Myanmar Motorcycle Journey 5 - Nyaungshwe to Pinlaung

After two nights on the shores of Inle Lake, I was rested and ready for the next stage of the journey. We were treated nicely (got a free Christmas Dinner) by the folks at the Queen Inn (just across the canal near the bridge), so I said goodbye to them as well as my friend Dean, and I was back on the road.

As I skirted down the east coast of Inle Lake itself, I passed by several luxury resorts. $150-$200 per night type joints which I'm sure are quite lovely, but it got me thinking about how tourism is developing here in general, something I've though about quite a bit over the course of the entire journey.

I've had a lot on my mind, but not like this girl.

Seems to me like they're building way too many high-end accommodations and not enough mid-priced stuff. Why aren't there any affordable hotels on the lake? They're all up in the town of Nyaungshwe (connected to the lake by a canal). Why hasn't anyone opened a motorcycle rental shop in Nyaungshwe? Two sets of tourists asked me where I rented my bike. I understand the government here wants a controlled growth of their tourism industry, but I question the direction it's going.

Another example of this lop-sided development is the town of Nampan, a town almost as big as Nyaungshwe at the very southern end of the lake.  You'll see me make a detour into the town about 1 minute into the video. Before being joined by Dean, my plans included possibly staying a night in Lampan after visiting the ruins of Inn Dein the day before. I couldn't find any information for reasonable accommodations in Lampan, but I had been assured by others that there had to be a guesthouse or two. Look at the place. There's no guesthouses. In fact, it looked rather poverty strciken; an influx of tourist dollars certainly couldn't hurt the place.

Moooooove it!

South of Inle, the roads began to get hilly again, and I saw some remarkable stuff. Almost hit a cow. I do wonder who would get the worse of a cow-motorcycle collision.

There's a much larger lake a bit south of Inle, although this one is man-made, a product of the country's largest hydroelectric dam. I was admiring it's growing width in the valley below me, and eventually (after about 12 miles of looking at it), it occurred to me: The lake is on the wrong side! If I could see it at all, it should be on my left! Oh well. First time getting lost. I blame Google Maps. They showed the road I was on as ending at the point where I needed to turn right up towards Pinlaung. It didn't end.  

The geology got more and more interesting.

I'm always fascinated by Buddhists monks on motorcycles. 

Finally, I got to Pinlaung which I'll write about more in the next blog

And enjoy the video...



Road Report:
Distance traveled: 95 km (was supposed to be 60)
Time: 3.5 hours
Conditions (see the key): Good 35%; fair 60%; bad 5%

Kalaw to Nyaungshwe: Myanmar Mototcycle Journey 3

Your humble blogger

I'm learning to drive like a Myanmar person. There are certain behaviors on the road that used to baffle and sometimes infuriate me regarding how people drive here. Now, I've come to accept and expect them.

For example, when a driver is entering traffic from a perpendicular side street on your right onto the road you're on, they never, ever look left to see oncoming traffic; they just make a right onto your road without even considering who might be barreling along into their path. It used to bug me a lot. Now, when I see someone approaching the highway I'm on from the right, I just assume they're going to pull on without looking and I adjust accordingly. Heck, even I'm starting to do it! I just pull onto the road as I've got the right-of-way, no thoughts as to what's coming down the road.

This is why Asians have gotten the reputation for being such bad drivers back in the West. In actuality, they just play by a different set of rules.

It was Christmas Eve morning as I set out from Kalaw to Nyaungshwe, the principal town on the shores of the famous Inle Lake. My memories of Kalaw will be that of being very, very cold. Sure, it was only 50-something Fahrenheit, but it was like a San Francisco cold: bone chilling. Pretty town. I'd like to go back there in April in the heat of Myanmar's summer. As the trip to Inle was a short one, the shortest of the whole trip, I took a sidetrip down Myanmay Hwy 54 and found yet another amazing cave with lots of Buddha

Go that way!

images. This cave was much more impressive geologically, if not religiously than the similar cave I had visited in Kalaw.

These wooden bridges are troublesome too

The road out of Kalaw was fine. Well paved and not too much traffic. Thing is though, it was mostly downhill. I suppose it's the same for a car, but as any motorcycle rider who's driven through mountains knows, it's far easier and fun to go uphill than downhill. When going uphill, you can accelerate into the turns, power though them; there's no question of going too fast. When going downhill, it's a mix of downshifting and braking, all the while holding yourself back from the handlebars. It's tough. So, the small 60 km jaunt I talk about was a little harder than I'd thought it would be.

When I got to Inle, I got in a dust up with some guys demanding an 'entrance fee' because I was a foreigner. I didn't get it on video, but I do rant about it in the voice over.

A couple hours after I got Nyaungshwe, so did my friend Dean, who traveled there from Nay Pyi Taw just to hang out with me.

Enjoy the video.




Road Report:
Distance: 60 km
Travel time: 2 hours (not including sight-seeing detours)
Road Conditions (see the key): Good 60%; Fair 40%