A Change of Scenery

We have been in cities, on the river and at the beach so it was only fitting that the mountains were next.  After climbing a little over 4,000 feet, we reached the mountain city of Kalaw.  It felt as every thousand feet we would climb, the feeling of Asia would diminish more and more.  It was clear by the time we reached Kalaw, that the British had left a heavy influence.

Farmers sorting out their crops at the train station in Kalaw. 

The mountainside was no longer plush with palm trees but by evergreens common in the west.  We could have easily been driving through the mountains of Vermont no less the mountains in South East Asia.  The once tropical resorts we have called home the past week and a half was replaced by what one would mistake as a ski chalet in the Swiss Alps.  To top it off, the dining hall had a big wood burning stove and horned animals mounted on the walls.

Our hotel that resembled a ski chalet. 

Our stop in Kalaw was short.  For tourists, the most popular activity is to trek through the local mountainside.  What seemed like it could end up being a grueling hike turned into a nice stroll through the plateaued farms in the Burmese mountainside.  Wheat, rice, garlic and mustard cover the tablelands as hoards of wild sunflowers grow on the hedges that fence in the land.  I have to give the Burmese credit, about 70% of them make a living off farming and the incredible thing is, not one of them uses modern day machinery.

A farmer tending to his crops. 

It was a nice change of scenery in Kalaw.  When I left for this vacation, I never thought it would be so cold at night where I would see my breath or that the sounds of crackling wood in a fireplace would put me to sleep. 

One of the boys in the local farm village who wanted to play soccer
with us. 

Sunflowers dotted the mountainside.