Myanmar Firgure 8 journey

Joko_Londo

Joko_Londo

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2016
Location
Yangon, Myanmar
Bikes
Kenbo 125
A bit less than a year ago, I traveled a bit more than 2000 km on a figure-8 over the course of two weeks. I'm a video, not a picture guy, so please allow me to share that journey via YouTube. First, I had to get to NPT where my bike was being stored.

 
Part Three was the shortest leg of the two week journey. I visited a cave where I expected to see a lot of Buddhas. I was not disappointed. It's also the only video I've made where I've used my own song of me playing ukulele as the background music.

 
Part Five... Inle Lake to Pinlaung.. One of my favorites from this journey,
[video]http://www.ajarn.com/blogs/joko-mackenna/stay-away-from-the-top-knot[/video]
 
Joko_Londo said:
Part Five... Inle Lake to Pinlaung.. One of my favorites from this journey,
[video]http://www.ajarn.com/blogs/joko-mackenna/stay-away-from-the-top-knot[/video]
Click to expand...


Maybe something went wrong - not a nice trip report but an even better story about an ajarn with a top-knot
 
We ended Part 8 with a long procession of Pinlaungians walking somewhere...

What I saw was a great example as to why the motorcycle is called the "iron horse" (the traditional custom you'll see was originally performed on horseback)

 
Great collection of video's, love the commentary in lieu of music :RO
 
From the little hill town of Pinlaung, the heart of the Pa-O Shan people, through Pekon, the home of the Padaung Karen (the longneck ladies) and onto to Loikaw, the capital of Kayah State.

 
This next journey I will never forget. It was 260 km. Not that far, relatively speaking. The road, however, over the mountains from Kayah State back into the valley and Taungoo, part of it was fine, but most of it was terrible, I invite you to watch and see. At ten minutes, it's far longer than I usually make my videos, but I think the Loikaw-Taungoo video is the best in this series.

 
Central Myanmar is divided by three ranges of hills which run north-south: The Rakhine Mountains along the west coast, the range along the border with Thailand, and the Pegu Hills, a modest range of low hills running right up the middle of the country. In this leg, I cross those hills from Taungoo to Pyay.

 
In part ten, my intention was to get into Rakhine State and stay in a town called Taungup. I made such good time that I was there by lunchtime, so I kept going to the famous beachside resort town of Ngapali. I made it! In three days from Kayah State to the Bay of Bengal!

 
Here in Part 11, I leave Ngapali, intending to go to a place called Kantharya. I later discovered that there is actually accommodation in Kantharya; the lady just misunderstood my question.

 
Oh what the heck. Let's just finish this thing out so I can go bug the folks on the Indonesia threads.

Have you noticed something about the music in these videos?

They all feature the same instrument. My beloved ukulele.

This one is for all of you in North America and Europe who are suffering through winter this December.

 
Although I could have easily done it, I didn't really want to make the trip from Chaung Thar to Yangon in one day. Instead, I found a medium sized town in the middle, which also happened to be the home of the second most famous Burmese person in world history.

 
Joko_Londo said:
I thank you for your indulgence for letting me share the journey once again.
Click to expand...
Great report - the videos don't seem to line up exactly with the text of your posts, but that's a minor quibble. You've really captured the feel of riding/travelling out of the cities and on those rural roads. Gotta love those shady roadside trees :)
 
ahhhhh ...
just watched all the videos and turn the page to not find out if you changed the money ?
Did you store the bike ? actually i wondered about that trusty steed . Did you buy or rent . I'm guessing buy as you stored it up .
I thank you for taking the time to do your video blog . very informative and interesting .
I even found myself singing for you over the other large bridges that you went over .
Our routes cross in places so it was good to see the road condition .

you seem to be able to eat and sleep quite well ( apart from Gwa) .
and though your mileage was quite high it looks like you set of early and arrived before dusk ,
My previous trips round Laos and cambodia the bikes were so ruff that i spent 4 hours in the repair shop nearly every morning .
could you tell me more about your bike please ?

Thank you

Dave in England
 
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