"If we could take Kalaw with us, we would!" the British are reported to have said when leaving Myanmar. This old hill station is on the rim of the Shan Plateau, in the Pineland. At an altitude of 1320 meters it is pleasantly cool and a good place for hiking amid gnarled pines, bamboo groves and rugged mountain scenery.

We spent an hour at the local rotating market (which fortunately rotated into town on the day that we were there) and couldn't take enough pictures. Here is a sampling, captions only when necessary...

Thanakha is a local root that is ground into a paste and applied by women and children as a beautifying cosmetic and sunscreen.

Rice husks are used as a packaging material for eggs to prevent breakage during transport.

We've never seen a D battery used as a unit of weight, until now.

These young monks are going on an alms run through the market. This shopkeeper donated a few handfulls of beans and tomatoes.

This young lady was on her way to the market balancing bananas on her head with her son tied on her back.

It wasn't until she walked away did I notice that her hands were full as well.

Kalaw was peaceful, far from the incessant horn honking and engine noise of the main highway. Hiking in the hills was even more so - distant cow bells, bubbling streams and the wind. We hiked to 2 villages. Most of the villagers were working in the fields or at the market in Kalaw, but those that we did meet were warm, friendly and fascinating.

Tea drying, boys playing with cat, slingshot in back pocket.

Children (with mother in background) posing for the foreigners.

Trade you a candy for a hibiscus flower? (Note previous gift - leaf - in knapsack.)

This lovely woman hosted us in her home where she lives with 3 daughters, 2 of which are married with children. She served bananas and tea, all of which her family grows. We communicated through our guide, as we did not sharea a common language. She told us of her people's customs and showed us some of her grandmother's heirlooms, one of which was a turban. When we seemed confused about her explanation on how to put it on, she tooks hers off to demonstrate, revealing the beautiful ponytail pictured here.

After a few pictures, she gave us some locally grown tea as a souvenir of our visit.

Here's Rick watching the boys take lunch.

Here is the longhouse that we visited in the 2nd village. A longhouse is a long building where several families live. During our visit, only 2 families were home. The daughter of one of the families proudly showed off her week old daughter. We shared tea and bananas with the rest of the family before getting a tour of the 'basement.'

The open basement had a kiln on which cheroot leaves were dried. Cheroot is a local leaf that's hand processsed into a small cigar. Pictured here is the drying process. This woman lays the leaves in a circle on top of the kiln and places a weight (a bag of earth) on them. Then she lifts the bag of earth from the next group of leaves and continues ... The dried leaves are placed in a basket and sold at the market. (See Inle Lake for further processing).

We left the village and continued to the small restaurant overlooking the valley that we had just hiked through. Our guide bought us lunch at this fine vista. Here is the kitchen where it was being cooked.

This spot was about 90 minutes from the market in Kalaw. These villagers made the early trek to the market in the morning and here they are coming home.

The last group home were the village leaders.