58KM Trek to Inle Lake - how much pain can a woman take?

Arriving after a seven hour bus ride from Batan to Kalaw, I was surprised just how much the landscape had changed.  We went from a hot desert atmosphere to a mountainous town which had a feeling of home for me.  As we jumped off the bus we were immediately bombarded with Trekking companies wanted to send us up into their beautiful mountains for a few days and then ending up at Inle Lake.  After much discussion we chose Sam’s Trekking outfit because this sweet old man charisma charmed us and the price was right. It was 36 dollars per person for the trek which sounded perfect to us.  We were a group of which included Bjorn from Holland, Dan from England, Rachel from American, Frank and myself.  At the last moment a French couple, Camille and Nico, wanted to join us which turned out to be a blessing in disguise since Rachel was still feeling sick on that day and decided not to go.  We were to bring water, a camera and a raincoat and that was it.  We had asked about sleeping bags but were told that it was not needed.  We would be wandering gracefully among the landscape of beautiful pine trees and chili crops while talking to the local people.  In the evening after dinner we would meet people and talk about their ways of life. This was our dream come true. We had been looking for this kind of cultural experience and couldn’t believe that we finally found our ultimate trekking company.

The next morning I arrived early with my suitcase at Sam’s, It was to be transferred to our hotel at the lake.  I then set off to their magnificent floating market filled with different tribes of the regions selling their local foods while Frank rested in bed until departure time.

 I quickly returned just in time to meet our guide, Joe, and bid farewell to Rachel before our team headed up the mountain.

 I knew this would be not easy for me since I am a slow climber. I had even warned the group but I guess they had never met someone as slow as me! What I am good at is continuously going on while others need a break.  This proved to help me in the end even though I was consistently the last one in line. By the way, the path was not slow rolling hills as promised, but was an ascending path that was more up then downhill and leveled off at 1800 meters. The paths were narrow and mostly were of red clay which must be terrifying in the rainy season. We reached a small lake by 11:00, and our next stop was at 1:00, a viewing point at the edge of the mountains. We had a wonderful lunch and then proceeded onward and upwards.

That evening we arrived before the sun went down at the village Pallau. Our guest house was in actuality a school. We mounted the simple wooden stairs to find that water buffalos and chickens were living beneath the room where we were to sleep, and could see a rooster which was sure to wake us up early enough for the trek. We viewed our outhouse which has a western toilet and running cold water where we would wash our hands and brush our teeth. The only disturbing element was the large spider's nest which loomed next to the outhouse giving us second thoughts about a visiting the outhouse in the middle of the night.

After dinner we then visited two old women at the campfire sorting garlic and burning husks. We were told that they would stay up until midnight doing this work and then would rise again at around 4:30 to begin their daily work. Clearly it was a way to deal with the cold since none of these simple houses had heating or insulation. I enjoyed talking to the women and were surprised to find that they were 10 years younger than I am. I thought that they were clearly 10 years older. We then could hear strange musical sounds in the distance and went to check it out.  We entered a smoke filled room containing several men playing several musical instruments including drums, a flute and some bamboo sticks which were also used as percussion instruments plus a singer or two. They were preparing for a festival which would begin in January,



This is a sample of the music:

This night was my lucky night. Despite my complete exhaustion, I was chosen to dance with one of the singers who looked like a pirate. My feet were killing and all I could think about was that I should have stayed by firewith the garlic peelers. The music was quite simple but lively and our grouped enjoyed it despite the smokey atmosphere. We then all had to turned in for the night. We slept like the seven dwarves all in a row on very thin mattresses and some blankets to wrap up in.  Oh what a night this would be!



 I knew this was going to be a freezing cold night, So I wore everything I owned and  was angry that I left my sleeping bag behind.  Sam said we did not need it and Frank talked me out of bringing it. I was cursing both of these guys under my breath as I rolled myself up. In retrospect, it was my own fault for not being strong enough on insisting that I bring it with me.This night I heard three snoring men and someone grinding their teeth. By morning I can say I slept very little and my attitude was moving towards depression. I started helping with the breakfast so I could at least sit by the fire and was wondering what this day would offer. I was surprised to find that everyone had suffered that night including our guide, but even so we all tried to regain our strength by eating a warm meal.

We then headed out which took us again up more mountains and down some valleys. This part of the journey was incredibly beautiful. We saw vast fields of flowers, crops of chili and wheat while our guide, Joe, explained about the uses of herbs for medicine and explained to us how the people live.

