Side street in Kalaw

[The_Traveler]

Kalaw is a small hill town of probably 10 or 12,000 people in the southern Shan state. Although it has a large and thriving market, it doesn't have much in the way of sights and so most of the tourists here are backpackers who take treks up into the surrounding hills. Like any small town in Myanmar, it seems dusty and a little decrepit but when you get into the market you meet an amazing variety of peoples from the ethnic tribes in the hills around Kalaw. The town has a goodly percentage of both Hindus and Moslems, either with their own 'neighborhood.'

My friend and I were out for a walk in the dark one evening and, in the non-Shan section of town, came upon a crowd gathered around a pushcart where a man was making little 'blintzes' on a charcoal fired iron plate under the light of a kerosene lantern. The crowd looked at us and so we went over. Everyone was extremely friendly, no common language of course, and when I went to buy one, several men pushed my money away and insisted on buying me one. It was incredibly good, a hot banana and pineapple mix in a pancake fried in peanut oil. I insisted on buying one each for the three men who treated me. (I can be a big spender for 40 cents each). As we left, many handshakes and shoulder claps later followed us.

Interestingly, about a mile out of town, up on a hill are about a dozen very expensive homes in a gated compound. The pleasant weather here has its attractions for wealthy people from the city.

(In case it doesn't show, I love Myanmar - and the people.)

This is a side street off the single main street through town.