Day 10: Mt. Popa to Bagan

What goes up must, at some point, come down.  Having slogged up Mt Popa yesterday, it was now our turn to enjoy a day of largely downhill riding as we headed back to Bagan.  After the initial exhilarating downhill run, the return journey took a slightly different course to our outbound track before eventually joining the main road to Bagan that we had taken yesterday.  However, on the way back we had time to stop off at some of the roadside craft villages that we had only been able to glimpse the previous day.  One such place was engaged in the production of palm sugar, which they then fermented and distilled into a sort of rum-hooch concoction.  An interesting drinking experience, but I would not want to indulge in too much of the stuff.

Shortly before arriving back in Old Bagan, we visited a lacquer-ware factory, where we were able to observe the craftspeople engaged in all the stages involved in creating lacquer-ware products, starting with the weaving of the cane basket framework, coating it in lacquer resin, and finally painting on the decorations in gold leaf.

Day 9: Bagan to Mt. Popa

Our mission today was to cycle from our comfortable base in the Bagan River View Hotel all the way up to Mt. Popa, a distance of  about 55km if one travels on the usual roads.  However, Grasshopper in their wisdom had decided that this would be just too easy and had therefore tacked on a special cross-country section, just to make things more interesting.  This involved negotiating a 11km track, which was predominantly surfaced with soft sand.  Consequently, our party was continually grinding to a halt or even in some cases doing interesting acrobatics when encountering a bullock cart travelling in the opposite direction.  Very frustrating and exhausting, but at least you don't get hurt if you fall over in the sand when stationary.
Thins went more smoothly once we emerged onto the main road, and as we progressed, the distant silhouette of Mt. Popa grew ever larger until it was filling our entire field of view.  Our guide told us that we would be heading right to the top of the mountain, which would entail about 4km of  steep hill clime followed by another 4km of very steep hill to take us to the top.  By this stage, what with various aches and ailments affecting our party, there were only four out of the seven of us riding at this point, so I felt some pressure not to give up and take the easy option of going up the mountain in the bus.  However, after struggling up what I took to be the first, merely steep, 4km I looked up to see the summit of Mt. Popa still far above me, and I knew I was not going to be able to make it all that way.  Reluctantly I flagged down the mini bus that had been following discretely behind me and informed the driver that I was going to have to join him for the remainder of the journey to the top. He gave me a rather strange look but nevertheless loaded my bike on board and we set off.  After about  400m we rounded a bend in the road and there in front of us was our final destination, the Popa Mountain Resort Hotel!  Turns out that our guide had not been entirely accurate in saying that the hotel was at the very top of the mountain.  If I had just persevered another 500m I could have made it all the way unaided.

The main tourist attraction at Mt. Popa is the monastery, which stands on a separate pinnacle of sheer rock, looking from a distance like a Disney fairytale castle.  Close up it looks rather less impressive, and once inside it is decidedly scummy, being badly maintained and crumbling, and overrun with monkeys.  The Mt. Popa region is noted for the worship of Nats: the spirits of real, or more probably fictitious, people who have met untimely and violent deaths and are now immortalised as waxwork-like figures in a series of shrines dotted throughout the Mt. Popa temple complex.
Time then to relax on the balcony of our wonderful lodge, overlooking the dense jungle that covers Mt. Popa, stretched out in my plantation chair with a cool G&T in hand.  Oh, better make that a Coke as, of course, no tonic in Myanmar!  Next on the agenda was a very relaxing Burmese massage, which really helped to unwind the muscles that had been tortured during the ride up.

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Day 8: Monywa to Bagan

Today's ride started with a ferry crossing of the Chindwin River that runs to the West of Monywa.  The 60km ride that followed was mainly through rather dry and scrubby countryside, without any particularly distinguishing features. Quite a contrast from the picturesque and lush countryside of the Shan hills.  Unfortunately, Alison was suffering somewhat from the Mandalay region food, and consequently found the going tougher than it would otherwise have been.

 After a couple of refreshment breaks to drink the sweet Burmese tea, it was time for our lunch stop, then onto the bus for a road transfer to the historical town of Bagan and to our delightful room in the Riverview Hotel.  Great to be able to relax by the pool for a couple of hours before watching the sunset over the Irrawaddy, with a G&T in hand - except that there is no tonic to be had in Myanmar!

Day 7: Mandalay to Monywa

Yesterday was a day off from cycling, and the chance to do some leisurely tourist sightseeing in Mandalay and just relax a bit.

Today's ride might have been titled: "Ancient Burmese Capitals", as it took in most of the historical capitals of the kings of Burma, i.e. Awa, Amarapura, and Mandalay.  (After Mandalay the British moved the capital to Rangoon, and then the general moved it again to NayPyiDaw.

First off was a visit to a village to see various local manufacturing activities,  including the crafting of alms bowls for Buddhist monks from beaten ex-oil drums, and the production of cheroots. Then on to the ruins of the palace at Ava, and a walk on U Bein Bridge, which at 1.5km in length, is the world's longest teak bridge. The end of the cycling part of the day involved crossing the Irrawaddy river and heading up to a hill-top temple for what would have been a great view of the river and surrounding countryside if it had not been so hazy.

 After lunch a two hour drive took us to the site of the world's tallest standing Buddha (lots of world records to be had here in Myanmar!) On the way up, we passed an area containing 10,000 Buddha statues, each seated under a Banyan tree.  Not sure if that is also a world record but it beats the paltry 7000 or so in the Golden Cave (q.v.).  There is no escaping the fact that the Burmese do like their Buddhas.

