January 10, 2017
to Tak: leaving Myanmar with mixed feelings
"I'll not miss the red spit" Rachel says referring to the betel nuts the locals chew then spit the juice out anywhere, anytime. We've seen the little shops everywhere. The packet is made with a small green leaf, a white paste is spread on the leaf, adding the nut, flavors and a small pinch of tobacco all rolled up and popped into the mouth to be sucked on staining the lips and teeth red.
We have to leave Burma today, our 28 day visa is up. You can overstay your visa and just pay a fine of $3 per day for each of us at the border, but we need to move and get to Bangkok for our flight on the 22nd.
The guesthouse arranged a shared taxi and we are picked-up at the hotel right at 7:00 am. The cost is 9000 kyat per person (about $7) and 4000 ($3) per bike for a ride of about 150km to Myawaddi. Shared taxi typically means that the driver will troll around town until the car is full before heading off. That is the price you pay for travelling on the cheap. But to our surprise we hit the road and keep moving towards our destination. The driver has a very annoying habit of constantly pushing and easing off the gas pedal, this combined with a very bumpy road makes for an uncomfortable ride. But he avoids head-on collision, even though he tries his best to pass slower traffic on the narrow road, driving on the right side with a right hand drive car means the passenger (Patrick) gets to see first what is coming down the road towards you.
In Myawaddi we get dropped off at the hotel where we stayed four weeks ago because it has a quiet parking lot. We load up, spend the last of our kyats on a cold drink and head for the border. No issues stamping us out of Burma and back into Thailand. Heads up: Thailand now only allows visa-exempt travelers who just get a 30 day stamp at the border to do this twice per calendar year.
We ride into Mae Sot looking for a restaurant and some good food. We come across "Famous Ray Restaurant" and have a nice lunch, meeting an Italian cyclist on an unloaded touring bike. He is heading into Myanmar tomorrow and has made contact with Smile Angel in Kawkareik. We are sorry to not have met her in person. We share some information and suggestions about routes. Then continue to the minibus station right in the center of town. A mini-bus is almost full so there is little waiting, our bikes go on the roof and off we go for another 85km over two big hills with lots of road construction. At 2:30 we are back at the bus station in Tak where we departed four weeks ago. We pick up cold chocolate milk and snacks at a 7-11 (Patrick had been craving cold chocolate milk) and head back for the hotel we stayed before and where we had left gear we knew we wouldn't need in Myanmar.
We relax, walk across the street to the Tesco Lotus for dinner and shopping. Tomorrow back on Thai roads.
We have mixed feelings about Myanmar. The people are great, the sights a little less so with the exception of Bagan and Inle Lake, and around Hpan. The roads are awful, narrow and too much traffic, though not aggressive.
We are happy we did it as part of a larger trip, and feel it would have been disappointing as a sole-destination for cycling, the 28 days is just too short. We used many buses, minivans and taxis to see the main sights in Myanmar. Two other CGOAB blogs to check out for information: Northern Thailand to Singapore and beyond by Olga Pakina https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?doc_id=18946 and Myanmar Meanders by Dan Dru https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?doc_id=18946
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Today's ride: 10 km (6 miles)
Total: 27,144 km (16,856 miles)
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