Note: Well as I'm currently about 6 weeks behind on my blog- I'm going to summarise quite a bit- sorry!

I was really lucky managing to get a place on one of the group treks as they were actually full, but they decided to squeeze me in and allow a group of 7, so we were 2 German girls, a Swiss Girl (travelling together) a Dutch guy, an Australian guy, a French girl and me. And leading the troops we had Jomaine our really sweet young Burmese guide and our saviour Pou Pou, our cook who actually made the nicest food I had throughout my trip every night and got us moving at the crack of dawn with pancakes and coffee.

The group were lovely and made each day where we walked 7-8 hours fly by just chatting as we walked. The German girls have been doing some in depth travelling, really getting off the beaten path in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. And Matt the Aussie, leads groups of teenagers on trips to SE Asia to develop their skills and independence- beats school trips to France!

The trek took us to some really remote villages where they most definitely are not used to tourists and so were really interested when we came through, especially the kids. Towards the end of of one of the days we came across a group of kids playing in the stream, climbing trees to jump in and generally messing around. They of course abandoned all that to come and say hi and even took to following us, practicing their stock English phrases. As soon as they got a phrase out they'd be so excited they'd charge ahead and wait for us at the next bend. Now given that this section was all uphill- they were like lightening their little "Angry Birds" hots bobbing in the distance.

The scenery along the way was gorgeous, with lakes and forested areas and then rice and corn fields with mainly woman working in them. It still amazes me how kids are no burden at all here. They are simply strapped to their mothers back as she works, without a peep out of them and older ones play or help out near by.

The first village we stayed was pretty small with about 15 huts and no electricity, but they still managed to produce amazing food and even beer for us. We did however really feel the cold here. During the day it was around 35 degrees but at night it dropped to about 5!

The second night we stayed in the big smoke- this place had maybe 60 huts, a monastery and a school, where we could hear them all singing morning songs - very cute. The family we stayed with were also really lovely and so interested in us, where we came from what we did etc so Jomaiane was flat out translating for the dad especially. There were 3 daughters left living at home with the parents who were not married, but 2 were due to get married this Spring during festival time. All marriages in the villages happen on the same day- makes sense really. And I have to say these girls were stunningly beautiful. Throughout the trek we met so many different ethnic groups, all with their different traditional dress and even quite different facial characteristics, the country really is so diverse its crazy!

The last day of the trek although shorter, nearly killed me with almost 40 degree heat, I was very glad to get onboard our little longtail boat and see Inle Lake my home for the next few days with my trekking boots swapped for some flip flops!