The trek can be seasonal, so make sure you'll have pleasant conditions. Bring rain gear!Ask a lot of questions about the culture and people, you'll learn a lot about Myanmar.
Start from Kalaw and hike for three days (two nights) to Inle Lake. There are a couple options for routes.
The trek from Kalaw to Inle Lake took three days through beautiful countryside with multiple opportunities for cultural exchange.
It wasn’t a particularly difficult trek (minimal altitude changes) but was challenging in certain areas simply due to the weather conditions. The rainy season had come and there were a couple moments of intense downpour leaving us drenched and then having to deal with the impact (muddy trails and impassible streams).
The trek brought us through multiple different tribal areas, communities mostly supported by agriculture. At night, we stayed with families in the village sleeping on floor mats. Our guide would cook us dinner at night and tea was a staple.
The accommodations were relatively rough, which was fine for us but some people may be turned off. Don’t expect modern plumbing or running water.
We hired a guide service (Thiri Treks) on arrival in Kalaw and they had two female english speaking guides (the services, to our knowledge, was also women owned). We negotiated a rate and left the next morning. We had large backpacks which they sent ahead to our hotel in Inle Lake (so we didn’t need to carry them). The guide service supplied both food and accommodation/homestay.
We felt this was a very responsible trek and allowed us to have unfiltered interaction and support the people of Myanmar.
Gear
Wish I had brought more appropriate trekking boots and rain gear (it rained a lot!). Even if it's going to rain sure to bring sunscreen!
Costs
Cannot remember the daily cost of hiring our guide but recall it being exceptionally reasonable. I believe it was ~$30/day per person (which includes food & board)
could you give us little idea about expenses there? i was told Myanmar is comparatively cheap. what does your experience tell?
Hey Rathindra! Thanks for the question. Yes, Myanmar can be relatively cheaper with some things though I found, overall, it’s more expensive than one might think compared to other destinations in SE Asia. The reason being that there is a high demand and a low supply of tourist-related infrastructure (hotels, guide companies, etc). If you’re traveling to Myanmar I would tell you to expect to pay very little on food and more than expected on hotels and transportation.
I don’t recall exactly what we paid per person for our trek but for a 3-day 2-night trek it was probably around $50 total per person (included guide, accommodation, food, transport of bags to Inle). We felt that price to be very reasonable and probably saved us many instead of staying in a hotel and exploring a city.
Hope that helps!
Hello, we are traveling to Kalaw next weekend (09/04.2016) with the intention to enjoy some of the short treks in the area. We’d very much benefit from a trekking map like this one: file:///Users/sariautio/Downloads/8526112679_788d429be4_o.jpg
Any suggestions on where I could get a print of a Kalaw trekking map?
Many thanks in advance,
Nuria