On 28 March, 2025, the most powerful earthquake in more than a century hit Myanmar, and it was centered no more than 10km from my home here in Mandalay. I'll describe my experience and share pictures in a later post.
It's a week later and my home internet is down. I'm happy to report that is about the worst of the hardships I'm facing personally. As a result, I've got lots of computing time offline. My last significant overseas vacation was way back in January of 2020, just as COVID was starting to become a topic of discussion.
So far, I've created 11 videos of that trip, but it remains incomplete.
In Part 5, we continue our adventures through Chin State.
Just a few years back, It would have quite remarkable that I was even up there.
Like much of Myanmar, Chin had been closed to foreign tourists for decades. The
few that did make it up there were invariably accompanied by gov’t approved
tour guides on gov’t run travel packages. This little state, landlocked between
India and Myanmar hasn’t had many tourists until recently.
They like to paint their houses in vivid colors
Some facts about Chin State: At about 15,000 square miles,
it’s roughly the size of Switzerland. About 2/3rd the size of West
Virginia and one and half times bigger than Vermont. Whereas 8 million people
live in Switzerland and 2 million reside in West Virginia, the population of
Chin is a bit shy of 500,000. And like these other places, it’s all
mountainous. I can’t say that I saw a single bit of horizontal land in the
whole state that people hadn’t made that way.
Being so sparsely populated, there are only a few real towns
in the state. In this episode, I travel between two of them which aren’t very
far apart: Hakka (the new capital) and Falam (the old capital).
Again, I was
taken in by the amazing mountain views I got to see and noticed a few things.
Chin burial customs involve roads. At almost every major turn in the road, at
almost every spot where you could look out and see spectacular vistas of
expansive mountains and valleys, there were graves.
Not graveyards, just
graves. Two or three, up to eight perhaps if it was remarkably beautiful spot.
And of course, memorials to the dead. Structures to preserve them from the
elements. It was kind of odd that at every point when I wanted to stop and take
a picture of the remarkable landscape, that I was doing so alongside someone’s
dead uncle, but I’m not superstitious in that regard. If there’s
life-after-death, ghosts, that sort of thing, I’d think any human soul would
appreciate what I was doing, and wouldn’t be offended if I needed to go pee on
the periphery of their gravesite.
Breakfast in Hakha
I got to Falam, a very religious town which I’ve heard
recently tried to ban alcohol sales within the town limits.
Having a nose for
these sorts of things, I found that this ban would involve shutting down one
shop, because it seemed there was only one place in town to get a beer.
Once again, I’m doing the thing I enjoy most in the world:
I’m back on a motorcycle tour!As I
write this, I’m sitting in an odd restaurant “night club” in the small Myanmar
town of Palࣰe,
Sagaing Division. I’m starting to write now, long before I expect a video will
be uploaded, because I want to recall details and feelings while they’re still
rather fresh in my mind.
This trip is going to be different in several ways. First of all,
I’m not visiting any of the major tourist destinations in the country. Apart
from Mandalay where I rented the motorbike, I’m not travelling to any cities of
any significant size. This town I’m in right now has only one guesthouse, and
prior to the trip, I wasn’t even sure they’d accept foreigners (not all
accommodations in Myanmar are licensed to do so; they must meet certain
requirements like western style toilets). I couldn’t contact them because other
than appearing on Google maps, they have no presence on the internet. Not even
a phone number!
Secondly, the regions I’ll be visiting are more remote and hard to
get to. If you’ve followed previous journeys, you might remember from the
“Epic” of February 2017 that I changed my plans and gave up on heading further
into Myanmar’s westernmost state, Chin, after a bone-jarring ride in the
initial leg. My little Chinese scooter couldn’t handle it. Well, this time,
I’ve rented a Honda CRF250, a hardy bike that can handle pretty much anything,
and this time, I’ll conquer Chin.
After Chin State, I’ll be following the Chindwin River upstream to
get as close as I can to the mysterious-sounding Nagaland.The Naga people
are well known for being little known.I
don’t want to go to Nagaland proper because there’s nowhere to go from there
except into India (can’t do that on a Myanamar motorbike) or back the way you
came. I’m not a fan of that.
