The first day in Myanmar we have a short drive ahead of us to Kale. This is a very pleasant ride: the scenery is amazing and the people are incredibly friendly. We drive together with Ben and Christian.

The Bikers in Convoy

After a while we see Ben stopping and picking up something from the ground. When we ask him if he has a problem, he responds “No, but you do”. He shows us a piece of our luggage rack. Before leaving the football field this morning our Transalp had fallen over, which probably caused the piece to tear and break off while driving. The Spanish couple in the group stops and suggests putting our luggage in their van. Around noon we arrive at our destination. This time we sleep at a parking of a hotel and the tour guide had paid for a room where we can take a shower and go to the toilet. We go to the village to grab a bite with the other bikers. We are pleasantly surprised: for 1 euro per person we get rice and lots of small plates with meat and vegetables.

Dinner with the Bikers

In the evening everyone goes to sleep early because the next day will be the toughest stage of the entire Myanmar trip.
The next morning we leave with Ben around 6.30am. We enjoy the good roads, the weather, the beautiful views and the waving / smiling people.

Scenery Along the Way

We put our luggage in the car of the guides, since we have to look in a bigger city for an aluminium welder. It is actually quite comfortable without the heavy luggage. The fun stops when we have a flat rear tyre... again! Unfortunately, our spare tyre is with the guides in our luggage. We try our reparation foam, but it doesn’t work. In the next village we stop and we hear that there is a mechanic. Then, just at the right time, the car of the guides appears and we begin to replace the tube.
The thought we’re driving as the last one doesn’t make us feel comfortable, so we decide to speed up. We catch up with Ben during his lunch and he tells us that many people have taking a wrong turn, so we are very close to them. After a while, we actually overtake some of the cars. Especially the big French truck is a good backup: they have four bikes in their truck. The man told us before that if we have any major problem with Mickey, we can put him in the truck and use one of his bikes.
Suddenly we see the rest of the group on the side of the road, the guide tells us a truck is blocking the road. He says we might be able to pass with our motorbike. Fortunately, this is the case because the rest of the group had to wait for two hours. In Monywa, the destination for this day, we can’t find the hotel where we will stay for the night. We cross almost the entire city before we find it.
The next day we go for some sightseeing. In Monywa you find the largest reclining Buddha and the second largest standing Buddha in the world.

The big Buddhas at Monywa

There’s also a small 'village' of temples. Then we leave together with Christian and Francessca towards Mandalay. Along the way Christian has another flat tyre, which we repair immediately.

Repairing the Tyre

We are in time to the bridge of Mandalay to join the convoy, which is compulsory to enter Mandalay.

On the Way to Monywa

Temples in Monywa

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