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

We started our trek with a massive entourage. This included ourselves, our guide, a military escort, 20 porters and 4 live chickens we called “breakfast,” “lunch,” “dinner” and “snack,” hanging upside down from a bamboo pole. Very quickly the road shrunk to a path and then withered to a tiny trail. Bamboo culms reached skyward, over 100 feet.

While the trek pace seemed very slow, slower than it should be, we eventually got to the first village beyond the road. These huts were more of the style that I expected. They had thatched roofs and bamboo floors. The whole scene looked like it could have been a Gilligan’s Island set. Surprisingly, they actually had a light in the hut that was powered by a car battery. We repeated the drill of books, tops and postcards.

Our festivities were interrupted with a knock at the door. “Who could that be?” we asked ourselves. We could have guessed all night and never would have expected who popped up at our door. Christmas carolers! The gleeful revelers regaled us in our wintertime favorites, here in the tropics under the persimmon trees.

The story continues...