Burma was everything Bangladesh was not! Touching down at Yangon International airport I could have just as easily been in Terminal 5 Heathrow. A brand new super clean state of the art airport...it was hard to believe a few hours earlier I had been dropped off in a rickshaw at the tired looking Dhaka airport with my bike tied to the roof with a piece of string found on a scrap pile. I chucked my shrink wrapped package of bike components into the cab and headed for a hostel in the city centre.
With Burma's former political instability and oppressive military regime I was half expecting it to be something like the Congo. Instead it couldn't have been easier! For the most part it seemed a super clean relatively modern country with good food, nice scenery and pleasant people. They would politely ask you just once whether you wanted a taxi etc and then always leave you in complete peace. After my travels in India and Bangladesh where i couldn't even take a roadside piss without a circle of people forming around me, this was a very welcome change!
My plan was initially to make a "b line" straight for Thailand, though i was quickly advised the main thing to see it Burma is Bagan, an ancient city of 2000 temples directly north of Yangon. A guidebook would have been useful. Since it was an 800 miles round trip in the wrong direction i decided to take an overnight bus there and back before setting off on my bike from Yangon. The must see in Bagan is sunrise. Its supposed to be spectacular, the hazy sunrise view of the temples has a backdrop of 100's of hot air balloons. I didn't see it. I did see the sunset though which was pretty impressive. The silence of the sunset was however disrupted my 3 mad Chilean girls blasting out Latin music and mixing red and white wine. I was soon to join in. The following morning the girls invited me to go to the very plush "Famous Hotel" so we could use the swimming pool. It clearly wasn't that famous as there wasn't a single person at the hotel, bit it was definitely a nice place.. and the 3 good looking bikini clad girls was for me as impressive a view as the Bagan Sunrise might be, with the benefit being I didn't have to get up at 5am to see it. Equally as impressive was the maturity and table manners of the girls. They are the only people i know to top mine - their party trick being to squirt water elephant style in each others faces at the restaurant table.
Another interesting character I met in Myammar was a fellow traveller who called himself "Irondick". Irondick was a 24 year-old 6 and a half foot tall lump with a huge beard and was built like a brick shithouse. He looked a cross between a rugby player and cage fighter though had recently graduated from University and worked for a couple of years in banking to save cash to travel. He told me how I must travel to Changmai and how he had stayed there for over 2 weeks. Intrigued as to what was so great about Changmai Irondick went on to explain how he had developed yellow fever and what had kept him there so long was "Tinder". He told me about his daily success rate using this app, and how at one particular bar, where western men would arrange to meet local girls, how the girls would go from guy to guy showing a picture of the man's face on there phone to try and work out who it was they were supposed to be meeting. Irondick had difficulty explaining to his intrigued parents what was so fascinating about Changmai that had kept him there so long! You may have now guessed that the nickname "Irondick" was due to his seemingly bullet proof nob which had enabled him to, quote, "shag internationally bareback for years without catching a single infection!". A very interesting character though probably one I would not introduce to my female friends! Irondick also has a blog, though unsuprisingly only for close friends. I'm sure it makes a very intriguing read ...........while he plays russian roulette with his dick and is still alive to tell his story.
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| "The Chilean Invasion" |
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| "Swimmig pool at the Famous Hotel" |
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| Temple at Bagan |
Not sure of my exact route at this point i headed east to the Thai border, stopping off at a few touristy towns on the way. Myamar, the golden land, certainly holds true to its name. One town i passed through, Kyaiktiyo, had the famous "Golden Rock" - apparently the biggest pilgrimage sight in Burma. Another, Bago, had an enormous Buddah lying on his side - 55 metre long, and no it wasn't Silver. By far the nicest of these towns was a place called Hpa-an. A very laid back riveside town with some incredible moutain scenery that juts straight out of the flat surrounding landscape. You cant even pass a small village without finding an ornately decorated golden something or another..though usually a Buddah. The roads towards the thai border were pretty descend and smoothly paved.
