After thanking our hosts and giving the wife a bundle of exercise books, pens and pencils as she was the local school teacher, we headed off. We opted to take the scenic route on the small paths rather than the road which would take us to the Buddha caves. It was relatively quiet as we passed through the village and crossed the paddy fields. We passed some kids heading to the equivalent of Sunday school, but have Buddhist school on Saturdays and Sunday's.
Passing quickly through another Tayo village we walked for over an hour heading further upward, looking across the valley at a combination of forest and small plantations of various fruits and vegetables. Large trees either tamarind or Boda trees appear to signify resting points. We passed a few villagers heading off to work in the fields or coming back. We climbed a steep ascent into another village with panoramic views. Coffee beans were being dried out in the sun and women were spreading out rice kernels to also be dried on huge bamboo mats. After a day of drying, they manually remove the kernel by hand. Another steep descent took us to a large dam, their water source and the local school where the children were having their religious instruction. Another steep ascent took us to the monastery which was been extended and having the roof replaced by the men of the village.
We were starting to warm up as we took the final ascent to the top of the ridge. From here we took a fairly precarious steep route down the side of the ridge passing a young woman walking up in thongs with a basket on her back containing her small sleeping child. We passed through pine forest as we headed down with plantations of ginger, bananas and coffee on the sides of the hills. Luke was very much taking the lead and chatting to Michel which was great to see. He wasn't happy though when we opted to take the route through 2 more villages of different ethnic tribes where the women still wear the traditional dress in the form of black longies, black tops and bright orange head wear. The women were out working in the fields and it was very quiet as we passed through the first village. The second village however was a hive of activity as they were building a couple of new bamboo pavilions for an upcoming wedding where they were expecting 1000 guests! 2 people from the same village were getting married. Marriages are arranged by the parents still in these small villages which appears to be successful. Not only do they have to accommodate the people but they also have to feed them. Weddings usually take place in the dry season when the villagers have time to prepare and there may be a number of couples getting married at once.
From the village we descended down into to a wide valley crossing through rice paddies and intermittently joining the road. Lots of buffalo are out eating the dried rice husks as it is also there resting season. Villagers were still out tidying up the fields, fixing the irrigation systems for the rice paddies and planting some alternate crops. It was getting hot now and progress had been somewhat hindered by Mandy's knee which wasn't coping with the steep rough terrain. We made it into the railway station where we had lunch with the locals. Luke was also suffering from a sore leg, so it was decided that Mandy and luke would take the train to Kalaw which was the next stop with the bags, whilst Chris and Liam would walk the final section with Michel.
The walkers headed off whilst Mandy and Luke waited with the other locals for the train. Vendors were selling fruit, vegetables and prepared food for the passengers on the arriving trains. A train going to Mandalay arrived before ours, but was still in the station when ours did arrive. We climbed through the train to board our train. We were seated in Upper class which didn't appear to be significantly different from the other classes, but is where all foreigners are assigned and other locals who choose to be there. We had to provide our passport numbers to get the ticket which cost 20c each.
Luke's blog of the train trip...
Mandy didn't have Luke's passport number so made it up. But later on when we were waiting for the train she found Luke's passport in her photo album. Mum and luke weren't really satisfied with train because they didn't think the train hadn't changed at all since the Brits conquered Myanmar. The train rocked side to side all the time. Some times it feels like the train is going to fall off the tracks. You can't put your luggage on the overhead compartments or the luggage would just fall down on top of the passengers. There were two locals sitting in the chairs opposite mum and luke who were really disgusting. One was eating this stuff called beetle nut. Beetle nut is good for your stomach and digestion but is really bad for your teeth. Have you ever seen people in foreign country's with red teeth and some teeth missing and their teeth are spread really far apart or red spit on the ground,well that's beetle nut. Beetle nut is really popular in poor countries. They were also drinking rum straight from the bottle.
............
As described by Luke the train trip was slow and rocky but beautiful scenery as we passed by people working in the fields. Trains run to their own schedule so it's best not to be dependent on their accuracy. The trip took 1/2 hour and we then walked back up the hill to the Pine Breeze where our previous rooms were waiting for us. The others arrived about 1/2 hour later after an enjoyable and scenic 2 hour walk. We said goodbye to Michel who had been a great guide, and relaxed for a while. No one felt like walking back down the hill for dinner, so the hotel who were very accommodating organised a take away from the Nepalese restaurant, however it did take 1 1/2 hours to arrive. They set up a table for us in the restaurant upstairs and served the food. Very good service. Everyone was ready for bed afterward.
.
Location:Kalaw
No comments:
Post a Comment