Kachin Tribal Village Trek, Burma/Myanmar - Hiking in the Jungles of Burma

We got up early for the last day of our hike as we were all anxious to get back to relative civilization. As we started down the trail Ohn Lwin signaled for me to walk with the porters. I figured it would be a fun challenge to keep pace with them for a bit and wait for Kirk and Nancy at the first nice overlook. My porters had a different plan. I think they could smell home, because the porters took off like bats out of hell! There was no obvious place to stop and I didn’t recognize anything. Jungle tends to look like jungle after a while, so I just kept pushing forward. I started to feel that it wasn’t a good idea to stop. I worried that I was so far ahead that the wait would be long. I could just imagine my nerves rattling as I sat alone, staring down an empty trail, so I marched on. We went two hours before they finally took a break. Shegee pounded my chest in approval for my ability to stick with them.

The next morning, bright warming sun greeted us as we headed out happily to the open market. They had all sorts of items for sale, including a pair of children’s Philadelphia Eagles sweat pants. Who knew the Burmese were E A G L E S – Eagles fans!

As we were waiting for the plane, I decided to have one last walk around. As I turned the corner, this peaceful town turned into an all out game of Kung Foo fighting. Drop kick to the left of me, kids flying in the air to the right and sticks whacking at each other in front of me. It sort of reminded me how dogs play, seemingly vicious, but full of innocent fun. I think it could have gone on all day, but an old, irritated woman came charging out from behind the hotel. I didn’t understand her mutterings, but the kids certainly did. Two seconds later they had all scattered and my last photo op of the trek was over.

After breakfast we went to the zoo. It was originally built by the British and was fairly expansive. Most of the animals were kept in reasonable open-air accommodations. They had most of the standard exhibits as well as vipers, rhinos, strange birds and a tiny deer the size of a dog. Most of these were indigenous to this part of the world. Probably the coolest aspect of the zoo is that you can get really close to the animals, including the ability to feed some like the hungry hippos.

Most of the animals were well taken care of, except for the chained elephants that clearly needed room to roam.

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