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| Hpa-an |
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| This is not a waste paper bin on my head! An locally made cap (actually meant for women) which is extremely light and breathable. |
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| Heading towards Thai Border |
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| No points for guessing this is the "Golden Rock"! |
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| Accommodation in the town of Kin Pun, Myanmar - close to the Golden Rock |
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| Buddhas in a cave - Hpa - an |
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| Temples as far as the eye can see - Bagan |
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| Lying Buddha - Bago |
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| Roadside food always super healthy and plentiful - plates of greens (sometimes as many as 6) always placed around your meal in a circle |
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| Football pitch with a backdrop |
Crossing from Burma to Thailand was a very easy affair.I wish it had been that easy crossing overland into Burma from the India side!! Though I was somewhat selfishly relieved to hear that the unstable India-Myanmar overland border was definitely now closed - a couple of cyclists who had made there way there had just been refused entry and had to turn back around. Choosing to fly over the border from Bangladesh had been the right decision. After passing through immigration on the Burma side at the Mae Sot border crossing, I cycled over the Moei River which separates the 2 nations, Midway across the bridge the traffic crossed from the right to left side of the road. (Though strangely most cars in Myanmar are right hand drive despite driving on the right - taxi drivers with there increased ability to pick up fares being the biggest beneficiaries) On reaching the Thai side of immigration I was given a 30 day long visa with the option to leave the country and re-enter with a 30 day extension on 2 occasions....and was free to go!
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| Thailand! - Immigration just a few metres behind me |
If Myanmar was a big step up in comfort level after India then Thailand was a huge leap. I've only visited the country once before. That was 12 years ago as a 22 year old backpacker getting drunk at full moon parties. I couldn't believe how wealthy the country now felt. I spent the night in the border town of Mae Sot. My hostel had luxury Japanese pod style double beds and designer polished concrete finishes in the bathrooms. Many of the restaurants and coffee shops in town were more creative and trendy than back home in London - beating Shorditch at there own game....minus the extortionate prices! One of the coffee shops I stopped in for an iced cappucino had water redirected from the neighbouring hot spring to form a foot bath so you could relax your feet in spring water whilst drinking your coffee.Ingenious!....although admittedly for me I'd rather it came from an ice cold waterfall to cool me down rather than cook my feet.
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| Iced Cappucino and a foot bath |
From Mae Sot I headed east towards the city of Tak (which it wasn't - though neither was there much to do there) before heading north to Chang Mai. I had now made the decision I would head for Laos, a country I've never been to before. You may notice that my blog has become a lot more brief of late, that is partly because amongst many other things I have now broken my computer - half the keys don't work! - Partly because much less crazy stuff is happening here in south east Asia - which means I can take a poo by the road without a circle of spectators...and partly because my memory is so bad I can't remember exactly what happened! - I am now in an old school cyber cafe trying to remember the events of 3 weeks ago!
Anyway, wrongly assuming the whole of Thailand was flat the roads heading north towards Chang Mai were extremely hilly, so much so that I recorded my top speed of 46 mph descending one of the hills. At which point wishing that my helmet, which has been in my pannier bag since December, was now on my head. Chang Mai, Thailand's second largest city was very pleasant and chilled out. Apparently the council were desperate not to have a repeat of the drunken drug fuelled Thai party islands (Ko Samui / Ko phangan) so curfews are in place to prevent that. I still managed to get myself into mischief though - exercising everyday and not drinking for several months meant I was pretty hammered after just a couple of drinks, several drinks later I found myself in a snooker hall/illegal after hours drinking establishment and doing other things that may not be appropriate to write about in my blog!
