Around Kalaw and Inle Lake -- Day 22
Sometimes too much of a good thing is bad, sometimes too much of a good thing is still good, sometimes it just leaves you in awe.
I think I witnessed somewhere between the second and the third one.
Off to go, we leave Kalaw in the morning, with the hotel staff waving goodbye as if we are the most important people in their lives, despite the fact we were there merely 16 hours or so. We trek on a one way drive through some gorgeous fields of rice, lots of cabbage which was brilliantly in an expansive blueish hue with harvest mode in full flight, and farmers driving on the side of the road with their beasts of burden. Again it was raining pretty much the entire day and with the red dirt from the fields and the sides of the road gave the surrounding colours extra contrast. Almost felt like northern Queensland, in OZ.
Then we arrive at this town, visit its morning market, before heading off to this amazing cliffside cave that extends around 100 metres into a limstone mountain, completely and utterly filled with tiny, small, medium, and massive, massive statues of Golden Buddhas. Beautiful steps take you from one cavern to another, to another, and then you get a higher up view of a the entire beginning complex You try to appreciate Buddha 8765 as much as 2345, but then it just gets tougher and tougher. At least the view from the clifftop was more than impressive enough.
How do you properly convey the cave? Don't bother, as the pictures can't really do it justice either. But, like a fool, you try anyway. Luckily it was miles better than the one I saw on the Mekong River in Laos in 2008, but that's really not saying much. This was just insanely incredible, it felt like you just found a golden treasure than someone has hidden away years ago, but then your guide tells you the Neolithic people who lived here thousands and thousands of years ago used this to escape from the heat and the animals. So the specialness kinda melted away right after that. So, an hour later, we descend down on the elevator (modern meets traditional) and go back the same way we came on the highway. The trip down was just as impressive as the way up, so that was a blessing. Workers in the fields, animals everywhere, farmers loading or unloading their crops of cabbage was more than interesting and slowly we arrive at Inle Lake, at a place called Nyaung Shwe.
Silly me, I was going to have a nice walk around the small town before dinner, but then I lay my head down for a rest after another 8-9 hours on the bus, and boom, a three hour nap kicks in. That's ok though, big day tomorrow. If I'm really lucky, I'll wake up early to see the monks pass by our hotel at around 6am, walking in a straight line of about a 100-200 or so, getting fed rice by the locals. Then, we are visiting the lake and fishing villages in the surrounding area. The last real day of sightseeing, which I'm really looking forward to, plus one secret surprise that I won't get into now.
So I hope the cool rainy weather stays like this, so the heat doesn't complicate things like it usually does. The heat will be back in Yangon after a few more days.
Sometimes too much of a good thing is bad, sometimes too much of a good thing is still good, sometimes it just leaves you in awe.
I think I witnessed somewhere between the second and the third one.
Off to go, we leave Kalaw in the morning, with the hotel staff waving goodbye as if we are the most important people in their lives, despite the fact we were there merely 16 hours or so. We trek on a one way drive through some gorgeous fields of rice, lots of cabbage which was brilliantly in an expansive blueish hue with harvest mode in full flight, and farmers driving on the side of the road with their beasts of burden. Again it was raining pretty much the entire day and with the red dirt from the fields and the sides of the road gave the surrounding colours extra contrast. Almost felt like northern Queensland, in OZ.
Then we arrive at this town, visit its morning market, before heading off to this amazing cliffside cave that extends around 100 metres into a limstone mountain, completely and utterly filled with tiny, small, medium, and massive, massive statues of Golden Buddhas. Beautiful steps take you from one cavern to another, to another, and then you get a higher up view of a the entire beginning complex You try to appreciate Buddha 8765 as much as 2345, but then it just gets tougher and tougher. At least the view from the clifftop was more than impressive enough.
How do you properly convey the cave? Don't bother, as the pictures can't really do it justice either. But, like a fool, you try anyway. Luckily it was miles better than the one I saw on the Mekong River in Laos in 2008, but that's really not saying much. This was just insanely incredible, it felt like you just found a golden treasure than someone has hidden away years ago, but then your guide tells you the Neolithic people who lived here thousands and thousands of years ago used this to escape from the heat and the animals. So the specialness kinda melted away right after that. So, an hour later, we descend down on the elevator (modern meets traditional) and go back the same way we came on the highway. The trip down was just as impressive as the way up, so that was a blessing. Workers in the fields, animals everywhere, farmers loading or unloading their crops of cabbage was more than interesting and slowly we arrive at Inle Lake, at a place called Nyaung Shwe.
Silly me, I was going to have a nice walk around the small town before dinner, but then I lay my head down for a rest after another 8-9 hours on the bus, and boom, a three hour nap kicks in. That's ok though, big day tomorrow. If I'm really lucky, I'll wake up early to see the monks pass by our hotel at around 6am, walking in a straight line of about a 100-200 or so, getting fed rice by the locals. Then, we are visiting the lake and fishing villages in the surrounding area. The last real day of sightseeing, which I'm really looking forward to, plus one secret surprise that I won't get into now.
So I hope the cool rainy weather stays like this, so the heat doesn't complicate things like it usually does. The heat will be back in Yangon after a few more days.
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