Wrapping Up The Myanmar Motorcycle Epic

Rush hour for monk statues

Whew! Made it. Just in time. I present to you the last two episodes of the Myanmar Motorcycle Journey. 

After a month on the road, I was very happy to spend the last couple of days of my holiday on a tropical beach, a westward facing beach at that with the spectacular sunsets that includes.  

Downtown Thanbyuzayat

It was time for the final leg of the journey, south out of Malawmyine, a short distance to a town called Thanbyuzayat where the sister of a friend lives. She had graciously agreed to allow me to park my motorcycle at her homestead as I am not allowed to bring the motorbike into Yangon. 

From Setse. It was a holiday, and there were parades going on. The dancer on
top of the truck - that's a transgendered person.

Fortunately, Thanbyuzayat is only about 15 kilometers from a place I had heard of on my previous visit to Mon State, but had yet to check out, Setse Beach. 

Setse was nearly deserted, but there were still services to be had...
on the edge of the waves, even.

I had no hotel booking as I rolled into Setse. I had the name of a hotel that had been recommended, and when I checked it out, once again I was a bit perturbed by the blatant double-pricing thing that happens regularly here in Myanmar. There were two prices listed on their rate sheet: local and foreigner. For a beach-facing bungalow, locals pay $30, foreigners $45. There just something in my equal-treatment-to-all American upbringing that rankles me about this system, ubiquitous as it is here. Well, there were more than one hotel in Setse, so I went to go check out the other ones. 

Sorry, no foreigners allowed!

Arriving at the Sunset Beach Hotel, the place seemed a little more downscale. The rooms weren't right on the beach, so they had to be cheaper. I got turned away before even being able to look at one. See, here in Myanmar, not just any hotel can accept foreign tourists. They need a special license for that priviledge, given out by the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism. Alas, perhaps due to the lack of demand (I was the only foreigner I saw in the whole town), this hotel had no such permit. A quick stop at the Setse Beach Resort, where they wanted $95 a night, I was back to where I started, the Paradise 21 Hotel.


 

Setse Beach

I thought I was the only foreigner at the beach, but as I was strumming my ukulele, relaxing after the dhort morning drive, along came a friendly Russian guy, also traveling solo. As we were sharing stories on how we'd happened to be there, an amazing coincidence was discovered. 

"Joko! I know you!" Igor (yes, that was his name) exclaimed, "Do you know Matt Harris?" 

During the first week of my journey, I had received an e-mail from Matt, a former colleague of mine, who was asking if we Yangonites could welcome an old firend of his who was coming from Shanghai to Myanmar for a 3 week holiday. As I was already on the road, there wasn't much I could do, and I responded thusly. Fast forward three weeks, and here this Russian guy was that very same friend-of-a-friend who I'd received the e-mail about! What are the chances?! 

Igor

Anyways, Igor and I had fun visiting the local points of interest, hitting on a gaggle of Chinese-Myanmar tourist girls and playing chess. I'm an okay chess player, but I hadn't played in years. Anytime someone asks you if you want to play chess, you're probably going to lose, as happened in our first game. In the second game, I actually beat a Russian at chess, my Bobby Fischer moment. 

On my last full day of the vacation, I drove Igor to the bus station in Thabyuzayat, and then went exploring Wargayu, an authentic Mon village with an old history. 2000 years ago, it was the site of an ancient city. See, the Mon people ruled what is now southern Myanmar for centuries before the Burmese came, and we still see remnants of their reign today. 
 

The ancient city walls of Wagayu

I noted at the start of this blog that I had finished up the recap of my recent voyage just in time. That's because the next one is about to begin. Today is my first day off for the 3-week Buddhist New Year break, and tomorrow morning, I am flying to Singapore and then to Manado, Indonesia, to begin another motorcycle journey. 

The adventure continues. 
    

       

Yangon Urban Falconry.

I noticed this handsome bird soon after moving in to my new apartment. She hangs out at small security post on the main road. She's quite vocal and hard to miss. 

As it turns out, my friend and building-mate Jack has gotten to know Ceasar (sic), the local guy who has the the interesting hobby of falconry. I'd never met anyone who trained birds before. 

Actually, it's a bit more than a hobby for him. He trains and sells the birds and it's a small business. He's looking to promote the business, and Jack suggested we all get together, me with my camera, and shoot a video of the bird, which is a black kite. Sounded like fun to me.

