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! 

Discovering Northwest Myanmar 7: Rihkawdar to Kalaymyo

I could’ve spent more time up there in Chin State. I mean, I really liked it there. The people, the towns, and most of all, the weather were wonderful. Remember, April is the hottest month of the year in Myanmar, and down in the valleys, the 100-degree, 60% humildity days were sweltering. The clean, crisp air of Chin was quite a relief. 

Sunrise in Chin State

 

As a place to ride a motorcycle, providing you have an enduro-bike with a good suspension, Chin State had been like a dream. The mountain vistas mesmerized me and the roads were in decent condition. The dream soured a bit on the road from Rihkandar to Tedim. On a lesser bike, it would have been a nightmare. 

Fortunately, the CRF250 I’d rented from mandalaymotorbike.com handled to rocky, bumpy roads without much trouble. After Tedim, the road to Kalaymyo was quite smooth. 

 

In Tedim, everyone was going to church. Well, not everyone.

Down from the hills into a valley, the heat was back. However, instant relief was available in the form of Thingyan, the water festival.  Just outside my hotel door, a stage had been set up.

They let me run the hose for a bit.

Hoses busily sprayed truckload after truckload of people out celebrating. A few dozen local youth danced up a storm in front of loudspeakers. I joined in, recording it with my waterproof camera.  When the organizers noticed me, they asked if I would like to record a traditional Thingyan dance. Of course! I’m  sure the dance was planned for later, but they moved it up just for me.

This first video shows the trip out of Chin to Kalymyo.

The second video is just the Thingyan dance and the goings on around it.  

Wow! It's Lao. Part 2 - Vientiane

That's gotta tickle.

I mentioned in my previous video that there had been a miscommunication between myself and the tour company I was going to rent my motorcycle from. It turned out to be no big deal as I had anticipated that the Myanmar visa matter would be more problematic than it was. I had budgeted myself two nights in Vientiane and was able to get my motorcycle the following morning. 

I’d like to offer a full-hearted endorsement to Remote Asia Travel there in Vientiane and their owner, Jim. Not only did he take care of the snafu with the booking, but he asked the right questions to discover where I was going, about me physically and my experience touring. Initially, I had planned to rent a smaller bike: just 220cc and much lower to the ground.

Your humble blogger

At Jim’s recommendation and after a nice discount to make up for the previous day’s problem, he upgraded  me onto a Honda CRF250, and not just any CRF, the one he uses personally when he leads tours around Laos. Moreover, he took the time to go over my route with me in some detail. My plans weren’t set in stone, and his suggestions have helped me set a more modest, but still spectacular course. A dry bag to keep the rain off my backpack (no flimsy garbage bag like I’d used previously), a helmet, a full tool kit, map, lock and chain, two extra tires and BUNGEE CORDS were all provided at no extra cost. So if you’re planning a trip to Laos, go with Remote Asia. 

Although it looks ancient, the park is about 100 years old.

As I took off for Budda (sic) Park some 25 km east of Vientiane, I started to get the feel for this machine.  Although I’ve been riding motorbikes of one kind or another my whole like, lately it’s been scooters and strep-throughs. It had been 15 years since I’d ridden anything with a manual gear box and over 200cc. Remembering how to use the clutch work came back quickly. On my bike back in Myanmar, to shift to a higher gear, you step up on the gear-shifter. On this Honda, you click up. It only took one time changing gears the wrong direction to burn into my mind that I need to be careful with this.

The real advantage of the CRF wasn’t noticeable until I turned off the highway onto a 8 km stretch of back-road leading to the park.  The road was typical of many I’ve ridden in Myanmar: extremely bumpy, gravelly, and where there is pavement, there were more potholes than smooth pavement. It was the kind of road I would have dreaded facing on my scooter. It would have a slow, bone-jarring and taxing ride on my little bike. On the CRF, I couldn’t feel the bumps; it wasn’t bone-jarring at all. I could just drive right through the smaller potholes instead of having to carefully weave my through the maze of broken pavement. What an awesome bike for SE Asian travel. 

As for more on the park itself and the rest of my day in Vientiane, I’ll let you see for yourself in the video. 

First some picture highlights:

This man is playing a flute with his nose! 

 

It's a large, stone.....

From the remarkable COPE Visitor Center

Enjoy the video..

On the Go in Manado 10 - Tomohon

I woke early on the 10th day of the journey to the sound of gardeners outside my window tidying up the grounds of the Mountain View Resort in Tomohon.

This was on the wall of the hotel where I
spent my first night in Manado.  Maybe it
planted a seed in my head.

Looking forward to a full day of sightseeing, I opened the door of my bungalow and sniffed the cool highland air. Glancing the gardeners, I was surprised. They were an older Western couple. White people doing the groundskeeping in a place where the minimum wage was about $5/day. It was the hotel manager and his wife, diligently weeding and raking up leaves. 

