I was very nervous beginning this next part of my journey. My goal for the next three days was Loikaw-->Taungoo--> Pyay-->Toungup. I was beginning a stretch where I'd be going from the far eastern part of Myanmar all the way to it's west coast. Crossing the entire country, about 500 miles, with three mountain ranges in the way.
It wasn't that long ago (2014) that me even attempting this would have been forbidden by the government. Most of Myanmar was closed off to foreigners, either entirely or requiring special permits to enter. This was ostensibly to protect visitors as there's many armed ethnic insurgent groups throughout the country. There still are, but only a few places have active conflicts. There are still a few places I'd need special permission to enter. In my research to find out where, I came across this outfit,Mandalay Motorcycle Rental and Tours. I wrote them, and they told me that as I hold a Myanmar Drivers License, I could go to all these places without need of permits. Other tourists who are here temporarily do need permits unless they're part of a tour group. So, if anyone reading this wants to try something like what I've done, contact Zach at mandalaymotorbike.com and join one of his tours.
Be careful coming around corners. You never
know what might be in the road ahead.
They also told me they had recently made the Loikaw-Taungoo trek and that the road was very long and very rough. This warning added to my consternation, but at the same time, eased my mind in that I knew it could be done. During previous stages, I had taken side trips to see sites along the way. For this stage, I only had time for one, the Seven Stages Lake in Kayah State. Be-yoooo-tiful!
This is a road
The roads coming out of Kayah State weren't actually that bad, but I crossed over into the furthest north part of Kayin State, yeah, parts of "Old Road" were torture. Really, really difficult roads. Bone jarring. Another thing I noticed that was different on the western slopes of the mountains was the forested countryside. If you've watched the previous videos, you may have judged Myanmar to be a pretty dry place. We are in the midst of the dry season, and most of these places haven't had any rain in 6 weeks or more. About halfway through the trip, the forest turned to jungle. It felt like a tropical rain forest, which I suppose is what was!
I was so relieved as the hills flattened out and I found myself again in the Bago Valley. The drive took 8 hours, and I rewarded myself with a hamburger at Taungoo's finest hotel (not where I stayed).
Enjoy the video, once again with all-ukulele background music!
The journey into the unknown. Exploring the heart of darkness.
Taking the road less traveled. Boldly going where few tourists have
gone before!
Okay, I may have engaged in a bit of hyperbolic cliche there, but the
places I'm going for my holiday break certainly qualify as the
unbeaten path at the very least. This trip, which begins in just a
couple of days, has me very excited and a bit nervous. None of the
places I'm going are currently 'dangerous', but they have been in the
not too distant past, and most of my journey is to parts of Myanmar
that foreign tourists weren't even permitted to go to just three
years ago. Consequently, as I've done my trip planning, scant
information exists about them and my itinerary is somewhat loose. The
southern road down the Isthmus of Kra is sort of on a slowly
developing tourist path, but the online tools I've normally used when
traveling around SE Asia have been somewhat useless.
For the 9-day journey, I've only made accommodation reservations
for five of eight evenings, and those were made on the phone and
aren't even paid for yet. Two of my stops don't have hotels with
phone numbers that I could find on the internet, and definitely no
way to book them online. I only know I can even stay there because
of bare-bones, 100 word entries on Wikitravel.org. My only booked
transportation is a flight back home at the end of the journey after
I reach my final destination. I know what trains I'm taking and
when, but I don't have a seat. There's a stretch in the middle where
I've told myself, “Well, there's gotta be a
bus between those two towns. I'll just ask around when I get there.”
For many intrepid travelers,
even this level of planning is more than they'd do. More meticulous
planners would be aghast at the uncertainty in my journey. Me, as
much as I'd like to say I'm a fearless wanderer who points a
direction and just follows his nose 'that way!', in reality, I'm a
bit uncomfortable heading out alone with these big gaps of unknown in
the middle of my itinerary. I'll make the best of it, I'm sure, and
in a way, the uncertainty makes it more exciting.
So where am I going? Let me
share the plan, such as it is.
Somewhere near Mawlamyine. Myanmar's biggest Reclining Buddha.
1. December 23rd:
Yangon to Mawlawmyine.
Formerly known as Moulmein, my first stop is the capital of Mon
State and a fairly big town. It's got a lot of history, as it was
once the capital of the British Raj early in their takeover of Burma.
The Mon are one of several 'nationalities' living in Myanmar. They
speak a language completely unrelated to Burmese and have their own
culture. There are things to see and do in Mawlamyine, but I can't
tell you what they are the moment. I just realized I left my
notebook with my itinerary at work, so the details for the rest of
this blog will be vague. In any case, Mawlawmyine is a 5 hour train
ride. I depart first thing in the morning, and I have a hotel
'booked' for the evening.
2. December 24th-26th:
Hpa-An.
