Day 13 - Two day trek from Kalaw - Day 1

One comes to Kalaw to trek, and so I hauled my aching body out of bed and prepared for another two days on the trail. We were met at the hotel and taken to a local trekking company whose manager we had met with last night. We were introduced to Cookie, our guide, and within minutes were off. Actually to the market, where I picked up a cheap sweater, and we took in some market scenes. Kalaw is a fruit and vegetable paradise, and the produce was on display there.













Dana and Cookie bought some strawberries....



and after cutting through a couple of alleys we were suddenly climbing in the countryside, with great views of the city.





"Kalaw", by the way, means "cooking pot" in Palaung, so named because the hills around it form a sort of pot.

After a climb out of the "pot" we made a long descent and then a climb through citrus orchards, mostly oranges (the small trees on the hillside are loaded with them, maybe hard to see)....




and passed several groups harvesting them.



Dana coerced one picker into sharing his cheroot...




We climbed up to this Paluang village (Pin ne Pin)...





(if you strain your eyes you can see Kalaw through the notch in the center of the far hills), where we had an excellent lunch prepared by a local cook who called himself Colwyn - who gives these guys these names? We had a nice view from our dining room.





We were in a local house with some traditionally clothed grandmas going about their business - mainly taking care of the grandkids while their parents worked the fields...






or doing some spinning of cotton.



The local pagoda had an interesting spire in its courtyard, topped by the ducklike figure we saw in the humongous golden boat on the way to Kalaw.




We were informed that it is a Buddhist mythical bird called Shwe Hin Thar. A birding guide added that it resembled an actual Myanmar bird, a ruddy shore duck - at least I think that's what he said.

Coming out of the village we stopped by another school, where there was some serious English study going on.



Note the three novice monks studying. Based on chatting with monks, my guess is that they have a significantly higher percentage of English speakers than the general population. Same may be true of nuns, also based on personal chats.

There followed a really long walk along a dirt road that was mercifully pretty flat, albeit on somewhat of a ridge line, making for some good scenery.




The fields in the distance are cultivated by a different tribe (Danu), and are more intensively worked because of the more gently sloping topography.

We finally came within site of our destination, the Na Wa Taung monastery, where we were to spend the night. As we approached, two points of interest:

1. A piece of Buddhist cloth hanging from a tree to mark the land as belonging to the monastery, and therefore protected from woodcutting etc. pursuant to the Buddhist veneration of nature.




2. Buddhist flags, set on bamboo poles at the boundary to the monastery land.





The monastery is a very secluded and peaceful place on a hill, inhabited solely by two older monks.



There was also a very early stage novice moving about, who frankly looked a bit like a street punk - long black hair, a betel mouth and a flashy motorcycle that he rode away on about dinner time.

Speaking of dinner, Cookie whipped up a beauty over a wood fire. What a neat kid he is.



He set up a low table on an outside sitting platform for us to dine...



rather than in the monk's hall like the other guides do, because he wanted us to be enjoying the surrounding nature while we ate.

The only thing we had to do was enjoy the excellent meal - featuring several of the in-season veggies - and to watch the sunset. The monks made a point of our doing that...




and snuggle down on our pallets, with Buddha watching over us.



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