May's Travelogue

The route Kalaw-Nyaung Shwe-Inle Lake is a good arrangement for 3-5 days trips.  It only takes 2 hours to drive from Kalaw to Nyaung Shwe, the nearest town to Inle Lake. When you reach Nyaung Shwe, you must take a boat to wander in the lake.  You can stay at Inle hotels overnight to feel the real Inle life.  Alternatively, if you are uncomfortable sleeping on the water, you can stay in Nyaung Shwe and explore the lake only during the daytime. The reasons why Inle Lake is popular are two main cultures that are slightly different from others. One is  Stilt Houses and the other is the style of rowing. Feeding Seagulls Stilt Houses The transportation Stilt restaurants Rowing with legs   Several ethnic tribes of Myanmar have resided in the lake for a long history. They do float farming and fishing. Traditional cotton weaving and silversmiths also can be found. The quality of Inle cotton wear is highly recommended. The residents use boats for local transportation, and...

You can enjoy some fun activities when you are in Kalaw.  (1) Train Tour If you are travelling with a small group, friends, colleagues or family, you can hire ‌a rail cart which is available to ask at the original Kalaw station. The short trip will take about 3 hours and the train capacity is up to 15 people.  Rail Cart Information in front of the Station Ticket Booth (2) Orange Farm If you are a person who enjoys having new experiences on the organic farm, there are some orange farms. The one I went to is near Palaung Mountain. It charges only a small amount of entrance fee and you can borrow a traditional dress to take memorial photos there. (3) Trekking to Cold Dam Cold Dam, local people called Yay Aye Kan, is a Dam which distributes water to its neighbourhood including Kalaw. As it is located a bit far away from town ( around 6 miles), it is enough good for trekking. Along the way, the visitors must pass through the pine forest. Therefore, the scenery is wonderful and the ...

Many tourists are excited to try local food since their eyes open in the morning. Therefore, let's start breakfast. I recommend skipping the hotel breakfast even if they provide it and walking down to the local Market or Tea Shops in your neighbourhood.  Kalaw Market is the best place for breakfast. As I mentioned in the previous post, various traditional foods are available in the market. Shan Noodle has two options, dry salad or soup. Warm Tofu also contains a few amount of noodles. They match with sweet and sour preserved vegetables which are served together. Steam meats with banana leaf also quite popular. You can choose meat, fish, chicken or pork. Those are very tasty and healthy foods for breakfast. Shan Noodle Soup, Warm Tofu and Fried Tofu Steam Chicken with Banana Leaf Shan Noodle Dry Warm Tofu There are many lunch options in Kalaw. If you feel tired wandering a new place, take a short break for lunch. You can find the restaurant lists below. Thu Maung, Myanmar traditiona...