Finally - some exercise - and what great exercise it was! We hiked into the hills around Kalaw to visit three Palaung tribal villages. It was gorgeous hiking through hills which used to grow opium but now grow mostly tea along with oranges and sesame seeds. The rutted and often muddy paths are only passable by motorbikes or ox carts, so the houses are very humble and the Palaung still live much in the way they have for centuries. We had tea in a traditional long house where multiple families live together. It was just a big open room with a fire in the middle for cooking and mats to sit on during the day or sleep on at night. The women were wearing traditional headresses and smoking cheroots - which are like skinny cigars. Younger women were hanging around with their babies. I got out my bubbles to amuse the kids and once they got over their initial shyness, they were quite delighted.

After hiking we drove for two hours to Inle Lake to a gorgeous hotel where we will stay for four nights.