This was one of three accommodations I stayed at on the trip run by foreigners. Seeing them has put an idea in my head, perhaps I dare call it a dream.

From the Mountain View Resort

I got 20 years of teaching in me still, and I've got no idea what I'll do in retirement. I can picture myself raking leaves at Joko's Inn, opening up somewhere in SE Asia in 2035. Obviously, this would take a lot of resources, and I've got no idea what goes into opening and running a hotel other than what I've gleamed from being an avid traveler these last few years. Anyways, just floating an idea... perhaps I'll make it into a goal. 

What to see and do in Tomohon?  The first place to visit was the central market in the heart of the city. I'd read online that there were quite some unusual foods being sold there. I wasn't looking forward to seeing dogs on the butcher block again, but the idea of eating bat intrigued me. 

wings sold separately 

After visiting the market, it was a pleasant ride up the green slopes of the Mahawu Volcano. The volcano's crater was within a well tended national park, and I was expecting a significant foreigner entrance fee. I signed their guest book and was asked to make a donation of whatever I felt like making. That was refreshing. 

The video just covers the morning's activities there in Tomohon; what happened on the way back from the volcano gets its own video. 

On the Go in Manado 5: On the Road

Finally, it was time to get my motorcycle rental and hit the road. The agency's rep was going to meet me at the dock where the boat from Bunaken lands, so I'd be on my way with no time lost. I was so excited.

After doing some paperwork there at the same warung where I'd waited to go to Bunaken (no fork-wielding toddlers around this time), I climbed on the Honda Vario 150, and vroom! I was on the road.

Even though it was fully automatic, meaning I had no controls over the gears whatsoever, I was immediately impressed by the motorbike. I normally drive (or rent) bikes that are 125cc, and that extra 25cc of this one's motor was noticeable. Secondly, it's a Honday and it was brand new, less than 1100 km on the odometer. It had some pick up and was perfect for negotiating my way through Manado's relatively modest traffic. 

First stop was IT World, Manado's largest technology mall. Among it's dozens of camera shops, there were a plethora of models to choose from to replace my broken GoPro.

Can't tell from the pic, but this little guy is
about 2.5" x 4" x 1" in size.

Based on some recommendations, I settled on a Xiaomi Action Cam. It came with a waterproof case that fit the same mount that my GoPro uses, so it was helmet friendly. And at less than $100, it didn't break the travel budget. 

Like with any new technology, there's been a bit of a learning curve. Sometimes, I thought I was recording and I wasn't. Other times, I thought I was recording and instead I was taking pictures. It also occurred to me that when it was inside it's casing, the audio would certainly be effected. Would it even pick up sound inside the case? I found out along the way.

Next stop on the journey was lunch with Steve. He'd been reading my posts about this trip on an online forum for expats in Indonesia which I've been participating in, and he invited me to meet, and after a lunch of my favorite Indonesian food, Siomay Bandung, it was off to his home to meet his wife Penny and their dog, Bosco (who had made the trip with them from America).

Video frame grabs are fun. It looks like Steve has gone
berzerk here.

It turned out Steve was from San Francisco and Penny was from Morgan Hill, both towns very close to where I went to high school and the region to which I feel most connected. Steve and Penny had a lovely 3 bedroom house and grounds 20 minutes outside Manado for which they pay less in rent than I do on my little Yangon apartment. Manado is a nice place to spend retirement. 

A road in Steve & Penny's village.. Crosses everywhere.

After a tour of the home (which I thought I was recording) and a couple glasses of cap tikus, It was already 3:00 and I still had quite some ways to go. Because of its relative position within its time zone, the sun sets early here; I didn't have a lot of time. Steve had recommended that I take the coastal route all the way down to Anurang, my planned destination for the first leg. When I left, I decided to take the shorter route; I don't like looking for new places in the dark. 

When I got the crossroads, I stopped and thought about it for a second. I thought about if I'd ever get a chance to check out this road ever again in my whole life. What's a little inconvenience in place of the joy of driving through the jungle alongside a beautiful tropical coastline? As you can see on the map at the top of the page, there's an obvious shortcut that I didn't take. I'm quite glad I didn't. The views were amazing.  

Steve had also mentioned that if I stopped anywhere along the way, not to be surprised if the locals asked if they could have their picture taken with me.

At a beautiful beach out on the tip of the peninsula, that's exactly what happened. An older man started talking to me, and when he found out I was from America, he said, "Trump, good! Lots of money!" That's a bit different than the reaction I got in Myanmar from a Muslim guy. His daughter wanted her picture taken with me. Then the old guy grabs his son and says it's his turn.

I know how these things go; I'd be there a long time. I made my apologies, saying "it's already late afternoon..." and was back on the road. 

Also because the camera was brand new, it didn't have a fully charged battery and so the video today kind of ends abruptly as I was coming around a corner.