Ka Pai Kiwis

An early rooftop  breakfast this morning, lovely atmosphere with music and wood smoke rising from the village and the views over the lush bush to the far off mist covered hills was breathtaking. It is also nice and cool.  Photo courtesy of Min Min our guide  We then set off on our clean bike amd clean riding gear into over 100km of windy hill country. Beautiful tree lined road with many picturesque little villages along the way.  After our final descent we travelled on long narrow roads through the flat lands. Very fertile land, very pretty with many workers toiling away.  Quite a different landscape now.  This man had such a heavy load and it was hot. Our guide and driver stopped and gave him a drink.  Note the clean bike and jacket😀 Courtesy of Min Min  We knew we were nearing our destination when we spied the mighty Irrawaddy river. It is massive and we crossed possibly the longest bridge I have ever been across.  The clouds ahead were om...

We have had a delightful ride through the countryside. Rice fields stretching away to the far off Chin mountain range. There are also many other crops also and some areas where Teak trees are planted. The Teak tree used to be the dominant feature in these parts but sadly they were harvested in an unsustainable way so there are few large specimens to be seen. There are signs of some reforestation taking place.  We stopped along the way for a drink of water just as a group of women were heading home for a lunch break. We engaged with them and through  our guide we learned they were in the fields planting a crop of tomatoes.  People are so friendly here.  Shortly after this encounter we saw a lady driving an ox and cart. I pulled over and Robyn pointed to her camera to ask permission, she stopped the ox and gave us a great big smile. Delightful.  I have to say it so relaxing to be away from craziness of the roads of the last few weeks. The sun is shining and all is...

We set off at 6 this morning. The hotel kindly allowed us to breakfast early. So off we went in misty conditions.  It was busier than I thought it would be but in no time we were on our way out of town on a beautiful road.  We wound up into a mountain range but the road continued to be good.  I wondered if we were on the right road and what all the fuss was about. We soon found out.  Towards the summit there was a huge road reconstruction going on and with all the recent rain it was a muddy slippery mess. This time there was no base course down so we slipped and slid and paddled out way forward.  At one stage we climbed a little ramp and landed on a hard packed section of clay with just enough water on it to make a perfect skating rink. We decided to enter the freestyle dance section and performed a perfect pirouette, unfortunately we botched the landing and down we went in a heap. No damage to us but the gear lever now shaped like a U.  Some guys following...

We woke up this morning to blue sky. Yay. It was nice to see the sun again especially as we were unsuccessful in completely drying our kit from yesterday.  Once again it seemed to take ages to leave the town but we were soon on our way.  Lots of traffic control, lots of whistle blowing.  We climbed and twisted our way into the hills, very nice countryside.  The dog got lucky - I didn’t even know he was there.  The weather ahead didn’t look promising so once again on the side of the road pulling on our rain kit. The rain was heavy but it didn’t last long.  We then passed a ling line of trucks parked up. Oh no deja vu?   Actually no but there had been a slip and the pathway across it was extremely muddy with a huge puddle in the middle which had to taken full on and it was pretty deep.  Once we negotiated that we slithered down a steep muddy section hoping not to slide into the line of trucks parked up on this side.  Shortly after we hit an arm...

We came for adventure - we’re getting it! We have heard about the condition of the next section of road and it’s not good. It rained again through the night but thankfully it stopped at breakfast time. The young guy who helped with our bags asked where we were heading and looked very concerned when I told him, he said the road is very bad, all under construction. He then added that he heard there had been a big slip but we should be ok on the bike. So it was with trepidation that we set off for our 75km journey. The first mission was to get out of town, the built up area seemed to go on and on and that road was bad enough. We finally reached the archway declaring we were now heading into the hills.   The road was bad, slippery and muddy with potholes full of water.  This is the slippy slushy bit without the potholes and streams running through.  There was much work going on, widening the road and clearing slips. After a while I started to think that yes this is bad but if...

After our customary breakfast and packing the bike the hotel staff had one more surprise for us. We lined up for photographs and they presented us with beautifully decorated ceremonial hats and one for the bike. We have been very well looked after here. Even the young lads who serve us in the restaurant said they will miss us.  Unfortunately it was still raining so off we went with full wets on 270km today.  The first 190km went really well, dual carriageway but rain all the way and lots of surface water to contend with. We then turned off onto quite a narrow road that wound its way through the jungle, road was not so good but it was very pleasant especially as the rain had finally stopped.  The last 50km my goodness I don’t how they have the nerve to even call it a road. As you know I have been fairly descriptive with some of the roads in this trip but this one is in a class all by itself. It has taken us nearly 2 1/2 hours on this one and we have 3 more days just like i...