Day 5: Christmas on the Road to Mandalay

Today's ride was a 100km journey through more of the picturesque Shan countryside that we cycled though the previous day.    Again, we passed though many villages where the children gathered by the roadside to wave at us as we rode by.  We encountered several avenues of eucalyptus trees along the  route, which apparently had been planted by the government.

At this point I should say a word or two about the roads in Myanmar.  Many of these are still dirt tracks, made of packed mud, which are fine for cycling, if somewhat bumpy. Then we have roads where they have attempted to lay a more substantial stone and gravel surface.  These may be smoother than the dirt tracks, but the loose gravel means that there is virtually no traction if you need to stand on your pedals to get up a hill. On at least one occasion I suffered from wheelspin, and being cleated in to my pedals, this results in falling sideways in an undignified heap.  Then we have sealed roads where the surface was at one time smooth and in one piece, but is now full of ruts and potholes, which makes travelling at any reasonable speed a very bumpy experience. And finally, there are the roads that are actually undergoing construction.  We have to weave amongst the swarms of local labourers (mostly women) who are painstakingly placing individual stones onto the foundations of what will eventually become the road.

The final leg of the day was a 20km descent from the Shan hills down to the Mandalay plain.  This was a spectacular and exhilarating ride involving all of the road surfaces described above, requiring 100% concentration all the way down so as to avoid the numerous hazards. But a great feeling once we got to the bottom.

The day was rounded off by a sort of Christmas party hosted by the manager of  Grasshopper's Myanmar office, complete with turkey, cake, and party crackers.

Day 4: Kalaw - Pindaya

First on the itinerary for today was a visit to an elephant sanctuary in the jungle about one hour's drive from Kalaw. This turned out to be a charming enterprise run by some very dedicated people, committed to ecology, conservation and the welfare of ex-logging elephants in need of some special care.  They deliberately avoid the tacky circus-like activities that one finds in some of the elephant camps in Thailand, for example. So we got to feed them with bananas, and the braver members of our party also participated in bating the elephants in the nearby river.  Then it was time for each of us to plant a teak seedling, which 80 years from now will hopefully have grown into a mature tree.  Unfortunately, much of the teak forests in Burma have already been decimated, so it is good to see that there are local people seeking to reverse this situation.

After a mid-morning feast of local goodies, it was on to the starting point for our ride to Pindaya.  This was a much more leisurely ride than yesterday's, through some beautiful scenery - apparently some of the best that Burma has to offer.   Lots of road construction going on, which made riding a bit interesting at times.   Our route also took us through several villages, where the local children were very excited to see these strange people riding through and shouted out mingelabar (hello) to us as we passed by.

After checking into our hotel we paid a visit to the famous Golden Cave, which is a natural limestone cave system that has been filled with over 8000 Buddha statues.  Not sure whether this is totally awesome or the epitome of tackiness, but certainly has to be seen to be believed.

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Day 3: Nyaung Shwe - Kalaw

Today we experienced our first real cycle ride of the trip, a challenging 70km from Lake Inle up into the Shan Hills and to Kalaw, an ex-British garrison town from the colonial eras.

The ride started off gently enough as we passed along a quiet road through fields of sugar cane and sunflowers and past paddy fields, pausing only to dodge the numerous ox carts that seem to be the preferred mode of transport for the farmers in this region.  Plenty of refreshment stops were laid on to no problem keeping topped up on the journey.  Then we got to the start of the 11km challenging hill section, which proved particularly exhausting.  But everyone made it to the top for a very well deserved drink stop.  Then on for a further 30km or so through some really spectacular rolling hills, with the red earth contrasting vividly with fields of turquoise flowers.  At our final refreshment stop we were all fairly weary and opted for a transfer in the van to the final destination of Kalaw, where we had a well deserved lunch and a beer or two.

The day ended with a tour around a couple of monasteries to see, inevitably, more Buddhas.

Apparently today's ride was the most demanding of the whole trip, so hopefully tomorrow's ride will be a bit more relaxing.

Nyaung Shwe - Kalaw

Day 2: Lake Inle

Day 1 in Myanmar took us from Yangon Airport via a short domestic flight to Heho Airport and then on to our first real destination of the trip: Lake Inle.  The hotel for our first two nights is an unexpectedly upmarket establishment, with very well appointed cabin rooms on stilts over a small lagoon next to the main canal leading into Lake Inle.  All very picturesque, the only downside being the incessant and fairly loud chugging of the long-tail boats racing up and down the canal outside our back door.  But I suppose that is preferable to listening to the planes coming in to land over Heathrow.

Today (Day 2) was our first outing on our bikes, which are impressively well specified and well maintained.  First stop after a short ride was a winery.  Yes, I didn't realise that they made wine in Burma either, until some appeared at last night's dinner.  So naturally we had to have a tasting session.  Slightly weird drinking wine at 8.30 in the morning, but hey, we're on holiday!  Verdict: I don't think the French wine producers need to worry too much about the Burmese competition, nor indeed do even the English wineries.Then it was another short ride to the start of the Inle Lake tour.  Leaving the bikes behind for the rest of the day we boarded long-tail boats, which took us around the various tourist attraction on the lake, including the local fishermen, who have their own unique style of propelling their craft using their legs to move its single paddle.   Naturally there were various Buddhist temples to visit too (I suspect the first of many that we will be seeing on this Myanmar trip.)

And so finally back to our hotel on our taxi boat, followed by a flock of seagulls eager to eat the snacks thrown to them by our guide.

Lake Inle

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Myanmar Magic

Making final preparations for our cycling trip around Burma.
Here is a map showing our itinerary over the next 20 days.
Follow this blog to see what we actually get up to each day.

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Urbane Foxes at the Turks Head

The Urbane Foxes continued with our world tour (mainly Twickenham), delivering a storming performance to the good people of St Margarets, at the Turks Head pub.