trekking in Myanmar

Sorry I should have said we will only unfortunately have 2 or 2 1/2 weeks in Myanmar.

I have heard it is very easy to organise trips from Kalaw. You can treck to Inle lake from here i believe. A good location to reach if you are doing Yangon to Mandaly.

Met a traveller in Vientnam who had trecked in this area and he said it was amazing.

Sorry haven't got more detail. I am looking into this option myself at the moment so any recomendations form any one who had been to this area would be great.

Laters

Kalaw, or Inle Lake at Nyaungshwe. Nyaungshwe also has some good biking. No horseback riding, but plenty of horse carts. It's easy to arrange treks at either place. You can arrange some canoeing at Nyaungshwe too. The Smiling Moon Restaurant/travel agency in Nyaungshwe is very competitively priced, and also a good place to eat. Most treks are 2, or 3 days, with village stops, and gorgious scenery.

koolbreez

Photos

even big cities in Myanm=Burma look like a village at best with thai stdd in mind.
Kalaw seems to be the only place where its in the right season possible to quickly organise some form of trek, near like in Thaild. If thats amazing mainly reflects the little experience that one seemed to have

Yes, generally Kalaw is a good tip for trekking, it's the 'trekking headquarter' in Myanmar. I've been there in Febuary and it was terrible cold during the nights, so you should have the proper closes. During my stay it was freezing during the nights and I HATE the cold and this was the reason I only made a one day trip from the very early morning to the late evening, but I have to admit I was a little bit disappointed because I expected to get into jungle and there was no. In this area the jungles are cut. Nothing is left. The hilltribe village we visited had the charm of a slum and there was nothing romantic. But this is only my very personal point of view and maybe it depends on my guide and on this special trip. Most people I met liked the trekking arround Kalaw very much. Many travellers made a three days trip from Kalaw to Inle Lake, sleeping in small villages and were excited.
If you have only 14 days you should think about flying. Travelling by bus is very strenuously. The busses and roads are very bad and you will travel with an average speed of 20 km/h and it's easy too lose a lot of time. I came from the 'Golden Rock' in the South and I needed 22 hours to Nyaungshwe and arrived at dawn. The bus trip through the mountains during the night is an adventure. Sometimes I couldn't recognize any street, it looked like driving through the middle of nowhere. You could save a lot of time if you fly to Heho which is located between Kalaw and Inle Lake.

If you want to do something else except your trekking I recommend to visit Mandalay and start a half day trip to Mingun by boat and another day take a taxi and visit Amarapura in the south of Mandalay. You could left Mandaly by boat to Bagan from where you could get back by plane to Rangoon. Also Mt. Popa should be very nice I heard, but I wasn't there.

Trekking in Burma
Most of the travelers and Agency they mention the southern Shan state,Yes,that is good because Kalaw is on the way to Inle lake and very convenient ,Trek from Kalaw to Inle lake that depend on you 3 day trip or 2 days trip.
But if you love the new place that is Northern Shan state(Hsipaw and Nam sam )is great trek there

I would advice you to try a few days into the mountains from Hsipaw. I missed my selves since it was raining but I did see one of the mountain tribes a late evening outside a cinema in Hsipaw. All of them were old women in complete black dresses, very vide red belts and white blouses. They looked with amazement into the cinema it was something they had never seen before. It was absolute fantastic to see these people I would have done the trek if I had brought the right equipment visited during the right season.

You can stay over night at Nam Khae Mao Guest House for 7$ night very nice and kind people, ask for Mr Bean he can guide you to the mountain villages at least two days needed, he charge 8$ / day. One should avoid the rain season since this walk can be transformed into a mud walk.

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<hr>The hilltribe village we visited had the charm of a slum and there was nothing romantic.<hr></blockquote>

bernjul, #5--perhaps your opinion of the southern Shan state was clouded more by your aversion to the cold. What do you expect from a hilltribes area?

The majority of Myanma people, let alone the hilltribes, are very poor and have very little except their friendliness. You're entitled to your opinion from your own experience but I return almost yearly to the Kalaw area because the Shan are usually quite friendly.

OP--if you're seeking a trekking guide, I can recommend a local friend, Pho Kyaw or 'Alex' at:

phokyawalex@gmail.com