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| A basic room in a small town I have no idea the name of - somewhere on the 106 Road to Chang Mai. Basic but for 4 quid i couldn't complain!! |
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| Chang Mai |
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| Shopping mall Chang Mai |
The next morning, whilst feeling pretty worse for wear, a young french lad over 10 years my junior asked me if I wanted to "Hire motocross bikes and take them on some trails in the mountain then go bungee jumping". Keen to continue my routine of saying yes to everything and embrace being in backpacker land, I said "Yes". The young frog was clearly an experienced motocross rider and after pulling a wheelie at at every traffic light, slipped the back end of his bike out 90 degrees and started flying full speed down a dirt track, bike leaping in the air at every bump/jump he came across. Riding a motorbike around the streets of London was obviously not adequate training for motor crossing and, whilst trying to keep pace with the young frog I dropped my bike down a hill and snapped the clutch lever clean off.Bungee jumping is something I've not really thought much about doing before. I've always liked doing dangerous things, but those that involve your own skill to keep you safe as opposed to relying on other peoples. I had been told that the bungee jump we were going to was over water. I therefore said to myself that I would treat it as a high board dive, making it irrelevant how badly the rope was tied around my ankles! Arriving at the Bungee jump site I realised the piece of water we were diving towards was not the sea or a lake but something the size of the school fish pond. There was also nobody else there! I elected to go first, the lad working there took a whole 5 seconds to attach the rope to my feet and I was whisked up into the air on a cable lift to the top of the jumping platform. Without over thinking it I dived off the side into what now looked the size of a bath tub. Despite shitting myself I managed to do a near perfect swan dive and was congratulated for doing so. In all honesty I'll put this down more to freezing into position than gymnastic skill!
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| Laos!! |
Laos immediately felt far less developed than Thailand and as suspected, was extremely mountainous to ride. The first major town I headed for was Luang Prabang. A popular destination set on the Mekong river 475 km from the Huay Xae border, though only 60 miles as the crow flies! Setting off from Huay xai the road initially headed north east towards China before I made a right turn at Nautuey (a stones throw from China) and started heading south towards the sizable city of Muang Xai. Looking at the map there couldn't have been a more indirect way of building a road between the 2 places, though I guess with a lot of mountains and lack of money roads can't always go directly from A to B. What was also a struggle was that both the road numbers and names of places were completely different on my map to in reality. I had picked the road to Muang Xai based on the fact that it was the only place I could find on my map with the letter "X" in it, luckily I was right!! At times using a paper map didn't feel so clever. |
| No saying "No" to this guy!! |
My first day on the road was pretty exhausting as I cycled some serious mountain roads until around 5pm, unable to find any sort of guest house and with nightfall looming I decided to get some dinner at a restaurant by the roadside and then look for a place to camp. As I arrived at the restaurant a drunken local came immediately over to introduce himself. He spoke no English but knew how to drink beer....and how to fill my glass up. I don't like beer at the best of times, though when your sitting a restaurant with a man completely adamant your going to drink with him you don't have that much choice! Being completely dehydrated didn't help matters! My camp site was in a neighbouring families back garden, they were extremely friendly and helped me to pitch the tent - after a few beers I needed it. It sounds mad but I often prefer to be in the mountains reading my book in the tent than in a hotel, no matter the cost!...well I might not say that about camping in India, but in Laos it was very pleasant!
I liked the way Laos appeared to be completely lawless, many vehicles had no number plates, kids sat on top of or hanged off the back of the school buses and it was not uncommon to see children less than 10 driving mopeds - often bare foot. I felt very much at home. There was also a huge lack of Police presence. And despite all of this everything seemed to work and reported crime was almost non existent. One rape in a whole year country wide apparently! Its probably more like one a week back in Brixton! People seemed to have a good sense of humour and would line up to give you a high 5 as you were flying down the hills. Some slapped your hand as hard as they could and gave you a real stinger! What was bizarre to see was newly erected Chinese work camps with huge billboards and Chinese script, some showing off China's wealth and infrastructure. Just north of Luang Prabang a dam/hydroelectric power station was being build on the Mekong River. I'm sure they're were a few back handers being paid out on that one. Apparently all the electricity goes back to China! I couldn't help but think that the country and ecosystem was getting a very raw deal and a few people very rich on that one.