An early morning ferry sometimes
goes from Mawlawmine up the Thaniyin River to the town of Hpa-An, my
next stop. See, it's a sometimes
ferry because it's not used by the locals any more. They recently
improved the road between the two cities, and a two hour bus trip is
far more preferable to the locals than a five hour ferry trip against
the current. The ferry service makes it's way north 'if enough
tourists sign up to make it practical', and I'd think that on
Christmas Eve Day, there will be enough. No worries. I'll take the
bus otherwise.
Hpa-An is another old, famous
city. It's the capital of Kayin State, home of the Myanmar tribes of
the Karen people (who also live in large numbers in neighboring
Thailand). I'm spending two to three days there, depending how much
I like it. I plan on renting a motorcycle and tootling around the
surrounding mountains. I hear the scenery is spectacular. I won't
repeat my mistake that I made in Indonesia and do any vigorous
hiking, but there are several accessible physical sites to visit.
The Karen people are almost all
Christians, and so for 25th, I plan on doing something I haven't done
in a couple of decades, attend church for the Christmas service.
4. Dec 27th:
Hpa-An to Kyaikkami/Setse
Beach- Here's
where the uncertainty begins to kick in. I'm not sure exactly how I'm
getting there, but I know there's buses from Hpa-An back to
Mawlaymyine and then from there, it's not too far to this pair of
seaside resort towns. Kyaikkami is the former end point to the
notorious 'Death Railway', the rail path cut through the hills and
jungles to Thailand by Allied POWs under the Japanese during WWII.
About a year ago, I visited the Bridge Over the River Kwai in
Thailand, so this historic, old, colonial town (formerly known as
Amherst) seems like a natural destination on my slow slog south. I'm
not sure where I'm staying there, but as it is also a popular getaway
for the locals, there's got to be a lot more facilities than the one
place listed in my three-year- old Lonely Planet guidebook. Setse
beach seems to be quiet.
5.
Dec 28th:-
Ye-
How could I not stop in a place with this name? Ye
(pronounced Yay!)
has the shortest name of any place I've ever been to in my life.
It's about halfway between Kyaikkami and my ultimate destination, and
despite being a fairly big town, it's rarely visited by foreigners.
There's a wonderful park and lake in the middle of town where I'll
rest on my way south. Instead of looking for attractions to visit, I
suspect I'll be an attraction myself in this unheard of town.
6.
Dec 29th
to Dec 31st: Maungmakan Beach-
About ten miles northwest of
the provincial capital of Dawei (Tavoy) is a beautiful, quiet beach
on the shores of the Andaman Sea. Again, I plan on renting a
motorbike and exploring the scenic coastline, the city of Dawei
itself and maybe go snorkling or fishing. I've got my hotel booked
for this part of the stay, and I'll be getting there via rail from Ye
to Tavoy, and then a bus. I expect it to be a peaceful place to just
chill and relax.
Maungmagan Beach
7. January 1st,
2015: Back Home I've got a midday flight from Dawei back to Yangon. At
$108
for a one-way, one-hour flight, I certainly could have saved some
money by taking the train all the way back which would have only been
$10. Thing is, the train ride all the way back takes 30 hours...
Yeah, I'll be trained-out by that point.
What's odd about this itinerary
is that none of it includes any of the “Big Three” of Myanmar
tourism: Mandalay, Bagan and Inle Lake. Those three places is where
all of the tourists go when they come here. I've had other
foreigners react in utter disbelief when I tell them I've been here 9
months and not been to any of those places. Bagan, in particular.
See, when I thought about where
I wanted to go, three criteria came to mind. I wanted to visit
mountains, beaches and historical/cultural attractions. There are
mountains around Mandalay and Inle, the latter being a big lake which
might be thought of as beach-like. For sure Bagan is one the premier
cultural attractions anywhere in Asia, and I hear its absolutely
mind-blowing. That said, all of those places are very far away from
one another, and here on this holiday week, are sure to be packed
with tourists. My journey off the beaten path fulfills all my
criteria in a relatively small corner of southeast Myanmar. That's
why I picked this plan.
The world famous plains of Bagan
Besides, I get back on the 1st.
I don't start work again until the 7th.
Depending on how I feel, I can always make a quick trip up to Bagan
in the time remaining.
For now, it's back to thinking
about what I'm sure is going to be a trip I'll never forget.
Let's throw a video on the end.
Two nights ago, it was my company's Christmas party. Santa showed up
and appointed me the Chief Elf.
Mandalay Motorcycle Rental and Tours. I wrote them, and they told me that as I hold a Myanmar Drivers License, I could go to all these places without need of permits. Other tourists who are here temporarily do need permits unless they're part of a tour group. So, if anyone reading this wants to try something like what I've done, contact Zach at mandalaymotorbike.com and join one of his tours.
