We said a final farewell to the balloons as they actually passed over our roof top whilst we were having breakfast and took a tuk-tuk to the bus station for our 08.30 bus to Kalaw. The first half of the journey was not spectacular scenery wise, very flat and arid, no crops growing and no greenery as we are still in the middle of dry season. However, later that afternoon mountains appeared and the scenery got more interesting. The bus then started to climb, and climb and climb. Bad roads, no barriers, lots of trucks and hairpin bends, made for an interesting journey until we eventually got to the top at 1200 meters.

We were met by the usual "mob" of taxi drivers and we took one to our B & B, Hillock Villa. Was a lovely place, a 10-minute walk in to town (15 minutes back as we had to climb the "hillock"). We went and had an early dinner at a local Italian set in a beautiful colonial building and opted for pizza for a change. We were back by 8.00pm and were so ready for an early night as it had been a busy few days with early mornings. Plus we needed to get our strength back for what we had planned next……….. Although as a warm up we did spend a day walking uphill to Hnee Pagoda where there was a 500-year old bamboo Buddha and the Shwe U Min pagoda, a cave filled with golden Buddhas.

Kalaw is an old hill station and decidedly chilly in the evenings and first thing in the morning and has lovely hill views. At its heart is the market and it was really interesting to see the villagers from the surrounding hills come in to town to sell their produce. There is an eclectic range of foods with descendants of Indian and Nepali rail workers who migrated here during the British rule.

We also spent an evening at Hi Bar, a tiny and very atmospheric dive bar and the best place for a drink in Kalaw. They only sell the hard stuff, no beer, and our drink of choice was Rum Sour (made with Mandalay Rum) and only £1.00 a drink - we had a few!

So, after a long walk and an evening with a few rums, we were up at 7.00am the next day ready to be collected at 08.15. We had decided to trek from Kalaw to Inle Lake over 2 days. After a 45- minute drive to Lamine Village, we started our trek armed with much needed hiking poles. It was just us and our guide, James, and for the whole 2 days we only met 3 other tourists who were hiking with the same company.

We passed through many local villages and had a wonderful insight of the Myanmar culture and a really authentic experience. We learned a lot about different crops, local trades (weaving bamboo baskets), excavating rock and creating lime, making brown sugar from sugar cane a lot of which is sent to the rum distillery and so much more. We saw fabulous scenery despite it being very dry and the land 40 shades of brown, and met so many happy, smiling locals.

We stopped in one village and visited the family. We were warmly welcomed and given green tea and freshly fried peanuts. One of the girls, when she had overcome her shyness, had great fun in wrapping different turbans on Heather's head. It was a really enjoyable hour to spend time with a local family.

En-route our "chef" would arrive on his motorbike and prepare us amazing lunch and dinner with 7 different types of fruit, intricately cut, lovely soup, avocado and tomato salad and noodles - far too much for us to eat. But we found out leftovers don't go to waste and are passed on to local people.

Whilst eating lunch we were very lucky to witness a buddhist initiation ceremony, where young boys do their service to Buddhism and are entered into the order of the monks for a week or longer. The boys dress up in elaborate costumes, symbolic of the look of a royal prince. There is a procession to the monastery with the boys riding horses and a group of musicians following in a truck.

Day one was 20km and when we arrived at our final village we were happy to rest our tired feet. We were sleeping with a local family on a mat on the floor surrounded by a mozzie net tent, but we slept well. The "shower" was a reservoir and a bucket surrounded by corrugated metal and the toilet was a long drop but you first had to walk past a couple of cows. We were in bed at 9.00am after we had finished dinner and had a couple of rums mixed with honey that our chef had kindly given to us as a gift.

Day two was an early start - the village wakes up at daybreak. After a great breakfast and a gift from the family of a half water bottle filled with natural honey still with some bee particles left in, we set off to continue our journey to lake Inle. The first 2 hours was downhill and rocky, so not the easiest. It was hotter nearer the lake and we were tired from day one, but we pressed onwards and after 16km we reached the end of our trip with a fabulous lunch waiting for us. After lunch we were put on a long boat to cross the lake to our accommodation where our main backpacks were also waiting for us.

All in all, a real highlight of our stay in Myanmar - very unique and to get the opportunity to experience rural life with no other tourists is priceless.