Another thing I liked was that it was both cheap and easy to eat healthy food. Doing long distance cycling in the past i've often reached out for high sugar processed foods when I hungry/lacking energy. In Laos (like most of SE Asia) everything is cooked fresh with raw ingredients and lots of vegetables. I have leaned to discipline myself enough to exchange chocolate for vegetables and feel a lot better and more energetic for it, and the sugar craving has also massively reduced. Fresh milk is hard to source in Laos but you can easily get hold of Soy Milk, I thought I was doing myself a favour by drinking it, until someone told me it will kill my sperm and make me produce tits. Maybe back to the cows stuff. Below is a pic of one of my breakfasts...sticky rice,a boiled egg, a lump of chicken, a whole fish from the Mekong on a stick and a coconut to drink. Since getting used to stomach such a breakfast (its a bit heavier than a bowl of cornflakes) I have been thriving off it!
3 and half days and 475 km of riding up and down mountains brought me from the border town of Luang Prabang. A beautiful yet very touristy city next to the Mekong. It was amazing how remote and isolated the roads had felt yet arriving in Luang Prabang was traveler/backpacker central. In an effort to keep the city nice (and in a similar way to Chang Mai) curfews had been put in place. The only drinking hole was a bar called Utopia. It closed early at around 11pm from where everyone took tuk-tuks to a bowling alley literally in the middle of nowhere, and got smashed until the early hours. It was a bizarre spectacle.
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| Breakfast on the road |
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| Luang Prabang |
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| Luang Prabang - Nam Khan River - it joins the Mekong |
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| Waterfall near Luang Prabang |
The road from Luang Prabang to my next stop Vang Vieng was all up hill. Literally the whole day - with just occasional short downhill sections. After 80 miles on the road on a normal day I would have reached my destination with hours to spare before nightfall, but with it being all uphill I was soon to find myself cycling in pitch black. The town I was heading for was called PhouKhoun, a remote town on top of a mountain which is the crossroads where the road heads east for Pak Mong (yes, strange name I thought too) or south towads Vang Vieng and the capital Vientiane. As the sunset the mountain scenery and light was spectacular, though cycling in complete darkness is never as much fun. Normally I can see the lights of the place I'm cycling towards as night falls, but on twisty steep mountain roads there was none of that. Feeling pretty exhausted I spotted a stone "mile marker" by the side of the road. I got off my bike and went over to shine my torch on it, it was thankfully signposted to Phounkhoun, though the KM distance was overgrown by weeds. I pulled them out with my hand to uncover the remaining distance was "1 KM". That was a good feeling.
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| Setting sun on the climb up towards Phou Khoun |
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| Trusty old distance marker |
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| A young Mick Dundee |
It had been a real shame in many ways to climb the mountain at night as I had been told it was some of the most spectacular scenery in the whole of Laos. I was really looking forward to waking up the next morning and seeing the view and an exhilarating decent. Instead I awoke to some of the thickest cloud cover I have ever experienced. I had climbed to a town completely submerged in the cloud layer and had to creep down the mountain with hands on both brakes at snail speed, barely being able to see the road ahead, until all of a sudden I dropped out of the cloud layer and could see for miles! The remaining stretch of road to Vang Vieng was a 100km half day downhill cruise. On this road In the distance ahead was what I thought was a tramp pushing a bicycle. I could smell the stench of him from metres back. He was a man named "Edgar" from Portugal, and I have to say he fucking stank! Edgar had bought a woman's single speed bicycle from China for the equivalent of 20 quid and had been walking/cycling ever since. He told me, with a grin on his face how he had spend a month in a Chinese jail for entering the country illegally (he needed a bank account to apply for a visa - which he did not have). He spoke highly of there hospitality, how he enjoyed the food in jail and laughed about how fellow prisoners would watch him shower and try to touch him. I later bumped into Edgar again, in both Vang Vieng and Vientiane, despite his slow speeds (later I'll explain why). Edgar was previously living on one of the Spanish Islands, on asking what he did for a living, he replied, "Oh no, i don't need money, I live in the forest and eat fish". On this trip he didn't even have a tent and just slept outdoors. He made me feel that I was travelling in luxury! A lot of travellers I met dangle all sorts of beads and locally made jewellery around there neck pretending to be some sort of free spirit, Edgar was the real deal.
