Finding Inle: Backroad from Kalaw

October 27, 2016

3-11-2016
Getting to Thazi
24 km on the bike, lots more by minivan

Getting the minivan ticket to Meiktila was easy, too easy. 10 paces from the front of the hotel is Ooh La La Travel. I pay my 8,000 kyat fare, from there I plan to ride the bike to Thazi, only 24 km. As I walk away from Mr. Ooh La La, he says, "If they want more money for the bike, it's okay - you pay some more. So the scene is set.

After the bike is loaded and we are doing the rounds about New and Old Bagan looking for more fares, the affable one eyed driver and his equally likable offsider look closely at my ticket. They shake their heads, look at the ticket again, shake their heads, get on the phone, consult some more and a verdict is reached. 8,000 for me and another 8,000 kyat for the bike. It's a preposterous ambit claim, but it gives me the opportunity to over-react and have some fun.

There are four other Europeans on board, one with a huge American Tourister suitcase taking up space for three passengers, more if they are Burmese. I point at the suitcase and say 1 bike = 8,000, then the big suitcase = 10,000 kyat. It's owner looks alarmed, the guys think it's a great joke and we all laugh. The suitcase owner is temporarily relieved...

But he's still not budging and they still want 8,000 kyat for the bike. So I say, "OK, OK 8,000 for the bike, but the bike rides inside and the big red suitcase can ride on the roof. That one goes down even better, except maybe not with the suitcase lady. In the end, after a couple more rounds of negotiation, we settle on 5,000 for the bike and it stays on the roof rack. No mention is made of the lady and her suitcase. Luckily for her, she swapped to another bus before the drivers can get to her. My European audience tells me they greatly enjoyed the show.

The ride into Meiktila is uneventful and when we get there, everyone helps me get the bike down and my panniers loaded. My cheeky driver gives me a bottle of water and wishes me luck. It was a pleasant bike ride into Thazi once through the always considerate city traffic, pedalling through patchwork farmlands. The road is still wet from recent rains, so the bike (and my legs) get yet another layer of road slush.

I spent the night at the Wonderful Inn. It's right on the main road, just before the turnoff to the train station. The owners are kind and considerate and speak good English; the rooms are clean and at the back of the premises - away from the road noise. I think it was about 12,000 for a double bed and shared toilet/bath. I think I was the only client that night.

0500 wake up for the train to Kalaw tomorrow.

4-11-2016
Thazi to Kalaw, another great train ride
0 km on the bike / 5 hrs rockin' and rollin' on the train.

A 0500 wakeup, pack up and load the bike with a predawn farewell from the hotel owner. Again, the train station is on a backroad dirt track at the edge of town - seems to be a pattern developing here for train station location. The train leaves at 0700, but they want you there at least an hour early to sort out the ticketing and bike logistics. No one much cares and sleeping on the benches seems to be staff priority #1. Eventually things get sorted, tickets are bought and the bike loaded on the goods carriage at the back of the train.

Let him sleep. If you have a bike, they request you get to the station two hours before the train leaves. But everyone seemed to be sleeping when I got there. Eventually, with plenty of time to spare, it all got sorted.

1850 kyat for me, including the reassuring 63 kyat life insurance and 300 kyat for the bike. About the best value $2.00 AUD can buy anywhere on the planet. The 5+ hour ride includes three reverse inclines to make it up the grade.

Surprisingly, I'm sitting with three young Europeans (two German, one Holland). They flew into Yangon from Europe, got straight on the train to Thazi, arrived at 0500 and are now on the local train up to Kalaw where they will do some hiking. I'm surprised they are still standing; testament to the resilience of youth. I'm sure I would have perished somewhere before Yangon.

It's nice to have some company with a common shared language, especially seeing as they cop the majority of the intense interaction with the carriage load of locals and food vendors. AndI get to spend more time dozing and watching the interaction between young European backpackers and Burmese locals. The family sitting opposite us are continually giving them lessons in Burmese culture, language and culinary delights. The father insists on buying food from every vendor that goes by and then leaping on and off at every stop to find more food for us to try. We know they can't afford this, but equally we are not able to object or even try to pay without offending. So we accept graciously and humbly.

The entire train ride we received lessons in local customs, culture and cuisine. Luckily for me, my European train mates received the brunt of the attention and I could sit back and observe.

Lunch is served...One of the local hop on / hop off food vendors serves up a tasty treat of rice and chicken curry on banana leaf.

A photo of our carriage, which swayed gently side to side and up and down for the journey. I sat well away from the window for fear of getting hit in the head by foilage that could reach surprisingly far into the carriage.

