Our Christmas day began with a flight to Kalaw, about a 90min flight north of Yangon. At check-in, the staff were trying to make the tourists feel right at home in the Christmas spirit, by wearing Santa hats. When we boarded, we found the cabin decorated for Christmas, Christmas music was playing and they greeted us with Christmas chocolates.
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| Christmas morning flight |
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| Check-in counter |
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| Decorated cabin |
Kalaw is a high altitude hill station town built by the British to escape the heat of the low country, including Yangon. The town is surrounded by hills and is a popular destination for trekking.
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| Kalaw Railway Station |
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| A little chilly in Kalaw |
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| Top speed 7kmph |
We’d been here five years ago and took the 60km road trip from the airport along one of the most jiggering sort of road dotted with potholes, which took close to three hours. The road has been resealed and we had a smoother trip on Christmas Day (accompanied by Christopher’s Christmas playlist) and in less than half the time of the first trip.
Kalaw is a busy market town selling an assortment of products.
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| Good temperatures for growing flowers |
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| Rice |
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| Potatoes |
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| Cabbages anyone? |
Our afternoon was spent trekking in the hills amongst Buddhist pagodas, pine forests, hillside vegetable patches and sleepy villages.
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| Wild sunflowers |
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| Planting time |
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| Broken down bullock cart |
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| Volleyball |
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| Repaired bullock cart |
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| Herding cattle |
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| Chopping wood |
We met a few locals along the way. The young children were fascinated by us and Christopher found a buddy who I think would have come home with him.
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