Escaping India & into Myanmar

Sneaking away from India, great food and thinning the motorcyclist population

 

India was a challenging experience, a good experience but most of us were ready to move on and excited to get into Myanmar. The country had in fact grown quite fond of us though and didn't want to let us go. Endless traffic jams full of overloaded trucks, the worst section of sealed road I’ve ever driven on and tight bridges with hairpin bend entrances that required a 20 point turn combined with the overtaking prowess of our truck made for a long and frustrating drive. What we planned to drive in 1 day, Shillong to Impale, took two 14 hour days and a lot of patients. To rub salt into the wound both nights we were unable to find accommodation due to all the hotels being full so had the pleasure of sleeping on the truck with bushcamping just not being possible. Despite India's crazy ex-girlfriend type affection we managed to slip out of town in the early hours of the morning, only to be discovered down the road in the form of 3 police checks within 400m, each one taking half an hour as they wrote out everybody's details by hand at each point. With a 4-5 hour exit on top India certainly used every trick in the book but we made it across and into Myanmar.

 

 

Hanging out on the railroads, as Indians do

Constant traffic



 

More great roads

The dangers of driving in India

 Our arrival into Myanmar was something special, not just because of the fact that we had been able to break the vice like grip of India but because we became the first overland truck to enter Myanmar from India. Our euphoria was short lived however when we smashed our front viewing window on a low hanging branch the next day, showering the people in front with broken glass. Fortunately no one was hurt and the windscreen has since been replaced.

 

 

 

 

A tight squeeze

Our entourage of followers we always manage to attract

Carlos cleaning up the broken window

Our first major stop in Myanmar was in Mandalay. I spent my time here eating great food, checking out the palace and eating more great food. I’m not much of a foodie but the cooking here is amazing as well as being cheap. From what I’ve heard most of South East Asia is going to be a holiday for my taste buds and Myanmar is the first course.

Mandalay Palace

 

 

 

From Mandalay we drove down to the World Heritage site of Bagan. Here we hired scooters and I rode around with Will and Ally all day checking out the temples. With around 2200 temples spread over 104 square km’s we never had far to ride between stops, picking our favourites and relishing the freedom of the bikes.

Hells Angels chapter has opened in Bagan

 

The temples of Bagan

Shwezigon temple

 

 

Our fun with motorcycles did not finish in Bagan with a local rider managing to take a corner far too wide, leaving a nice imprint of himself on the side of our truck just out of town. The rider and passenger came off at about 60km p/h and were extremely lucky to not go under the truck and get killed. 1 had some nasty grazes to his legs and wrists but it turned out they both worked at a nearby bone hospital so were able to continue on after the shock passed to get themselves checked up.

 

 

The Burmese countryside

 

After our little incident we continued on to Lake Inle, famous for its fishermen who fish with nets whilst rowing with their legs at the same time. The lake is central to their lifestyle, feeding both themselves with its fish and its economy with tourism. I hired a boat and guide for myself and spent half a day exploring the area, getting quite sunburnt in the process and enjoying more great food in the evenings. Next stop, Yangon.

Fisherman on Lake Inle

Their housing

A stilt village is not complete without a pub

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