When you reach a fork in an unmapped road, you need to look
for clues. For example, in this pic, the road on the loft is
more traveled.
Lastly, this journey will be different in that I’m going to be
driving on roads that only appear on some maps. Google maps won’t help me because
these roads aren’t on it. On Google
Earth, however, zooming in, you can see them on the satellite image.I just need to be careful I don’t mistake a
river for a road again.
In the initial video, I start off in Yangon, on the morning of
last day of work, drop Badger off at the cat-sitter I’ve employed and make a
mad dash to the Yangon bus station situated way out on the outskirts of
town.As traffic can turn into gridlock
at any time here, I was quite nervous that maybe I had not allotted myself enough
time. I made it with 30 minutes to spare, but in my rush I had forgotten
several key items: my map of Myanmar, the fancy motorcycle-riding jacket I’d
been given (It had pads and armor built in) and worst of all, the carefully
prepared itinerary that one of my Myanmar colleagues had made for me, well
outside her regular duties. It had hotel names, phone numbers and prices. Shit!
Map of DayOne
To top it all off, I had spent extra on my ticket for a “VIP” bus,
a first-class bus that instead of the normal, confined, four seats per aisle,
this one only was supposed to only have three. I was actually looking forward
to the nine-hour luxurious ride from Yangon to Mandalay. What I got was a
standard bus. Somehow, the booking agency had messed up my ticket. I booked it
online and so there was little I could do at that point.
Once in Mandalay, I got to meet someone I’ve known online for
years, Zach, the owner of Mandalay Motorbike and tours. Visit:
mandalaymotorbike.com!Zach has given me
tons of advice over the years on my Myanmar motorcycle journeys, and in turn,
I’ve sent him referrals whenever I can. Plus, he watches and likes my videos.
Zach has my dream job. He actually makes his living spendingweeks on the road, exploring new places,
interacting with the wonderful people here in this exotic country. We spent a
few hours swapping stories, he sharing his insights and knowledge on my
proposed route.
CRF250
Then, it was off to Sagaing.Sagaing is the capital of the province of the same name, and it’s
relatively close to Mandalay, just a 45 minute drive or so. From there, I
happened onto Sagaing Hill and its famous concentration of temples (some call
them “pagodas”, but I’ve never been fond of that word as it reminds me more of
China and Japan – the word ‘pagoda’ is nothing more than the Portuguese word
for temple). Wow! What a sight!
Lastly, up to the famous antiquities of Mingun (Min Kun). There, I
saw a lot of foreign tourists; the last I expect to see in any number for the
rest of the way. Mingun is home to the largest temple I’ve seen here outside of
Bagan. Construction began in the late 18th century, but due to historical
inconveniences like massive earthquakes and the invasion of the British, it was
never completed.
From Sagaing Hill overlooking the mighty Ayeyarwaddy River
All in all, I’m ecstatic to begin this trip. As it has its unique
aspects, there will undoubtedly be unique challenges. With this awesome machine
under me, I have little doubt I’ll overcome them as I have before.
Enjoy the first video!
Technical note: I use two cameras on these journeys now. My GoPro
mounts onto the helm and is also useful for recording people candidly without
them realizing they’re on camera. My other camera I use for buildings and
scenery and such. Anyways, the GoPro and my video software are having a hard
time communicating in regards to format. The GoPro footage shows up in a 4:3
ratio, creating a vertical “letterbox” effect.
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.
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.
No one would rent me a motorcycle. I feared the vacation would fail entirely due to this lack of transportation. What could I do? While meeting with old friends there in Jakarta, one of them took pity on me and lent me his spare scooter and finally, the trip was afoot.
Given that I had lost so much time, I had to reroute my itinerary. Gone was the trip west to beaches facing the Sunda Strait seperating Java from Sumatra. I would not step foot on the Krakatoa volcano nor see the critically endangered Java rhino on this trip. Instead of heading west, I headed due south, skipping my stay in Bogor and going all the way to the south coast, to a place near the town of Pelabuhan Ratu.