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| Edgar!!! - Vang Vieng |
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| Descending from Phoukhoun in serious mountain cloud |
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| Dropping out the cloud layer into the most spectacular mountain scenery |
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| Incredible Geography nearing Luang Prabang |
Vang Vieng was 100 percent a backpacker party town. No other words for it! Many of the bars had 2 hour windows where you could drink for free...and as long as you moved from bar to bar at the right time it was easily possible to drink the whole night without spending a penny. I was quite mythed when I met travellers my age who kept saying, "its not my scene, its not for me, I want to see the real south east Asia". Why they had chosen to come to one of the biggest backpacker party towns was beyond me! I too also like riding my bike through weird and wonderful countries..and am definitely not a big drinker...though right now It was time to embrace where I was and go on the piss...which I indirectly learnt to regret!
Following my cheap night out on the town I woke up not feeling as fresh as normal! When your body is so clean from cycling 100s of miles per week it doesn't take well to alcohol. That evening I went for a run to sweat out some of the toxins. Running in Lycra in a town of pissed backpackers felt slightly odd so i headed for the country lanes on the edge of town. It was a poor decision. Running along at pace, no sooner had I started to get a sweat on was I yelling out by the side of the road in agony after going right over on my ankle - where the roads edge dropped away. It hurt. I tried hopping back though was getting nowhere so flagged down a passing motorbike and hitched a lift back into town. I'm not used to breaking bones so presumed I'd just sprained in, though I could put no weight on it whatsoever and the swelling did not look good! I thought it best to rock up at the prehistoric looking Vang Vieng hospital the next morning. I was quickly put into a wheel chair and whisked away to the cashiers desk to pay for an x-ray..the doctor confirmed the brake and I was once again pushed to the cashiers desk, this time to pay for my bandages for a plaster cast.
Determined to leave the alcohol fuelled Vang Vieng I finally (and it took a while!) found a bus company prepared to take my bicycle. They charged me double for the 100 mile trip down to the capital, Vientiane where, just before going to bed, I concocted a new plan, which I booked the flights for the following morning. I had enjoyed the trip so far immensely though was a bit pissed off how disjointed the trip had been. I started in Delhi, India, cycled through India, Nepal and Bangladesh and was then forced to fly over the border to Burma, cycled out of Burma across Thailand and into Laos where the pedalling panther was pedalling no more! It may sound strange but I like to look at a map, draw a line on it where I've been and realise I've cycled the whole lot!
I woke up that morning and sporadically booked the flight to Alaska. I will arrive on the 22nd April and have now committed myself to cycling the whole of the America's right down to the southern tip of Argentina - (Anchorage, Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina). I believe its 16,000 miles. In the meantime while the foot recovers I will visit friends, in particular my friend Steve a fireman from Canterbury who has retired in East Thailand, an old school friend, Karl who now live in Osaka, Japan and Matt and Gill who live in Sydney. My other idea was to fly to Kazakhstan and cycle back to London, though I was put off by the complexity of getting visas in that part of the world. That one is for another time. Now I figure its time to leave the Asian world and start afresh in Alaska for the big ride down! The timing seems to work out well, as Alaska is in deep freeze until the snow melts in April. As I work my way south i hope to hit Canada and the US in spring/summer and as I hit the remote regions deep south in Argentina/Chile (hopefully by November) it should also becoming towards Spring Summer in the Southern Hemisphere.
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| Something like this anyway - apart from I'm not Italian and won't be on motorbike!! |
I was pleasantly surprised that all 4 flights:
Bangkok - Osaka
Osaka - Sydney
Sydney - Honolulu (all flights from Sydney to Anchorage, Alaska go via Hawaii! - not a bad place to stopover for a few days)
& Honolulu - Anchorage, Alaska
were £200 each! I thought the Australia to Alaska part would be 4 times that price!
I have now had my old school plaster cast exchanged for a fibreglass one by a very proficient Thai doctor, who was able to confirm to me exactly what I had broken and the best cause of action. Currently I am staying with my good friend Steve in eastern Thailand, a fireman who got retirement right and opened a bar/restaurant on the beach! Between now and getting back on the bike, its not something I'm at all good at in life, but its time to learn how to chill out!!!
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| Vang Vieng, Loas - end of the Asian road! |
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