Found lodging at the Golden Kalaw Inn. You can’t miss it, right at the top of the small hill overlooking the middle of town; 17,000 kyat per night for a small room - no shower / no toilet. Probably not the best value in town, but it will do. From the 5th floor roof you can watch all the backpackers coming and going - it’s the start of the busy trekking season and there are many of them.

A small part of the huge pack of temple dogs at the monestary above Kalaw. Unlike their Thai counterparts, the dogs in Myanmar are completely unconcerned by passing cyclists... such a welcome change!!

I’ve been reading Andrea Brown and Bruce Lellman’s account of their travels in Burma and consider myself one of their “Dear Little Friends.” They took the back track from Aungban to Indein Pagodas and then up to Nyaungshwe, about a 75 km journey one way. That is the way to go and it will be interesting comparing their ride of two years ago to what I experience.

6-11-2016
The back road to Nyaungshwe
75 km and at least 5 hrs cycling, maybe 6?

It rains pretty hard all night and stops at first light - my kind of rain storm. By the time I get going, it’s about 0830 and the traffic is busy and the road is wet with the occasional shower to keep it that way most of the day. If you are considering going this way, use an OSM based map for navigation, Google maps is yet to pick it up. I’m using Locus Pro and it even gives me elevation profiles - not that I really want to know what lies ahead… But this back road is clearly and accurately mapped - you can’t get lost.

From Aungban, I turn right onto a semi-paved/cobbled one lane road and stick to it for the duration. Apart from the viciously rough surface (think Paris-Roubaix) but with nasty pointy oblong rocks. Before long you lose the bitumen and it’s just packed rocks and gravel with some clay mixed in occasionally. Right at the top of the pass there is a brand new faux village and toll station where they hit up all the cyclists and trekkers for a $10 USD / 12,500 kyat entrance fee to the Inle Lakes region - good for one week only. I paid with a smile and then spent some more kyat at their cute little restaurant with fantastic views.

Hti Thein pagoda. You round a corner and there it is, quietly and serenely waiting for you amongst the bamboo grove. It's tin and teak and feels quite ancient. There are no tourists, just a few locals wandering through, who pay you no mind. Somewhere in the bowels, little monklets are chanting their lessons. I just sit and listen and soak it all up.

It's outrageous, but done with such friendliness, I don't mind. I snuck up on them unawares and almost made it past them before they noticed and came running up behind me. To get my money's worth, I had them pose for me inside the toll booth.

This road is getting a lot of traffic now and they are trying to maintain it but the freshly recobbled surface on the long downhill run is pretty tiring. It’s a good excuse to frequently stop and admire the view and rest the aching arms. On the way down the road goes through a patch of heavy brush with great hillside views. I can hear there is a herd of cows in there and soon one bolts onto the road, probably alarmed by the smelly cyclist bouncing down the track. Quick as can be a young girl appears out of no where with a stick and tries to head it back. The cow is having nothing of that and bolts right past her. Next thing I know she and her mate appear on a high point above me and start chanting a sweet melodic repeating two note phrase. It's effect is hypnotic and immediate, working on both me and the cow. It stops instantly and tentatively turns around. I let the girls know I won't move a muscle and they sing the cow right past me back to the herd.

The Indein Pagodas and the paved road leading to it from NyaungShwe are crowded with tourists and locals celebrating the New Moon festival. The Pagoda is a zoo. I find a quiet bench along the river to sit and watch it all, have a snack and a short snooze and I’m off for Nyaungshwe, another 30 km up the busy narrow road.

About 6 km from town, I pull into a roadside coffee shop that looks like it could do with some patronage. The owner is a nice young man who is trying to tap into the tourist market, but not gaining any traction - the tourists just glide by without stopping. He thinks a swimming pool and tourist shop will draw them in. I’m quietly thinking a good clean up of the premises would be a better place to start, but don’t voice this. He offers me a place for the night, for a fee. 20,000 kyat for dinner, bed and breakfast. I accept as I’d rather see my money go to a struggling local than an established hotel. It’s a rough bed, but there’s a mosquito net. It’s a bucket bath behind the house and a rough squat toilet out the back. The meals and the conversation are good and I contribute another 5,000 for the beer consumed.

My host for the night. Later in Nyaungshwe, I am told this is independently administered Pa'O territory and people here will offer me a place to stay for the night without fear of government recrimination.

Nyaungshwe
7-11-2016
6 km by bike and a bit tootling around town

I got a 0800 start from my host's coffee shop after a pleasant conversation and tasty breakfast. He mentions that today is the start of the New Moon festival at Taunggyi, which includes huge packed crowds and the launching of massive hot air balloons. It’s a couple hours drive from Nyaungshwe and he tells me finding a taxi would be difficult and costly, but I file the information for later investigation.

