Myanmar in the making 2018 . 3 weeks in total. Any pointers gratefully received.

clemo

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Dec 3, 2015
Location
England
Bikes
Vespa ET50 / Honda C90
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewe...&ll=16.571897844241796,100.64155269968592&z=6


Screen Shot 2017-12-26 at 13.56.01.jpg

Hi Guys , Technophob Dave here from England .
Firstly Love reading all your road reports . A mind of information . So with that in mind ( Subject to my non midas touch deleting everything or duplicating everything ) i will attempt to log my route for those to look at and realise how they could do it better OR say hey that looks OK . Apologies in advance .

So here goes .

12 of us flying out on the 15th March 2018 . Going via Hong Kong for a beer and a bit of food .
Then going forth into the unknown , that bit not quite true but anyway . Unknown for us lot .

We have in the past bought terrible bikes and spent much of Cambodia doing the grand tour of repair shops on a daily basis . So much so that the term mad dogs and Englishmen set in . As generally midday was when we set of in search of the nest repair shop . Pol Pots last outpost became the Bermuda triangle that we could never leave . If you know that damn roundabout that isn't really a roundabout ... Thats where we involuntary stayed .( Must say the meat soup and dumplings was very nice). Though the previous days ride through the hills and dirt tracks may have aided these failures . In essence what I'm saying is we don't mind a bit of ruff off roading and we ok for sleeping in ruff places . So if you think of anything then please mention it .

We are looking to hire motocross 125's or the other looking more comfortable things . I fortunately have a friend our their who says he will help out by bunging all our stuff in a van and lug it around for us . So for the 1st time ever no luggage to carry . Which will be novel . I don't however want this to inhibit our route . So if there is a great little bridge / water crossing / dirt track then we will take it and meet him a bit further up the road if this is possible .

The route is set slightly shorter for wage slaves which the key in the to right should show And then slightly longer for us self employed lot .

I hope this makes sense to read .
Any pointer gratefully received no matter how small .

Thanks in Advance

Dave

EDIT The one thing our man on the ground (UK guy on secondment ) says is the food doesn't kill us the local drivers will .
 

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Just spoken to friend . he says we are not going to be able to get Ann down in Rakhine state . As of 26th September the no go areas on the map have been revised . Any ideas ? Im going with the "well he should know" but its alway good to know if anyone else has been down this way .

There is a map showing it as open , but it seems that this has not been updated since 2013 . So quite misleading .
http://www.tourismtransparency.org/no-go-zones-changes
 
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Clemo, I rode into and out of Ann in early November; no guide and alone.
No problems encountered.

Ride report and useful information here.
Enjoy.

http://www.rideasia.net/motorcycle-forum/threads/9141-Bucketlist-in-Burma

Thank you for that information ,
I have had a good look through your blog . It helped form a basis of my direction ( and also a few off shoots if we have time )
I will feed it back to my man on the ground . Did you have any checkpoints ? And thinking out loud do you think all was well for you as a lone traveller . if 12 blokes turn up will we attract police attention . Similar to then we turned up to Lima in Laos ... we got turned back . ( though i guess the answer to that is to turn up and find out !)


Anyway the answer to my question is yes you got through in November 2017.

Thank you .
 
1 A good source of local info is Zach at that bike rental place referred to in my report.

2 I'm no expert on riding in Burma and I always prefer to ride alone, but I'd think riding in a large group may present problems.
Maybe better in 3-4 smaller groups travelling a few kms apart.

3 Yes, there were about 4 checkpoints on the loop I rode. Friendly, courteous and helpful.

4 'Lima' is a particularly sensitive area so I can understand their concerns.

Rgs
 
Cheers 2wheels ,
I have just sent Zach an email .

Did / Do you buy / have a local driving licence . Thinking with a large group this may help our manoeuvres round the country as in not getting tapped up for any "non local licence" bribes at checkpoints . Any thoughts .

Cheers
 
Clemo, I confirmed that my Thai license was sufficient before I went and it was.
There were no license checks.
In your case I'd suggest an International Driving Permit.
I had absolutely no issues with police or border controls.
Rgs
 
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