In my 5+ years living in SE Asia, I've seen all kinds of critters and parts of critters being sold as food that would take the average Westerner by surprise or even disgust. Asian cockroaches, for example (not their disgusting American cousins mind you), grasshoppers, scorpions and tarantulas. I've never had sufficient reason to overcome the cultural aversions I've had for these bugs to go ahead and eat them (scorpion, one time, being an exception)
Well, I'm in the midst of a road trip with my girlfriend, and she was very excited to tell me at the outset that she'd ordered the perfect road food: crickets! 100 of them, in fact.
One of the first ones I ate taught me an important lesson: don't talk with your mouth full of invertebrates. They've got nasty spines on their exoskeleton that can end up in sensitive parts of the mouth.
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.
While on holiday, it’s quite natural to refer back to being
at home, thinking to yourself, “I’ll do or get this or that when I’m home.” These
thoughts come even if it’s just a temporary home like staying with your parents
on holiday. When you live fulltime in an RV, as my parents do, there is no
getting back home after a holiday. You carry your home with you! A few times during
my time staying with my parents, I was confused by this basic fact.
That said, not every excursion requires driving your home
around.
You may have noticed in a previous video that my folks tow a jeep
behind their rig, and this comes in handy for getting around. Once
parked and settled there at Furnace Creek Campgrounds, we began exploring Death
Valley itself. My parents had been there several times. I’d only been once. It
was May 2007, and I just passed through the place at night on my way from
Yosemite to Las Vegas. Even at night, I remember the heat being terrible. The
oppressive atmosphere and haze seemed unwelcoming, and I understood why the place was called what it was. Well, that was in May. In December, the place is quite different. Pleasantly cool in the morning, nowhere near hot in the daytime, we'd definitely picked the best time of year to visit.
Come with us as we check out the sights by watching the video below.
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.
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.
I woke up bright and early in Singapore, ready for my morning flight to Manado. I was a bit lighter in the wallet (not just from the gambling; everything in Singapore is SO expensive!), but glad that the journey to my destination had required two days. Part of travel's whole appeal to me is seeing unique, new places. Singapore is one of the most singular places I had ever been. Truly remarkable.
I would be driving down the very road in this picture just a few
days after it was taken
The flight to Manado was fascinating. See, I'd been planning this trip for some time, or, at least, day dreaming about it while viewing Google Earth. I'd spent hours studying the satellite imagery of Sulwesi's north coast, looking for possible places of interest and stopping points. As it came to an end, the flight path of the plane took it directly parallel to that north coast. Here, I was seeing in real life what I'd spent so long looking at on a computer screen. Ooh! I know that island! Aha! I know where we are!
As a middle-aged guy who's spent a lot of times in planes, getting a window seat shouldn't be such a thrill anymore. One might think that I've gotten used to it by now. Well, I haven't. I'm still filled with a childlike sense of wonder when I get to stare out at billowy clouds, fascinating coastlines and even miles and miles of empty ocean. I hope I never lose that, and it's sights like this that help rekindle it. These two atolls didn't show up on the Google Earth.
Striking similar, looking like cat's eyes and positioned in just the right proportion to each other and to the concave sloping coast of mainland below, it looked like the island of Sulawesi was looking up and smiling at me.
Manado isn't that big of a city, and my hotel was fairly well located in it's heart. It was a short mini-van-bus ride into downtown, where I spent some time wandering and looking for a couple more items for my trip. As dinner time came, I found exactly what I was looking for: a nice clean restaurant overlooking the water.
After sunset, I went the other way from my hotel into the older part of town. This was on eve of Good Friday, and Manado is a fervently Christian town.
In the Western church, they've never reconciled the notion of Christ's resurrection with all the pagan Easter stuff that goes on with eggs, and chocolate and bunnies. Well, here in Manado, they don't have that problem. In this mural, it kinda looks like the Easter Bunny was there at Calvary Hill.
At just two minutes, this is likely going to be the shortest video in this series. Enjoy.
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.
The morning of my second day in
Pontianak, I had the google revelation I mentioned at the end of my
last blog. Why was a searching online in English for a motorbike to
rent in a city where they don't speak English? When I switched to
Indonesian, results!
I contacted the office of the
rental agency, and they said yes, they had motorbikes to rent. They
asked whether I would like for them to deliver one to me. Oh no, I
had to check it out first.
Indonesian police aren't as intimidating as I remember
Pontianak is a strange city when
it comes to transportation as in there is apparently little to no
public transportation. You don't see taxis on the road. The
motorcycle taxis (ojek, as they're called here) are practically
non-existent. There are a sprinkling of pedicabs (becak), and
occasionally I've seen some run down old vans which serve as the city
bus system. You have to have your own transport to get around here.
The doorman arranged a private
taxi ($6 for 3 miles? That's outrageous for Third World prices) to
take me to the motorcycle rental agency. On arrival, I saw no
motorbikes. The lady behind the desk asks, “Did you call earlier?”
I told her that had been me. Oh,
she apologized. She didn't realize when she was talking to me earlier
that they were all rented out. There should be one later that
afternoon, if not tomorrow, she continued.
Well, damn.
What could I do? It was a good
thing I had the taxi wait for me while I went in.
Siomay Bandung!
So, with nothing to do but just
wait around (I had already explored the Pontianak within walking
distance the day before), I found a restaurant that sells my
absolutely favorite Indonesian food (Siomay Bandung), checked out the
jacuzzi and pool facilities at the hotel and hoped my phone would
ring.
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)
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!
