December 14, 2016
Week 90: to Yangon: Long time on a bus
"That way, only few minutes walk" the staff say when we ask directions to the bus.
Since we only have 28 days on our visa, we realize there's not enough time to cycle to all we want to see in Myanmar. The hotel staff called and bought the bus tickets to Yangon for us, 12,000kyats each for us, 10,000 per bike.
After breakfast of toast and eggs at the hotel, we set off to find the bus. There is no central bus station and we have to show the ticket several times to find the GI Group (Goody and Ivan Group) bus parked in a side alley. Then we notice that there is indeed an office on the main road, we just missed the sign that's mostly in Burmese. After a while we get to load the bikes in the luggage compartment. The bus then pulls out of the alley and parks in front of office and we wait more while the passenger list is assembled and copies of our passports made.
Finally, on the bus for the supposed 8 hours to Yangon. Only it ends up being 12 hours. There are multiple checkpoints where military come onboard to look at the passengers checked against the list. We see why the bus company made copies of our passports, the soldier guys have them in their sweaty hands as they walk through the bus checking the other passengers but ignoring the muzungus. There are also many weigh stations. Seems like all they need is money and we are off again.
We stop at a roadside restaurant and the three cyclists we saw at the border ride by. Their plan is to go to Mawlamyine and see if ferries still run across the bay. In retrospect, it might have been good to break the journey up at Hpa-an, the area around it is beautiful. We will try to cycle this section back to the border on our way back to Mae Sot.
Around 5pm, We stop one more time at a restaurant, we eat fried noodles and pork. Good that we did, we didn't arrive to the bus station in Yangon until 8pm.
And we still were not in Yangon but at least 20km and dark. In a way it is good it is this far, had it only been a couple of kilometers we would have been tempted to ride, even though we avoid riding at night. Yangon would not be a good place to try, there is a lot of traffic, few street lights and many road dangers like wide grate spacings or no grates at all on sewer drains. As bikes and gear are unloaded we have a group of taxi drivers watching asking "where you go?" They offer a fare of 20,000 which seems high, Patrick negotiates to 15,000, then a Burmese guy who speaks excellent English steps in and gets us 13,000. In the end we still give the guy 15,000 because it is a long ride. All the gear and bikes are loaded in the back of the hatchback taxi with the back seats down, Patrick in the front seat, there's just enough room in the back for Rachel to scrunch in leaning against the panniers.
Another hour, and we are at the MGM hotel. A very welcoming staff, easy check-in, bikes safely stored behind the reception desk and an elevator to our 10th floor room. Next door is Doreen restaurant we go for a few appetizers and draft beer. From our hotel room we have a view over the city with the illuminated Shwedagon Pagoda. Today was a long day, we are so happy we don't have to do this very often, riding our bikes is much more fun.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Today's ride: 1 km (1 miles)
Total: 26,117 km (16,219 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 0 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |