Discovering Northwest Myanmar 10: Ye-U to Indaw

Having just gone through a grueling ride the day before on my detour down to Ye-U, I wasn’t looking forward to another 250km slog through what I thought was going to be rather boring, dry landscape. My goal on day 11 of the trip was to get to the town of Indaw, which, according to google maps, had accommodations. 

Bike needed washing again

I was back down in agricultural heartland of Myanmar, and so I had expected to see mostly just farmland. Instead, this road through Sagaing Division was as varied and interesting as any other. There were rolling hills, tree-lined smooth highways, scrublands and forests. 

One of the most pleasant aspects of riding through Myanmar is that everywhere you go, most of the highways are
lined with lush trees. It's like driving through a green cave.

 

Seeing a Buddhist monk on a motorbike always fascinates me. This one is being joined by a few
hundred of his brothers over on the left side of the road.

This is what a truck normally does when you want to pass. They move
over a bit.

When it comes to the driving part, my biggest challenge of the day was getting round a military convoy. Half a dozen large military trucks full of soldiers with assault weapons were making their way up the road (I won’t say where exactly) at a speed that was just a bit slower than I wanted to go. Normally, when there’s a truck in the way on a narrow highway, one simply gives a friendly tap on the horn, and the truck will move over a bit and let one by. Well, first of all, these trucks were so big, they didn’t really have space to do that without going off on the shoulder. Second, there’s a natural reluctance to honk at a truckload of armed men to tell them to get out of one’s way. Hey Myanmar military! Get out of my way! I’m coming through. Umm… No. 

Umm.. excuse me.. sorry to ask..umm... if it's not too
much trouble... could I get by please?

With other big trucks on narrow roads, another option in passing them is to wait for another truck to come along the opposite direction. In those instances, both trucks have to slow down and go off onto the shoulders to pass each other. Then, simply use the motorbike’s superior acceleration to get by. By chance, there were no trucks coming the other way, and so for mile after mile I was stuck behind these dust-churning trucks being stared at sternly by the curious soldiers.  

Unfortunately, you won’t see much of this on the video. Somehow, I thought recording troop movements on my GoPro might get me in trouble. I do live in a country which is still experiencing armed conflict (more on that in later blogs). 

Indaw is a medium-sized town not too from the border with Kachin State. Nothing all that remarkable about it except for the truck graveyard I happened to come across. 

Enjoy the video!  Bluegrass version of a Guns N’ Roses hit! 

Myanmar Motorcycle Epic 9: On the Road to Mandalay

U Aung Zeya

I said goodbye to the nice manager and staff of the Pyi Shwe Theinga Hotel and headed into the heart of Shwebo, the old royal palace. As I mentioned in the last blog, Shwebo was one of many former capitals of Myanmar (Burma). How and why it came to be so, I didn't know. I learned there at palace which king made Shwebo so important: none other than U Aung Zeya. 

I had read of this man. During a time when Burma was split up into several small minor kingdoms (Ava, Pyay, Bago),

constant conflict existed between the different ethnic groups (Bamar, Mon, Shan), and the country was constantly being raided by the surrounding countries (Manipur in India, Yunnan in China and Thailand), from a humble village of a few thousand, U Aung Zeya secured the allegiance of the surrounding villages and fortified Shwebo. Over time, the people recognized him as the kind of strong, scrupulous, fair leader they needed as king, and thousands flocked to his banner. He deposed the other minor kingdoms, conquered the country, including a town called Dagon, renaming it Yangon, meaning 'end of strife' (where I live today) and founded what has come to be known as the Third Burmese Empire. Remarkable king, and learning all this historical stuff really gave context to what I was seeing. 

I was quite pleased to spot on the Google maps an alternate route to Mandalay, as the most direct route would mean going back down roads I had already come up. I hate doing that. 

Better still, the easterly route took me into hills and forests. Indeed, as I drove through it, considering how close it was to a big city like Mandalay, it was mostly wilderness. Perhaps this explains this sign which I saw at both of my rest stops along the way. 

Eventually, I got to Mandalay! I found a hotel, and went to visit a famous Mahamuni Pagoda. There, I bought some gold leaf intending to apply it onto a Buddha image as an offering. 

The gold cost all of $1.50, so as you might imagine, it was quite thin and wispy. Hard to manage. I'm pretty sure I ended up applying more of the gold onto my own fingers than onto the revered Buddha. 

Knowing that I was going to spend a couple days in Mandalay, I wasn't in any rush see it's many attractions. But I thought sunset at the royal palace might be nice to see. Thing is, the royal palace is inside the moat-surrounded inner city which only had a couple of gates. Also, the inner city is mostly just a military base with very restricted access. Turned out not only had I arrived at the wrong gate for foreigners to pass through...

...but I had also arrived too late. No tourists allowed to enter after 5:30 PM. The soldiers were nice enough, advising me to return tomorrow and at which gate. 

 

Enjoy the video...