Day Hike to Lwe Khaw Villages By Inle Lake
Most tourists explore Inle Lake for one or two days at the most and have to cram everything into that amount of time. It can certainly be done easily, but it was a lot more interesting spending at least three days in and around the Lake. There is extended walking that can be done around Nyangshwe and on the east side of Inle, where we planned a day hike. You can arrange your own guided hikes through any hotel or guesthouse, but wear hiking boots, bring lots of water and a packed lunch. This was considered a "rugged" all day hike and Toe had not only hired a young man from the Princess Hotel to accompany us, but also bought high-topped sneakers to walk in. Toe was only familiar with one route and wanted to make sure that we didn't get lost or take a wrong turn in the hills. (This is why Toe is such a great guide.)
It was now around 9:30 am and already quite warm before we left the Mine Thauk 5-Day Rotating Market to start hiking. It was a gradual incline up to the the Mine Thauk Monastery and Retreat (Meditation Center).
From the Retreat, a very steep uphill led to a small Pa O Village (we had almost walked through it before realizing it was a village). By now, we were flagging...and...sagging. An older man was sitting in front of his house cutting strips of bamboo for repair. Toe asked if we could possibly eat our packed lunches in his house to get out of the sun. He welcomed us in and we climbed up the bamboo stairs. This gentleman was a spry and vigorous 80-year old, lived by himself and wanted to make tea and feed us rice from his meager stores of food. Of course, we wouldn't let him and left half our lunch with him. How could a person not fall in love with the Myanmar people? Always offering to share whatever they had and help anyone.
He grew tobacco and in Myanmar, the tobacco plants look like small trees not bushes like American tobacco.
With profuse thanks and refreshed, the four of us set out again in the blazing heat. Uphill again, contouring around hills through bigger Pa O villages, one had only 30 persons, the second had around 2,000 living there, with their industrious inhabitants working in the fields, doing chores and even washing hair...silky, extremely long black hair...the kind of hair I want to be reincarnated with.
Close to dropping on the trail, Toe and other guide kept assuring us we were almost there. On the trail with some shade, past and through more wheat, tobacco and onion fields...
We finally worked our way through fields of sugar cane and stopped for a few minutes to watch them processing the cane ...View image...
...a small stream with picturesque sugar cane stalks sitting there...View image...and then I stopped again to watch a young boy watering his water buffalo. It was so darn hot I would have loved to jump in and join them
After 14 miles of walking uphill, over rocky paths in extreme heat, the Princess Hotel on Inle Lake was in sight. Hallelujah... The Princess Hotel is considered the most deluxe hotel on Inle Lake, runs about $250/night and tourists have been known to go there and not leave the premises for the entire stay. No longtail motor boats are allowed in its inlet and the Princess keeps leg-rowers on staff to leg-row your boat out the inlet into the Lake, where they jump off. Only then is your boat driver allowed to start his motor.
It felt wonderful to be sitting down in a boat with cool breezes on sweaty bodies heading back to Shwe hotel, passing boat after boat filled with LEW PEWS...View image...zooming by, all with umbrellas open against the cool breeze off the lake.
...and more leg rowers than a person could count. They are unbelievable fishermen, standing on those little dugout canoes, balancing on one leg, the oar tucked around the other leg, holding a fishing net and throwing the net, all at the same time. Talk about multi-tasking! I realize that I've already mentioned this but they were so incredible!
