Kalaw is a hill station founded by British civil servants. Its high-altitude with cool air, leafy and green surroundings, and calm atmosphere makes you feel like you’re in a kind of holiday resort. The population is a mixture of Nepali Gurkhas, Indian Hindus and Muslims who came here to build the roads and railway line during the British period. We take a room at Golden Lily Guesthouse owned by an Indian family for USD 7/room where we arrange a 2-day trekking trip for USD 22/person including meals and accommodation. A Nepali restaurant is the only place with free wi-fi in town. We taste chapati and lassi there while the full moon is lighting the mountains around. A 19-year-old boy guides us and a Spanish and a Polish girl on our trekking tour.
Leaving the town we pass through a pine forest and then walk among mostly small chili and garlic plantations. Cultivating these crops is done manually: we see people hoeing under the scorching sun and piles of compost on the ground which was obviously carried in baskets here.
There are various rock formations appearing all around the hills. Being the dry season we are covered in 'yellow snow’: it’s what the locals call the dust.
Lunch is provided in a monastery and late afternoon we arrive to a Pa-Oh village where we spend the night in a homestay. Next day Évi insists on squeezing in some climbing into the return trip, so we make it to the top of the hill (below), which has a stupa on the top and offers magnificent views.
We spend our last day in Kalaw around the town. We walk to the nearby Hnee Pagoda which is home to a 500-year-old, gold-lacquered bamboo Buddha. We sit there for some time watching the locals coming for a prayer, giving some donation and then getting a golden leaf which they can stick on the Buddha.
In the evening it is time for us to leave this lovely place and go back to Yangon on a night bus. After a lazy day we need to say goodbye to Yangon and also to the country. We take a flight to Kuala Lumpur and then fly on to Medan, Sumatra, Indonesia.
Leaving the town we pass through a pine forest and then walk among mostly small chili and garlic plantations. Cultivating these crops is done manually: we see people hoeing under the scorching sun and piles of compost on the ground which was obviously carried in baskets here.
There are various rock formations appearing all around the hills. Being the dry season we are covered in 'yellow snow’: it’s what the locals call the dust.
Lunch is provided in a monastery and late afternoon we arrive to a Pa-Oh village where we spend the night in a homestay. Next day Évi insists on squeezing in some climbing into the return trip, so we make it to the top of the hill (below), which has a stupa on the top and offers magnificent views.
We spend our last day in Kalaw around the town. We walk to the nearby Hnee Pagoda which is home to a 500-year-old, gold-lacquered bamboo Buddha. We sit there for some time watching the locals coming for a prayer, giving some donation and then getting a golden leaf which they can stick on the Buddha.
In the evening it is time for us to leave this lovely place and go back to Yangon on a night bus. After a lazy day we need to say goodbye to Yangon and also to the country. We take a flight to Kuala Lumpur and then fly on to Medan, Sumatra, Indonesia.
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