 I again was falling behind at every step. By this point I was in extreme pain. I had blisters on both feet and I had throbbing behind my left knee which never seem to stopped. With each step I kept my thoughts only on my breathing.Clearly I need to learn how to meditate, I was not sure how I would manage to continue on but I have seen people put all their efforts into succumbing such harsh conditions that I figured that I should be able to manage this one. I was sweating hard as we arrived to our little guest house for lunch. I collapsed in a chair and waited for my body to relax before trying to take off my boots. I was dreading this moment and even had horrible images inside my head of my feet falling off. In the end I knew I had no choice. We were not allowed to enter the houses with shoes on. So I looked down at my sorry feet and prayed that they would not swell up the size of a watermelon as I peeled my boots off. Otherwise I knew that I would not be able to put my boots on again. Thank god they didn"t fall off or swell up but they looked bad. We then ate a nice lunch and set off once again.

 We continued on, arriving at the town Patupauke for the night. I was thankful that Frank waited for me there since I needed to go slower as we ended up at our guest house.

. This time we took off our shoes and had to climbed up into a main room that was used for storage. This time I cried out, I sat at the foot of the stairs while everyone else rushed up to checked out our new sleeping quarters.We had more blankets this time but mine were strange and not as nice as the others but that is what I get for being slow! We were all too tired to go out this night. Even Nico who always appears to be strong, ate dinner and then much to our surprise went straight to bed and stayed there until morning.  Later he confessed that he had a flu and felt terrible that night but only our guide, Joe, seemed to noticed something was wrong with him,. The rest of our party tried local cigarettes and rice wine while eating dinner.

I was still not feeling well either and preferred to drink water and eat a bit of food. The room was filled with smoke. It was a constant battle between the smoke and the cold. Should we open the windows or not? Either way we would suffer. Camille and I both wondered why they did not have a chimney but they said they couldn't because of insects. Strange! The shop on the lower level was full of action and at some point our shoes disappeared.  Since we all needed our shoes for the outhouse, we had to wake the three women sleeping down there and demanded the return of our shoes.  They insisted we could use the flip flops but I could barely manage the pain and wanted my own shoes back. There was no way I was going to wear flip flops to pee in that hole in the ground.  The outhouse was made for dwarves. I really wondered how our tall European men would fit inside this tiny shack to do their business since it already had proven a challenge for me.

 That night two guys snored away and it appeared that everyone was sleeping soundly.  At about one in the morning I literally had to crawl on my hands and knees across the floor to the staircase. I was afraid that I would run into a table or maybe a rat running across the floor. I had forgotten to take out my flashlight so I blindly grabbed for my shoes in the dark as I headed for the door. Thank goodness it was bright outside due to a few lights that were still on because of generators still running. It was actually pleasant to have fresh air despite the cold. I survived another moment in my toilet experience and then made my way back into our smoking den.  The night seemed to take forever but before I knew it we were up and walking to our last village Tonnle. As weleft our sleeping village one of the olderladies really had her eye on my jacket and kept commenting on how nice it is for the cold. I kept saying to her, no-bad for the cold, good for the rain and I am sorry but there is no way that I am giving you my only jacket!

The path seemed lighter even though I was pretty much a broken woman at this point. I concentrated on every step with my breath which carried me along. At one point I misheard Frank saying that everyone had to wait for me and I should move faster which sent me into tears, I had already mentally set myself up to deal with five more hours and that just crushed me. I think I was slowly falling apart but really needed extra emotional help!

Strangely enough it came. Every member of our team supported me and assured me that everything would be alright. They had accepted my slowness.  Even Dan who was the fastest, gave me words of encouragement, "This is hell but its better than the British Army!". Camille was a true companion who dropped back several times and told me wonderful stories about her life. Even Nico who showed his affection for Camille by putting a flower and a heart in cow shit made me laugh.  Bjorn and Joe would also take turns and tell me antidotes which kept me going. Frank was always there at the end trying to get me to make it to the base. At one point Joe said the cook could drive me the last hour on his motor bike. It was a very tempting offer but my group would not have it.  They all said, you have come this far so you better finish it off in style. I was so happy to hear their support, I decided to deal with my pain and finish the trek on foot.

 I was really thankful that I was surrounded by such wonderful people.  Frank made a great suggestion which was to get rid of my heavy backpack to the cook with the bike. In the end it made my life easier which was exactly what I needed. We arrived at the bottom of the valley and had to pay yet another fee to come into the lake area. I was so excited to get into that boat and speed across the lake back to our hotel.

 It was only then that I finally realized how tired we all were but yet somehow excited to start a new chapter on our tour. I have to say that I really did enjoy doing this trek but I was clearly not prepared for it.  The people and the scenery makes this trek a must ! It is also a Trek that in the future will not be able to be done since the government is now selling off blocks of land to companies and fences are being built.The lessons I have learned from this experience were to wear a more flexible light weight boots, take my sleeping bag, and bring more socks or just don't go on anymore treks! I think I have decided that Frank has to go on the next trek alone with some friends since I am far too slow for his long legs! I would also advise anyone thinking about doing this trek is to avoid the wet season. The red clay becomes mud and is impossible for people to manage it.