Loikaw to Taungoo by bike - a world first?

1st Jan - Loikaw to village hut

I try to set off early from the Moonjoy Guesthouse but it was proving hard to wake the receptionist (owner?).  The place was cheap by Myanmar standards at 8,000 kyat but, hells bells, it was a shithole!

It was custard pies and hot milk for breakfast and then  a flat 20k run across the valley floor until my turn off into the mountains at Demoso. 

This was the start of an epic ride; epic effort, epic scenery, epic generosity and kindness by everyone I met. 

To a non-cyclist a 10% gradient probably doesn't mean much...... but it is tough especially when you have to grind it out for hour after hour. Forget the downhills, they dry the sweat off a bit but are over so quickly, always punctuated by a rickety wooden bridge marking the start of the next climb. Above 14% you have to concentrate to keep the front wheel on the tarmac. The short hellish 18% stretches are brutal but you keep grinding through because it's virtually impossible to push a loaded bike up a slope like that.

Many of the following photos are just of road. Bear with me, first and foremost this is a record for me. 

 

The road seems to suffer from a lot of mudslides in the monsoon season

 

I stop for a late lunch in a village called Sebu, around my lunch table were these women practicing their songs for a New Year's show later that night. They were drinking beer and having a great time. Lunch with live music.....great!
video

At the top of a climb

This was a surprise, up in the mountains in the middle of nowhere, a mausoleum dedicated to all the Kayah fighters (about 500) who died fighting for self-determination against the government forces. As I passed through Kayah I was surprised to see young men on motor bikes carrying AK47 type weapons. The only armed military patrol I saw was on the descent to Taungoo.

By late afternoon I was looking for somewhere to camp when a young man stopped on his motorbike to chat. He invited me to stay at his mothers house overnight and I accepted. It was a great insight in to how the villagers lived and I learned a lot more than if I'd stayed in my tent. There is no mains electricity, no phone signal or internet, no running water, a hole in the ground toilet out back.........pretty basic really.

The village shower cubicle. Sluice cold water over you with a bowl and try not to think about the villagers watching. Thanks for the towel Jude, it came in useful!

 

My host Nicholas, strange name for a Burmese lad you might think but this is a Christian area, mostly Catholic. He works as a Project Coordinator for a NGO up in Kachin state. 

 

 I get the feeling that I'm the most interesting thing that's happened in these parts for a while. 

 
After dark all the neighbours crowd into the hut to shake my hand and wish me Happy New Year. Nicholas says they haven't seen a foreigner before. 

 

Waiting for breakfast. I'm told mother has killed a chicken to make a curry. As they all run around free range I asked how she managed to catch them.  At night they roost in the banana trees. She knocks one off its perch with  a bamboo stick and puts it in a cage until morning. Simples!

 
Nicholas's sister, who unfortunately is deaf and dumb, but all the family manage to communicate using sign language. 

 

The hoop (motorbike tyre) and stick are a common plaything here. The kids were quite impressed by my performance!

 

Chicken curry is served, the kids still in their pyjamas and the puppy gets it's paws singed in the cinders. 

 

After breakfast it's on with the ride and some spectacular views 

 

That's my road down below. On several long descents I had to stop and let the wheels cool off as the rims were to hot to touch. A tyre blowout would be very bad news. 

 

Whenever I stop to buy something  I'm grabbed to pose with complete strangers in selfies. It feels odd at first.......but you get used to it!

 

Around 5pm I'm looking for somewhere to stay for the night. I go and ask if I can camp around the church. They say I can put my tent up in the shell of a parish community centre. They didn't seem overly friendly and I went off to a village bar for beer and snacks. After I was tucked up in my tent and settling down to sleep they came over and offered food.... too late for me. 

 

Where's the driver?

After a third tough day I finally roll into Taungoo. I ask an 81 year old on a 45 year old BSA bicycle where the guesthouse were and he says "Follow me!" and races off into the rush hour mayhem. 

 

My guide - fit as a fiddle at 81, which is unusual as I think the average life expectancy in Burma is 66. 

 

I'm having lunch and get invited over to admire this BSA A10 ( I think) chugging away  next to the restaurant. I last rode one of these monsters down the main drag at Lyneham around 1973. (Check with Taff Rowlands). 

 

I think the petrol tank must be leaking!

A world first?

The reason I'm claiming to be the first ever person to cycle from Loikaw to Taungoo on this particular road

1. The area has been closed to foreigners until recently. 

2. No local would have the motivation or bike required (with gears)

3. The only foreigners I've known  attempt it got sick and had to be trucked out. 

Here are some stats- 

01 Jan   74km     1087m climb

02 Jan    67km    1721m climb

03 Jan    70km    1202m climb

That's a total climb of  4010m or over 13,000'

Well, I'm impressed!