Messages from (the) Seoul: Trekking to Inle

The second day I felt a lot better so I started to really enjoy the trekking, I could look around and appreciate the scenery. We started early and walked at a really fast pace, I didn't take that many photos when we were walking, I stopped more to top up my sunscreen than anything else. The landscape changed as we walked on, it was much less dramatic and more undulating. We saw more people, some of them walking, carrying things or farming. By now I had mastered "Mingalaba" (hello in Burmese) and traded smiles with a lot of locals along our route.

We passed by some cacti and I asked our guide about them - he said you can make tequila from the plant but no one in Myanmar knows how to make it, definitely a business opportunity there! The second day we stayed at a monastery and along the way our guide said we need to get there early so we get the best place to sleep. So we kept our fast pace and arrived mid afternoon,. so we got first pick of beds and a chance to use the bucket shower first and more importantly before the sun went down. There was one shop in the village which was run by a teacher from the school so she opens it for a few hours each day after school has finished.

The meal was lovely, I ate loads after regaining my appetite. Afterwards we played cards and some of the young monks watched us play. Joan gave them his ipad to play with and got them started with a game where you cut different pieces of fruit flying into the air. They loved it, they played it for ages,. it was really cool to see them all huddled round this wee screen and chattering excitedly.

The last day we set off very early again and got some magnificent views of the valley shrouded in the morning mist. We downhill almost all day so it was a really easy way to finish the trek. Once we arrived there we got lunch and then they asked us to pay our fee for Inle Lake, I was really disappointed at this as I thought you could avoid paying the government fee by trekking there. On this trip I've been trying to give my money to local people and local businesses, but when you are in Burma it's impossible to avoid giving the government money,. they collect fee's in a lot of areas,. they put a foreigner tax on all trains and some hotels. Nobody knows where this money goes, maybe it's used to build hospitals, or maybe it's used to line the generals pocket's either way there is no transparency so it's impossible to tell.

I think this might be from the first day actually, but I'm not sure. Either way it was a great spectacle and I couldn't believe how slow the train was traveling. This for me was another link between Burma and India.