The bird had a wonderful temperament. I mean, it rode along on the handlebars of the electric motorbike without squawking, literally or figuratively. When we got to a nice open area (adjacent to driving range), Yangon's ubiquitous crows erupted in alarm. One of those black scavengers dove at our raptor on her very first flight.

angry crows

Soon after, dozens of crows were circling, unified in wanting to drive out this intruder. It didn't seem to bother her. She flew around for an hour or so unperturbed by the raucous symphony of caws. 

So I've made the video. I hope it helps him out, and I'll certainly never forget the experience of having a bird-of-prey swoop down and land on my hand.  

 

Myanmar Motorcycle Epic 20: Hey, Mon!

Thinking it would be plenty of time, I woke up at 5 AM, a good 90 minutes before sunrise. First, I needed to ride my motorbike up to the mountain town of Khin Pun Sakhan.

It was still dark when I arrived.  All I needed to do next was catch one of the infamous trucks that drove one to the summit and the pagodas of the Golden Rock, Kyaik Hteeyo. I thought I had enough time to have another cup of coffee at tea shop. 

Well, figuring out how to catch one of these trucks, what to do, where to go, that wasn't so easy. Although lots of foreign tourists do go there, it's not set up that way. There were no signs in English, except one; it heralded the fare for the ride, 2000 Kyats ($1.50) which came with a life insurance policy. Instead, I was one of the throngs of locals, eventually finding an empty seat on a truck, making my way up a harrowing road to the mountaintop. I didn't get to see sunrise.  

Nonetheless, it was spectacular up there at Golden Rock. One gets a 360 degree view of wonderful green mountains; you can see all the way to the Indian Ocean from up there. 

After the Buddhaful time I had up at Kyaikhteeyo, it was a short ride down the head of Myanmar's

Rush hour...err...any hour... in Mawlamyine

southeastern panhandle to the old town of Mawlamyine (Moulmein). I'd been there before, but there's nothing quite like the sunset over the Thanylwin River as it hits the Gulf of Martaban. 

Enjoy the video.  

Myanmar Motorcycle Epic 19: The Worst Road I've Ever Been On.

I work really hard on a video, and after 3 days, it gets 40 views. In this Myanmar tour, after 19 videos, only a couple of these vids have received more than 100 views.  Does this bother me? Not so much. Would it be more satisfying if my travel vids got thousands of views? Yes. 

Here’s the thing. My vids will survive me. Fifty years from now, I’ll be dead, but in that same time, thousands, maybe millions of people will watch what I’ve

created. That gives me a certain sense of satisfaction and purpose in what I’m doing. As much as I might say that creating stuff is its own reward, when you’re doing it for free, knowing that people will see it, that’s something anyone doing this would appreciate.

Also lately, I’ve been questioning how I make videos.  I mean, my style has been pretty much the same for years now. If you follow what I make, after hundreds of these, you might think ‘oh, another Joko travel video.. they’re all pretty much the same’… Understood.

It’s something that’s bothered me too. All my creations are similar to what I’ve created before. Subject matter and location different; style the same. I’ve been uncomfortable with this reality for years, but yet I’ve not done much about it. I still make my vids in the same style.

Tonight, I came to realize something. Did Bob Dylan ever wonder if his new song was just another Bob Dylan song? Did Led Zeppelin concern themselves over whether their new creation was too Led Zeppelin sounding? Now, I am not putting myself on these great artists’ levels, suffice to say, at some point, you forego innovation for recognizing that you have a particular style. This is my style. This is a Joko video, As much as I’d like to do something totally different, there’s nothing wrong with doing things like I’ve always done them.

That missive was a premise to the next travel blog. 

After 240km leg the day before, I was ready for a nice, easy travel day. This I got on  my leisurely journey from Naypyitaw to Taungoo. So easy it was that it doesn’t even get its own video. It gets combined into the next day’s journey.

  When leaving Taungoo, I had my choice of routes to my next stop, Kyaikto. I could have continued down the Old Yangon-Mandalay Highway, but instead I decide to take the road less travelled, turning back to the east, hugging the hills as I headed south down the Sittang Valley. 

Oh, that was a mistake. Sometimes, there’s a reason why a road is travelled. It’s because that road is total crap and barely driveable!