Myinka Trek Ecolodge

19/03/2024

Le nouvel update du programme de reforestation au Shan State est enfin posté:

Springtime in MyinmethiWelcome to a new update on the ACRE program at Myinmethi Village, in the Southern Shan State, Myanmar. Since our last blog piece dated October 2023, the rain has ended, we’ve cleared the dry weeds so that they don’t become combustible fuel for wildfires, invested into the ...

11/09/2023

Saturday I risked myself into a longer than usual mountain bike trail.
Departure from Myinka Ecolodge, heading North to the group of hills known as "Palaung Taung", the mountains of the palaung people.
The trail quickly becomes a steep hill climb for a good 2 km, which left me breathless on the edge of Pyeinnaypin village, whicj I left on ly left when I turned into another twisty valley heading to Taungnyi, another Palaung village.
I entered a cloud full of mist, but no rain. I could hardly see 20 m (60 ft) in front of me!
Past Taungnyi, the trail continued to climb until I reached the maximum elevation of 1,539 m (5,050 ft).
At that point, the trail turned down hill almost continuously over at least 5 km. Quite exciting and relaxing after so much efforts!
Before reaching the town of Aungpan, I discovered a fantastic, well preserved old wooden pagoda, see picture.
Sadly, all these old wooden pagodas are condemned to be replaced by ugly cement buildings. The villagers call it progress...
Finally I reached the Pindaya - Aungban road and followed it accross Aungpan and its busy traffic. Past the toll gate and the last steep hill climb, I reached the entrance road leading back to Myinka's valley. No more lorries and diesel fumes!
I slowly pedalled back to the Ecolodge, proud to have made it! Altogether it was 27 km (16.8 miles) and 436 m (1,430 ft) max. change in elevation. Not bad!

28/08/2023

This weekend we switched to “discovery mode” and followed a new trail!

Starting at 9.00 am from our Trek Ecolodge, we exited Myinka West of the Kalaw Villa housing compound, leaving the Ohsi mountain on our left. We walked through the pine forest downhill, and before reaching the Innpyin military camp, we made a steep climb up the Zay Di Mountain (Zayditaung in Burmese).

The view from the top over Kalaw is amazing, especially given that, at that point in the day, the sun was shining.

After visiting the surrounding of the Zayditaung pagoda, we walk down the long stairway and crossed the main road to the village of Innpyin.

From there we walked past the Rent 2 Own reforestation program, whose trees now reach 3 to 4 m height.
Half way to Myinmethi we left the main trail and crossed the pine forest under a sudden and heavy rainfall.

We reached Kalaw around 3.00 pm, near the Tithawlay guesthouse after a nearly 15 km trek.

What a fantastic day in Kalaw!

03/04/2023

We still have rooms available for Thinyang holidays.
Abundant solar electricity and solar hot water, infinite guided trek opportunities from your doorstep, check our packages at https://www.myinka.org,
or call 096 6502 0022 to book.

24/03/2023

Ko Moe Zaw and his adorable wife Ma Myo spent nearly a week at Myinka Trek Ecolodge. They got along very well with owner Mapale and trekked almost everyday across the mountains and cabbage fields... They even said that Couscous, our female watchdog, is the best trek-guide of the entire Kalaw area..!

23/03/2023

Our guest Christian Doerfel enjoyed his trek from Myinka Trek Ecolodge to Inle lake: 2 days walking across the picturesque shan countryside, and one night in a Taungyoe ethnic village! The trip ended with a calm navigation on the lake, just in time for Christian to catch his flight back to Yangon. Thank you Christian, we hope to see you again soon!

22/02/2023

22/02/2023

Full house around Christmas!

17/08/2022

This weekend we took our guests to a wonderful trek across the valleys around Kalaw. We visited a workshop producing tea-leaves-salad in Pyinyebin, a village in Palaung ethnic territory. We ended the trek in Kalaw after 4 hours and 10 kilometers. The weather was superb, no rain, not too warm… Again, a happy day at Myinka Trek Ecolodge!

12/02/2022

✨Spotlight on Kalaw ✨

High up in western Shan State, Kalaw is an old hill station with a laid back atmosphere, refreshing climate and scenic views. Many of Kalaw’s original colonial-era buildings remain, and it is also known as Myanmar’s trekking mecca.

10/02/2022

Meet Philippe, founder of Myinka Trek Ecolodge. Originally from France, Philippe spent most of his life in frontier countries like Cambodia and Vietnam in the 90’ & 00’ and moved to Myanmar in 2015. He loves hiking, gardening and cooking!