5. By train to Aung Ban and Shan State
The train infrastructure owes much to the British colonial period so is rather ancient; we worked out that our 2 hour journey averaged 20 MPH as we swayed along on the long climb up into Shan State.
We cycled from the station along an unpleasant stretch of main road, very dusty and lorry laden and then it started to rain ; hard. We took shelter in a bar and drank coffee provided by our support vehicle which had caught up with us. Then we climbed up country roads to the former hill station of Kalaw.
We are slowly getting to grips with the food, not least now that our guide realises that we really are relatively adventurous eaters and want to eat with the locals rather than other tourists. It would have been difficult without Chan as in the local restaurants there are no English menus or English spoken. On the subject of other tourists, we realised towards the end of the trip that we had not actually encountered any other Brits at all! The majority are Chinese.
Rice is the main staple of course, accompanied by a range of 'curry' dishes, often spicy and in sauces. A soup is always served alongside the main dishes and sometimes delicious fresh raw vegetables. Extra chilli in fish sauce is always available too!
Many of the colonial buildings in Khalaw remain but the real attraction of the area is the trekking. We did a fine 13 mile hike in the hills through varied terrain ranging from tea and mandarin plantations to thick bush to terraced mountain rice fields. The soil is red and iron rich and supports a huge range of vegetables and fruit, we also saw flourishing cabbages, green beans, celery, carrots, avocados, red and green tomatoes, peppers, chillis, potatoes, persimmons, ginger, turmeric and bananas.
Lunch was chapatis at a viewpoint with a bunch of teenage locals strumming a guitar before the return walk through woodland and by a dam.
Not much exciting bird life yet ; what there is remains very elusive.Similarly with animal life ; the locals have eaten most of the monkeys!
We cycled from the station along an unpleasant stretch of main road, very dusty and lorry laden and then it started to rain ; hard. We took shelter in a bar and drank coffee provided by our support vehicle which had caught up with us. Then we climbed up country roads to the former hill station of Kalaw.
We are slowly getting to grips with the food, not least now that our guide realises that we really are relatively adventurous eaters and want to eat with the locals rather than other tourists. It would have been difficult without Chan as in the local restaurants there are no English menus or English spoken. On the subject of other tourists, we realised towards the end of the trip that we had not actually encountered any other Brits at all! The majority are Chinese.
Rice is the main staple of course, accompanied by a range of 'curry' dishes, often spicy and in sauces. A soup is always served alongside the main dishes and sometimes delicious fresh raw vegetables. Extra chilli in fish sauce is always available too!
Many of the colonial buildings in Khalaw remain but the real attraction of the area is the trekking. We did a fine 13 mile hike in the hills through varied terrain ranging from tea and mandarin plantations to thick bush to terraced mountain rice fields. The soil is red and iron rich and supports a huge range of vegetables and fruit, we also saw flourishing cabbages, green beans, celery, carrots, avocados, red and green tomatoes, peppers, chillis, potatoes, persimmons, ginger, turmeric and bananas.
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| Avocados! |
Not much exciting bird life yet ; what there is remains very elusive.Similarly with animal life ; the locals have eaten most of the monkeys!
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| Tea plantation |
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