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Published: December 18th 2006
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Trekking - 3rd Dec
The beautiful local girls. We met up with our trekking crew ie. Alex (French) and Jasmine (Myanmar) at the agreed hour of 8am, to find that two Israeli girls had joined our party at the 24th hour. So given that they have all done their time in the army and were uninclined to whinge and moan (Yeah right!) we made the assumption that these 2 must also be tough as nails, fit for a 3 day trek and given that they were subsidising our trip by another couple of bucks we welcomed them aboard.
The first section saw us pad away from Kalaw and into the nearby hills where a pine forest was on it's last legs due to local logging campaigns, apparently once the home of a large monkey community they had all relocated as hunting took its toll on the population. Some winding paths pleasantly meandered past village life and babbling brooks under the much needed shade of local foliage.
We arrived for mid-morning break at a dam that provided the town of Kalaw with its water supply and dumb questions of whether we were allowed to swim were handled with a smile a polite decline from our beautiful guide Jasmine,
Trekking - 3rd Dec
Starting off down dusty tracks and pine forrests who had long pristine black hair down to her waist that seemed to be straight out of a hair-ad even after 2 days of trekking. We crossed the dam and headed into some sparse jungle by the fringe of a swamp which saw one of the Israeli girls end up in the drink, ruining her carefully chosen white pants and entrenching a mood that was to linger for the remainder of the trek. Yippee!
We emerged from the jungle on a ridge line that overlooked some glorious valleys and opposite could be seen a cool little house perched atop a hill, quite the countryside retreat! We were shown the local crop tea leaves and informed as to how they are prepared and made into the delacacy "Tea Leaf salad", quickly emerging as one of Nunny's favourite dishes in SE Asia. We lunched at the local village just down the road and were greeted with apprehension as we arrived by villagers that clearly saw very few westerners. Nunny - ever the cynic was quick to point out though that they knew how to ask for candy and make the motions of writing to demand pens out of the vistors.
Trekking - 3rd Dec
Ahh, the cool cool lakes, and the slimey leaches. Our wonderful hosts opened up their home for our midday stop over as Sam's Trekking cooks turned up out of nowhere to prepare the meal. It was in doing this that overt strain is not placed on the local community, while visitors get to experience local life, and the hosts get a free meal every now and then.
After enjoying our noodles with vege and massive avocados with lime and salt we bask in the midday heat and content with food Alex and the girls begin to pass out on the hosts floor. Andrew was naturaly drawn to perfom to the kids waiting outside and with joy brought out our infamous 'boing boing' insturment from Vietnam and stunned them all into uproars of giggles and delight as they all had a go on this crazy device. Once this became tiresome the ol' hackysack was introduced to the group who being of a very young age found kicking it rather hard and a game of throwing has high into the air as possible was embarked upon.
So much fun can only be had for a limited time, until of course someone throws it onto the roof. Andrwe judges the
Trekking - 3rd Dec
Reaching the top of the hill, we look down over Green Tea Plantations jump and is about to launch:
" Better put some shoes on first Richards if you're going to get that" warns Nunny
A dissmissive glance in Nunny's direction and Andrew is launching into a slam dunk style leap that dislodges the ball.... and splits open the top of his big toe.
Well if nothing else it did bring at least 10 mins of wonder, awe and interest to the crowd of now 20 people as Nurse Nunny attempted to wash out the wound with drinking water and with our limited supply of first aid equipemnt apply some antisceptic cream and a borrowed bandaid held one by a bandage. Oh Richards.
Time to move on though and we walk through rice paddy fields as the sun goes down with startled buffalos looking on with concerned expressions at the sound of one whinging Israeli that couldn't possibly make it across the small pathway between fields or up the next hill without either Jasmine or somone strong. ie Richards, carrying her bag as well as their own.
Trying to block out her noise we head down the other side to see the evening's stopover in sight and the steady
Trekking - 3rd Dec
A giant fry pan where the villages dry out the Green Tea stream of locals coming in from the fields to head to their own abodes. A beautiful peaceful village of around 30 houses that have all saved and pitched in together to buy a communal hydro-generator that powers the whole community. It's not impossible to live sustainably that's for certain.
Our host, Oberon, greets us at the foot of his house that provides shelter for himself and his wife, their younger son and his wife and their baby boy. During the day the son and daughter work in the fields harvesting cauliflower and rice, while grandma looks after the little one till mum comes home. Their garden attached to their house comprises of pear trees, a pig pen, a small vege patch and lage water tank that feeds the out door shower and flushing toilet!! Crikey, weren't expecting that luxury!
We sit on their verandah drinking green tea,watching the sun go down and munching on their freshly made green tea leaf salad - it's the bomb! But the only thing that could possible top the peaceful experience off was of course the much craved for buffalo ride. It seems that Oberon was the man that could make this dream
Trekking - 3rd Dec
Local kid who was seemingly successful with the well practiced sign for "Candy?" come true and as the darkness encroached upon the village a buffalo was produced for the two of us to clamber onto. Wow. Everything we hoped for plus more. It's MASSIVE, her back is insanely wide and her fur is like that of a pigs - kind of wiry and short. The only reason you would stop and think twice is the two huge protruding horns of death that point back towards you when you sit on her. But once Nunny's red jacket and hat were removed "Christina's" (named so in memoryof Prince Cristoph's desire to ride one) big placid eyes just stared back with a glossy gaze.
Once dinner is ready thanks to our mobile cooks, we eat together in the main room - the whole house consists of the large room, kitchen and sleeping area. After dinner we move to the kitchen where the open fire keeps us warm and we sit and talk with our hosts till the wee hours of 9pm where Andrew and Nunny follow the three others who retired early to our blankets on the floor.
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