In the cabbage field

We had another early start to beat the heat, as we were trekking around the hills near Kalaw. The views were stunning, among pine woods on one side and with an open vista to the countryside on the other. Boys driving buffalo came down the track, as did girls on motorbikes. We looked at tidy fields of crops - rice terraces, mustard, cauliflower (with cabbage fly), ginger, chick peas, sesame, rozelle, avocado, jackfruit and more we couldn't identify. We saw women and children working in the fields, and encountered s group of delightful girls returning from school - they hadn't realised it would be closed today, so they were in fine fettle. Further on we found the boys, playing dominoes on a bit of concrete, for money.

Unfortunately the group was on a mission, striding out purposefully, whereas I'd have liked more time to look about and I kept having to hurry to catch up if I had a photo stop. We covered the 11 miles in under 4 hours. It was hot, but not oppressive. At the end we had a homemade lunch provided by a woman and her daughter, in a concrete shed with a tin roof. It was delicious - stir fry crisp veg, chick pea tofu in a spicy sauce, green tomato salad and rice.

We then visited a very hot humid cave to see many Buddhas. As it was a special holiday it was crowded with locals chanting at every Buddha. Underfoot it was slippy as of course we had bare feet, so it was a relief to get out in the relatively fresh air after 20 minutes shuffling along in the crowd.