More than 5 hours to go 140 km? That's less than 30 km/hr
(20 mph). How can that be? TRAFFIC!!!
Traffic so bad that I could check my
route on my smartphone while driving.
I've heard horror stories about Jakarta traffic, and my experience in taxis and such over the last few days had confirmed that motor congestion is a 24 hour reality in the capital. Now, I was leaving at 6:30 AM, and I was heading OUT of town, not in, and as most rush hours tend to be one-directional, I was hoping it wouldn't be so bad leaving the Big Durian.
I was right. The traffic in South Jakarta was heavy, but not brutal. On the other side of street, however, the folks trying to come into town were bumper to bumper, jam packed.
The old colonial palace
Eventually, I got to the city of Bogor, about 50 miles south of Jakarta. Bogor is an old town, and 70 years ago, was the colonial capital during the hot season. Being at elevation, Bogor is a bit cooler than the lowland Jakarta. Bogor is also renowned for its famous botanical gardens, which you'll see in the video.
Heading out of Bogor, the traffic was absolutely insane. Several highways converged into one and whereas driving a motorbike usually allows you to wind your way through stopped traffic, even us motorcyclists were at a standstill.
Srsly?
This insanity lasted for scores of miles until eventually I reached my turn off. As the congestion looked to continue unabated all the way to Sukabumi, as soon as made a right onto the road to Pelabuhan Ratu and the south coast, everything opened up.
In fact, perhaps it was due to the contrast from the hell I'd been through up to that point, but I thought at the time I was one the best possible road for motorcycling. Smooth, windy, and with some hills for contrast, I enjoyed that last bit of the day's journey as much as I have ever enjoyed any road. Free from the continuous urban sprawl that had followed me all the way from Jakarta, the hills were green, forests surrounded the road and I got my first real taste of the Javanese countryside.
I woke up in Pyay feeling good. I'd traveled further on my motorbike in the previous two days than during any two days in my long relationship with the iron horse. A bit sore, but all in all, my fat old body was holding up well.
It was time to cross the mighty Irrawaddy River and head towards Rakhine State and the coast. Two problems cropped up on the ride out of town. First off, finding the bridge entrance was harder than I'd thought. This whole trip would have been impossible without GPS and Google Maps on my phone.
There's the bridge!
The second problem was my mild gephyrophobia, a fear of bridges. Small bridges don't bother me. Walking over a bridge doesn't concern me. I'm not afraid it's going to collapse, and I'm okay with heights in general. Instead, it's driving on a tall, high bridge that scares the crap out of me. I have a bit of a panic attack in these circumstances. I have to stare at the pavement, slow down and focus. My arms and legs get weak. I want to close my eyes, but of course, I can't. As you'll hear in the video, singing helps too.
Just past the river, the Rakhine Hills cropped up right away. Scenic as the previous two ridges I had crossed, the hills presented little challenge as I had become adept at handling my little motorbike on these windy roads. As I've noted in previous blogs, the people I passed on the road were astounded to see a foreigner out in the countryside; few westerners come through here outside the confines of a tour bus or hired car.
The Arakenese, the people of Rakhine State
Passport, please.
I got stopped by the authorities for the first time on the journey. This was the first opportunity I had to test what I'd been told: by having a Myanmar Drivers License, I didn't need any special papers or permissions to travel throughout Myanmar. I was confident, but whenever you're stopped by the police in the developing world, you really can't be sure what's going to happen.
Turns out they were very nice. The served me a cup of coffee while they recorded my paperwork.
I made such good time on the road, I had reached my proposed destination of Toungup by 1:30. Although tired, I was really looking forward to reaching the beach and lounging on the warm, white sands of a tropical beach. Plus, if I got to Ngapali that day, I could spend two nights there and not have to travel at all the next day. So I pushed on!
It was the night before New Years Eve, and I didn't have a room reservation. I knew there were lots of hotels in Ngapali, so I wasn't too worried. I knew that accommodation was expensive in Ngapali, but I was willing to pay $60-75/night, about twice what I'd been paying per night on the trip thus far, so I wasn't too worried.
