Over the last few days in Thailand
I left Chiang Mai and rode the smooth, ‘racetrack like’ roads through the
mountains to the border town, Mae Sot. Along the way there were stunning views
although bad air quality. The dry heat was stifling... like opening a fan
forced oven and sticking your face in front of it, I didn’t mind though... I
was too eager for the next part of the trip!
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| Mae Sot temple, hundreds of monk statues |
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| Throwing away my Thai 'cheat sheet'... I never really got the hang of this language, 2 weeks here was not enough! |
Along the way I received many ‘thumbs-up’
from monks, travelers and the general public. As I arrived in Mae Sot the
hotel I was looking for did not exist and I ended up at a guest house instead,
here I had 2 days to kill before the crossing into Myanmar. I finally found
cereal again, cornflakes had run out weeks ago... this time it was Milo!
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| Backstreets of Mae Sot |
I used my time here to check the
bike, install a new sprocket, pop my counter-shaft seal back in, and drain a bit
of oil... In general I just made a mess! But now I was totally ready. Over the
following days I met each of the members in the group for the crossing (we had
to have a guide so we shared the cost). Everyone’s plans were similar, i.e. get
to Europe!
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| Replacing the old with the new |
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| The bottle was a poor attempt at catching all the oil! |
There’s always mixed emotions
when leaving a country behind. However the excitement for the next country was
difficult to contain... at the same time nerves kick in about getting all the
border stamps and then frustration at the many hours that it usually took to
get past all the officials. We arrived at the border at 8 AM for the rendezvous
with our guides and from here the crossing took 2 hours – relatively fast. It wasn't
difficult though, just busy.
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| The crew. Some amazing adventure travel stories from these guys! |
We all received new number plates
and left in the intense heat through some amazing mountain roads with our first
taste of the water festival to come over the following days. My number plate
fell off within the first hour, surprise surprise... A4 page sticky taped to
the side of a dirty bike didn't last?!! Ben took my tires and Steve my
camping gear, allowing for some fun through the mountain roads!
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| Fitting my new paper number plate at the border |
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| Beautiful mountain roads, open only one way... hence the even / odd border entry dates! |
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| Chris, Leandro and myself enjoying the views whilst waiting for the cars! |
The first day was very
interesting with a film crew shooting footage for the government,
Ben received more than he bargained for with a granny flashing him and a long
day riding into the sunset before arriving at our hotel near the Golden Rock. The
countryside showed undeveloped bamboo houses with a ‘back-in-time’ feel, it was
getting interesting.
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| Huge trucks always overladen, just like every other vehicle in Asia! |
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| "How many distance you come?" ... "Just ticked over 20 thousand bro" |
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| Food or money please... |
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| Apparently we will premier on Myanmar TV in a months' time! |
The roller-coaster ride up to the
rock was insane, crammed into a truck like cattle flying up and around the
steep, windy roads with no barriers and huge drops at each hair pin. Kyaiktiyo Pagoda, also
known as the Golden Rock is the third most important religious site in Myanmar.
It has a small pagoda built on the top of a boulder covered with gold leaves pressed
on by visitors of the site- I pasted a ‘gold’ leaf on as well although I wasn't
convinced it was real gold...
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| Pose for the Golden rock! |
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| I told her I don't know how to hold a child... but she insisted! |
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| Tasty snacks |
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| Riding through a town I have forgotten the name of... |
The following day we rode to
Yangon, the former capital city with over 5 million inhabitants. We arrived at
the outskirts in the evening and left our motorbikes locked up at a police
station... This city has a total ban on bikes, that’s sacrilege surely! Anyway
that night we celebrated Leandro’s birthday with a tower of beer or 5.
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| We passed through 100's of military checkpoints, each time documents were shown to allow passage |
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| Upgrade to a police bike anyone? |
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| Blocking Leandro in his room, our birthday present to him! |
WATER FESTIVAL! Those 2 words
alone describe this day, with a few sights in-between the music, dancing and
insanely friendly locals partying their hearts out for the New Year
celebration. The 40° C heat was perfect for the soaking... it’s indescribable
in words how incredible the celebration was here.
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| A minute before my phone broke, should've probably seen that coming... |
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| Find the problem with this picture, hint: Tiger |
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| A ridiculous amount of gold and jewels, I also got to try some traditional clothes |
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| Back to the party! |
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| I'm surprised the suspension didn't break, the dance move was JUMP JUMP JUMP |
Exhausted from the previous day’s
celebrations we made the 630 KM journey to Old Bagan, totaling 1200 KM through
Myanmar so far. It was a long, dry, hot, wet and insane day. The bikes got
soaked through every town, village and city for the entire day... with a few drunken
accidents and general craziness thrown in for good measure. That night we were
rewarded with a pool in our hotel, HELL YEAH!
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| Total road block, absolute insanity ensued with the water canons! |
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| Drunk riding... hope he was OK - they ride with reckless abandon here |
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| Absolute bliss, relaxing with a Myanmar beer! |
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| 530 AM sunrise over old Bagan, over 2200 Pagodas still stand to this day! |
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| Doing mainsies with the gang! |
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| Off road to see more Pagodas |
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| The locals can wheelie anything! |
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| Riding past some other tourists... trying not the spray them too much |
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| Back for the sunset! |
Bagan to Mandalay was a grueling
day with 42° C temperatures and slow going with road blocks for the water
festival every few kilometers. One day of festival was amazing, two days was
fun, three days was getting a bit much and the fourth day was absolutely
exhausting! Arriving at the hotel was a relief for sure.
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| Good use of a scooter, too bad it was bloody annoying by now! |
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| Yo, hey man.. long days on the road.. |
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| The crowds got pretty intense at times, made for an interesting ride! |
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| Crossing a bad-ass bridge that I don't know the name of... |
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| Every 5 minutes, absolutely soaked to the bone! |
In Mandalay we had 2 nights, with a whole day sight seeing... it was quite relaxed with most of us glad to just enjoy a bit of sleep. As we leave this city today some of the route has changed for the last part due to road works, but hopefully it should all go smoothly and we slip into India with no dramas.
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| The heat has been relentless, bring on the Indian mountains! |
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| Longest wooden bridge in the world! |
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| The route past Kale has slightly changed, but not by much... it's been an amazing 1800 K's |
Tomorrow we all cross into India,
the Eastern sliver containing disrupted tribal communities, far less traveled
lands and the hottest chilies in the world! The group has really bonded over
the course of this crossing and I hope to cross Pakistan with most of them in a
months’ time, it’s been amazing. From here I will make my way to the base of
the Himalayas and then continue across the Northern part of the country,
camping may be back on the agenda... but I honestly have no idea what to
expect. Bring it on!!!
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| Fist bumping on the highway, adios Myanmar! |
PS: A huge thanks to Leandro, Fernanda, Stevo, Tobias and Chris for sharing their photos... it's a total mix in this blog!
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