other places and there is a strong element of ‘tourista’ in those places. This had none of that at all.  Probably because it just has not seen anywhere near the same number of visitors. Yet.

The weather continued to be flawless. We have had nothing but bluebird conditions for weeks on end.

If you decide to visit Myanmar in the near future – and you should btw – do not miss out on the trekking from Kalaw to Inle Lake. It may very well be as good as any we have done in our world travels.