Yeah, no worries. I got the beach by sunset, and the only room I could find was twice the price I was hoping to spend.
I made it! Sunset over the Bay of Bengal
Enjoy the video!
Trip Report:
Distance: 250 km
Time: 7 hours
Road conditions: Excellent 2%; Good 30%; Fair 60%; Bad 8%
One impression I got regarding Myanmar as a whole while I tootled along these rural roads was how sparsely populated it is. So much natural, undeveloped land. Once you're in the valleys, there's plenty of people, but up in the hills I could sit on the side of the road, taking a break, and 10 minutes would go by without anyone passing through.
You may have noticed in previous vids, I did take a lot of breaks. I'd drive 45 or 50 minutes, and then spend 5 or 10 off the bike. Even with that, by the end of the 2000 mile trek, I had saddle sores.
Look at the size of that pig!
This stage of 212 km had me crossing my previous path, sort of a middle point in the big figure-8 I made in the country. Early in the vid, I cross under the New Mandalay Highway, which I had traveled on day 1 on the bus. Then it was up into the Bago Hills, the lowest of the 3 ranges I crossed in 3 days. These scenic hills, were dry and somewhat empty, a lot of it being taken up by a nature reserve.
Eventually, I descended into the river valley of the mighty Irrawaddy River, the lifeblood of the nation of Myanmar. Near Pyay, I made
a detour to see another city. An ancient city. A ruined city. Dug out of the fertile, brown soils by archaeologists some 30 years ago, the 2000-year-old city of Sri Ksetra fascinated me. I think that's most remarkable is that you can look around and see where half the city is still buried, marked by earthen mounds on the otherwise flat plain.
Enjoy the video!
Road report:
Distance: 212 km
Time: 6 hours
Road conditions: Excellent 2%; good 45%; fair 45%; bad 8% (see the key)
Cold. Oh, I was so cold. I thought I had been cold a few days previous, up in Kalaw, but this was a kind of coldness I had not experienced since leaving America. I should point out that the town I was leaving, Pinlaung, has an elevation of 4800 feet (1460m). The temperature on the thermometer was all of 55F (13C), but I was moving on my motorbike, the air was thick with fog, and the sun had not yet risen over the ridge of the mountains. And I was wearing shorts. I didn't bring pants with me on the journey. Now, Pinlaung to Loikaw was another short stage, only 90km (55 miles); I could have just holed up in a tea house or someplace and waited it out until the air got warmer. No, with the help of some cold weather gear I bought along the way, I kept going.
In the town of Pekon, my breakfast was a bowl of Mohingga, the traditional Myanmar morning soup. My eyes and camera were open, looking for anything I could that I remembered from reading The Land a Green Ghosts, a remarkable and award-winning memoir by Pascal Khoo Thwe about growing up as a hill tribesman and the political upheaval in Myanmar in the late 80's and 90's. Much of the book is set in Pekon, and it was a real thrill for me to be visiting the town that had fascinated me so much in print. Literary tourism is a real thing, but it hasn't come to Pekon as of yet. There were no big signs saying "FORMER HOME OF PASCAL KHOO THWE THIS WAY!", but I did find one building mentioned quite a bit in the book, the town's main Catholic Church; most of the Padaung tribe are Catholic, not Buddhist.
Soon after leaving Pekon, I found myself in Loikaw, the capital of the state of Kayah. I found Loikaw to be a town of two halves. The north part of town had big, wide streets, sidewalks, landscaping, smooth flowing traffic and lots of beautiful buildings and monuments. Cross a one-lane bridge to the south part of town and you're in a crowded, chaotic, dusty Myanmar city.
As you'll see in the video, my activities in Loikaw included finding a hotel, visiting the amazing Taung Kwel Zaydi pagodas and having a dinner I'll never forget. Continuing the theme of my favorite ukulele music in the background, enjoy!
Road Report:
Distance: 89 km
Travel time: 3 hours
Road conditions (see the key): Excellent 2%, Good 83%, Fair 15%
