Off on a rough start

After a day with sightseeing around Yangon with the impressive Swedagon Pagoda as the golden highlight, I started of towards the western coast and beaches. However, the start was more rough than expected in many ways: the heat, the road, the traffic... progress on the first day was slow.

I got caught by the dark in a tiny village just 7 km from the town where I planned to stay. Despite an effort to convince the local polisforce (all equipped with walkie/talkies) to let me stay, they were firm that I traveled on for my safety... when I pointed out the risks of riding a very bad road in the dark, the police commander organised a private van and 2 policeman to come with me to the guesthouse of his choice in the town. After making sure that I was checked in the police left me and one of the boys in the guesthouse showed me around town and to a good place to eat...

This morning I tried to make for an early start but with the road being even worse, I had another flat and needed to fix my tire along the road. Quite entertaining for the local children, adults and monks... Again the progress was slow and after crossing the irriwaddy river I got to small village where I had lunch and calculated that I would make it to the beach and back just in time to catch my flight back to bangkok...

Since I want to see more of Burma than just rotten road... I got on a passing buss back to Yangon and I decided to fly to north tomorrow...

From Bangkok to Yangoon, and onwards

It is time to leave bangkok and get to the airport for my flight to Yangoon. All is packed and ready and i have bought some extra salt tablets after seeing that the average temaperature will be around 30 degrees. Certainly a lot hotter than the tour around Tibet.

My rough route takes me west from Yangoon to the beaches south of Ngapali. From there i will go north, northeast to Bagan and then on to Mandalay. From there things are flexible and unplanned. I hope i will have a few days to spare around Mandalay and Inle Lake, and then take a train or flight back to Yangoon.

Roughly 15 cycling days in 20 days, covering between 1400 and 2000 k.

Internet and mobile connection are very limited in Myanmar, so pictures and updates will probably come first in January.

Best wishes and a happy new year,

bjorn

Preparations in Bangkok

Bangkok is as beautiful and hot as always. The smell of incense mixed with the noise of the traffic... I like it here, but i can never stay too long.

I have taken some time to relax and get over the sleepless flight... and i have fixed the essentials for my trip to Myanmar:

1. Visum (a lot easier than anticipated, and apparently easier than most since i got the visa without having fixed my hotel or my flight)
2. Flight to Yangoon since there is no way one can ride a bicycle up to the border and enter the country (except for coming from china with a special visum from Kunming). Getting the flight was not so easy as apperently all the expats in Bangkok are celebrating x-mas in Burma...
3. Hotel in Yangoon to secure coming into the country upon arrival
4. Map of Myanmar after a realised that the maps in the lonely planet are just a bit too small to be sure that there is a road going where i want to go...

With the essential preparations in place, i now take it easy another 2 days in Bangkok... Shopping, meditation, eating good food.

//

On my way again...

less than 48 hours untill i will fly to Thailand for a few weeks of cycling in the sun... I have seen large parts of Thailand on previous trips and my real goal this time is Burma... or Myanmar.

Again a beautiful, but uncertain destination. I hope to arrange visa and flights in Bangkok since the burmese government doesn't like people showing up at the border with their bicycles. If the visa procedures take too long I might divert to Chang Mai region or ride towards Cambodia.

Cycling gives freedom of choice and direction.

Stormy waters

Just before the outbreak of winter my good friend Claus came to visit from Danmark. Claus loves adventure almost as much as I do, so we decided to go for a kayak tour in the archipelago.

The weather was great and we got the most of the last sunshine weekend. We also got the best of the autumn: a feisty storm picked up just as we were about to round an island half-way between Nynäshamn and Utö. The waves were quite high and there even was a surf and despite som scary moments all went well.

HOME

I am home, stockholm Sweden, and it feels so nice! The sun is shining and I have just come back from a little kayaking on riddarfjärden... so nice.

The second part of the Xining to Lijiang trip went well: it was tough, cool, and beautiful. The changing landscape, the people and of course the passes: Crossing over to Derge towards the Tibetan border I climbed up to 5050 meters...a dream altitude! and a big big downhill after that. Unfortunately, I had to pay for the fun with 3 days of terrible and non-existing roads untill I reconnected to the main road to Litang. The fact that it was raining most of the time didn't help either, but it was worth it!

From Litang to Lijiang the road goes straight south, almost... it just switches across a few more mountainpasses before coming back to the Yangtze in the Tiger Leaping Gorge. With all the rain in the south of China, the Yangtze was at its max height and forcefully pushing through the gorge!

Coming back to Shangri-la and Lijiang from the north felt very different from last year when i came from the south... the air gets more clear, the landscape gets more rough, the people more tibetan going north... coming back the cities felt big, crowdy and noisy. Still, the food, teh shower and the real bed were very very nice and relaxing.

Before i knew it, i had to get my bike and stuff packed and i was on my way back to home... but with the plans for the next trip already resonating in my mind...

Onwards to Lijiang

The last 2 weeks I have cycled from Xining to Yushu along the G214
across the Tibetan plateau.

The riding has been great: we have crossed the highest pass of 4845 meters: cool, cold and just enough oxygene to feel like an astma patient. The roads are generally good and the views are fantastic. Along the way I have visited monestaries, camped out at more 4000 meters, visited Tibetan nomads and met some wonderful people. Unfortunately i can not upload the pictures. I think i have taken over 800 sofar.

Riding together with the others has been good, and good fun... cultural differences and lack of riding experience have created quite some occassions for confusion and laughing. All together, however, I have enjoyed the company and the talks and it has given more insights in china and tibet.

Yushu is about a third of the way to Lijiang and we were hoping to get the necessary permits to cross through Tibet Autonomous Region from here. However, NOT.... no permit, or better no permits. Apparently we need about 4 different permits to please both police and military in the areas we would cross. We tried to explain that we are friendly and all that, but the cities and the roads are more closed right now then ever before due to the unrest in north-eastern china.

To keep things simple, and avoid trouble and fines, I have changed the route slightly and will travel trough the Sichuan Province instead, staying close to the border. Also I will ride alone again to see some other things and to ride at my own speed. The group falls apart as the
chinese guy got bitten by a dog and refuses to leave town, and Hutch and the Tibetan boy will travel at an easier speed.

Last night we prepared all the maps with new routes and new choices, I am not quite sure how I will ride, but I plan to visit Derge, where they have the Tibetan library and bookprinting monastery, Litang, where they have the horse festival, and then shangri-la, where i spend some time last year. On the way I hope to tick of pass that crosses over 5002 meters...