On the way into town I see a large wooden monastery / temple out in the distance and turn off to investigate as it is thronging with people. It’s apparently a mandatory stop for the faithful on day one of the festival. Everyone is dressed in their finest and most everyone arrives either by water taxi or motorbike - whole families packed tight on little motorcycles, with babes and toddlers sandwiched between the older siblings, dad driving and mum at the back holding them all in. If you're creative, and they are, you can fit a family of five onto one small motorscooter.

Seems like everyone in Nyaungshwe is stopping off here this morning for an important New Moon ceremony.

I’m staying at the Remember Inn. It’s located on a quiet back road, something not that easy to find in this very busy tourist town in the middle of high season. My $20usd, about 25,000 kyat gets me a fine large room with a fan and private bath. I think it is good value for this town at this time of year.

Balloons and Bellyaches!!!
7-11-2016

When booking in, the hotel had a flyer taped to the desk saying they were running a van to the opening night of the New Moon festival at only 15,000 a seat. Considering that normally the taxis rent out at 20,000 to 30,000 kyat for the same service one way and often refuse to make the run during the festival, even at double the price - it was a bargain.

Once I got into Taunggyi, traffic was at a standstill and it took at least another hour to do the last couple of miles to the fairgrounds. They launched or should I say tried to launch about half a dozen massive hot air balloons that night, but only three were successful. Each balloon has an accompanying wire basket framework of fireworks. The firework basket is about an 8 feet high and 10 feet in diameter layercake of intricately wired explosives. There is potential for things to go very wrong and people are injured every year. There is absolutely 0 crowd control, even on the launch pad.

You just get carried along in the crush of the crowd and have to work hard at times to stay upright. As we arrived one balloon was burning up on the launch pad and it took them at least an hour to clear the mess. They use a large team to set up the balloon and hold it upright while they jam a number of large burning torches into it to start filling it with hot air. There is also a central wick and once that gets going, the balloon becomes fully inflated and a number of the volunteers are hanging onto it fighting for control. They then try to walk the balloon, with a massive fire going inside it, over to the firework basket. They then attach the fireworks, steady the now massive balloon and basket while someone lights the fuses. Once the fuses are lit, they let go and it’s off.

If it’s a cold night and there are no winds, the balloon quickly rises vertically and if they calculated the fuses correctly, the fireworks begin. The balloon goes up for several thousand feet and the fireworks continue for about 20 minutes. It’s an amazing sight to behold.

It’s the “ifs” that make it interesting…. If it isn’t a cold night, if there is a bit of a breeze, if the fuses aren’t timed properly, if they lose control of the balloon… then it gets interesting.

I went right down to the launch pad for the next balloon and as long as you are standing upwind (there was a good breeze blowing) it’s fairly safe. I noted the trajectory of the balloon over the sideshow alley and fair rides and it did look lively over there when the balloon passed over, fireworks blazing.

I was getting tired of waiting, so went wandering, got something to eat and decided to take a look at sideshow alley, the games of chance and the carni rides. Then they launched the next balloon, and the “ifs” came into play. The breeze was up and the fuses were too short and the balloon, fireworks blazing, was just skimming over the top of the ferris wheel ride and coming right down the middle of sideshow alley and heading straight for us. I thought I’d take a photo of the chaos, then common sense told me, “Nah, you had better run - run fast!!”

That was the third and last successful balloon launch of the night. Definitely, the most exciting, especially for those of us caught right under it. I slept through the ride back to the hotel and didn’t get to bed til 0200.

You can see the balloon is partly inflated in this photo. It's at this critical stage that many catch alight and burn. Absolutely no crowd control, it is better to be upwind... many are not.

Here the balloon is fully inflated, a raging fire suspended within and they are trying to walk it over to the fireworks basket visible in the foreground. Photo safely taken from upwind...

Once the fireworks are attached some brave souls stand underneath and light the fuses. Fuses lit, they let it go and it is off.Hopefully, the fuses are significantly long enough and the air cool enough for the balloon to rise sufficiently before the fireworks start. Now you definitely want to be well upwind of the thing...

Next day is festival recovery day, so I don't plan much, just a relaxing day hanging around town and eating. I stop on a whim at a local tea shop, in hindsight a bad move. I get something "local" to eat and that night pay the price for my adventurous palate. I won't go into any details, but it is a grim, very grim night. I finally get some sleep just before dawn. So I now spend another day in Ngaungshwe in true recovery mode - not surprisingly, my appetite is gone, I eat nothing, but drink lots.

I'm just hoping tomorrow I am well enough to ride. I have a big day planned.

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