A Constant Cycle of Stories
By Jessilyn Yoo and Neil Calderwood
Viewing entries in
Bagan or Bust
Normally, we're up incredibly early and eager to get going so that we can take advantage of the cooler morning hours. But because we were still waiting for our laundry to be finished, we decided to spend some much needed time to fix the issues on our tandem that had been dogging us relentlessly for the last couple days.
When we rolled into Mawlamyine, the sun was shining brightly in the sky and the city was well into its lunchtime rush.
As we went north up Strand Road along the Thanlyin River, the ever increasing sound of trucks and motorbikes honking filled our ears. A once quiet coastal town that turned into a bustling teak port during the British colonial period, Mawlamyine is now a sleepier, more dilapidated reminder of the grandeur it once had.
After enjoying another delicious spicy noodle salad at yesterday's food market, we set off the following morning refreshed and ready to tackle another day in the saddle. We had finally learned our lesson - a breakfast a day keeps the 12 PM hangry monster away.
After a couple of days of minimal traffic, Hpa-An felt like a metropolis as we made our way into town. It was getting near dusk, and the town was bustling with people wrapping up the day's business.
The other noticeable thing was the huge increase in the number of tourists milling about. There were dozens of them. Dozens!
"Darling, we really should go to this cave. It's called Saddar or Saddan or maybe Seder? Whatever. It's a temple so you have to walk barefoot. Through 15 minutes of bat poo. It's amazing."
Nothing like the combination of monks chanting and roosters crowing at 6 AM to thrust you out of a short doze.
Given that we were subjected to a thumping night of techno that would make the most religious of all Berliners weep, we were quite good at waking up with the sun.
It would seem that pretty much nobody apart from cycle tourists ends up in Kawkareik.
We stayed at the Smile Guest House (no address other than to keep going on the main road into town and make a left at the junction - there is a sign for it on the right and it is opposite the Hindu temple).
Today was the day.
We woke up with the lark and got ourselves dressed and ready. Packed the tandem. Said our goodbyes to Thailand and rode towards the Mae Sot/Myawaddy border.
This timing chain has been a huge thorn in our backside.
It actually ended up not being the root of the problem at all, but rather, a bent chain ring that was the source of our woes. Because of its slight deviations, the chain would turn for a couple revolutions before hitting the contorted teeth and slipping right off.
This has been a very long week.
We were all set to leave Berlin on Wednesday, 20 January and arrive in Bangkok the next morning. That left two full days beforehand to prepare and cross-check everything thoroughly before departure.
Until we were both struck down with a bout of norovirus on Monday night.
Please take "Planned" with a grain of salt.
There is more than one way to skin this cat.
When coming up with a potential route for our trip, there have been many iteration upon iteration of our itinerary.
When we told people that we'd be cycling to Burma on a tandem for three weeks with only a sandwich bag and four panniers, they looked at us like we were mad.
Honestly, you learn to live on very little whilst on the road. When we did our Easter tour last year, we took our individual tourers with us (Neil on his Fuji Touring, Jess on her Dawes Galaxy) and had one pannier each. And even then, we overpacked.
The pieces are falling into place now. We picked up what has become known as the BattleTandem™ on Saturday, after two long months waiting for it to be built.
What a beast it is.
After our successful Easter extravaganza around five countries, we're back with another adventure. Shortly after the new year, we will be taking another trip for 3.5 weeks in January and February.
Through Burma.
On a tandem.
