It's been over a month since I've posted anything on the blog, but there's good reason for this. Myanmar is an internet black hole. I thought that at least I'd be able to post to the website from Yangon and a couple other places along the way, but it was not meant to be. While internet did "exist" in a few places, in practice, that really just meant that there was a sign on the wall that said "free wifi," or an "internet cafe" that didn't actually have internet. Coupled with the frequent power outages all over Myanmar, it was all I could muster just to get a message out to my momma every so often to let her know I wasn't dead.
Now I'm writing from Imphal, Manipur Province, India, where the internet is also not so ubiquitous, but at least I'll be able to get some posts out. I'm going to write this as sort of a practical guide to how to cycle across Myanmar, so I'm going to assume that's why you're reading this post. I'll cover visas, permits, sleeping, costs, route, etc. Well, without further ado...
We rode 1737km to get from Maesot, Thailand to Moreh, India. We had to do it in 28 days for four reasons: that's how long the visa is for, you cannot extend it, the border post at Tamu does not have the facilities to allow you to pay overstay fees, AND you must specify an exit date on the border crossing permit that you purchase in Yangon. Also, as far as I know, at the time of writing, the route that we took is pretty much the ONLY route you can take to cross into Myanmar from Thailand and out the other side into India. Maesot is the only town that borders a part of Myanmar that is totally open, and the Tamu/Moreh border, while not even a fully functioning crossing, is the ONLY border crossing on the Indian side that is open to non-local traffic at all.
You can see from the graph above that between May 2, when we entered Myanmar, and May 29, when we exited, we were only able to take 7 days off. It really felt like a race across Burma, and generally there was little time for sightseeing. That's ok though, because each day was filled with incredible experiences and incredible people, and I never really felt like I was missing out on anything.
The route:
There is only one road from Maesot to Yangon, and most of it looks like this:
The first 90k until Kawakreik, traffic is one-way. One day it goes east to Maesot ONLY, and the next it heads west to Kawakreik ONLY, so when you get to Maesot, you will have to find out which day you need to depart. After Kawakreik, the road is two-way, although not really any wider!
From Yangon heading North, we chose to stick to Highway 2 all the way up to Monywa. The main Yangon-Mandalay highway, although probably quicker, is reputed to be devoid of towns and facilities. I think Highway 2 was probably a good choice. For most of the way it was a beautiful, relatively quiet, tree-lined thoroughfare with places to stop and eat along the way. As you head north, traffic thins, and the road gets worse.
From Monywa, there is a road that goes directly to Kalewa, the last big stop before Tamu and the border. We'd heard that this road is impassable during the rainy season, so we opted to to a slightly roundabout route north to Ye-U, and then west to Kalewa on what the map shows to be a highway, but in actuality is nothing more than a dirt track for a couple hundred kilometers. We were told later that this road was built by the British and then hardly used or maintained since, and it shows. This road was probably the hardest thing I've ever done on a bike, but in the end it was worth it. We passed through so much uninhabited jungle, friendly tiny towns that had probably not seen a foreigner in decades, good food, and FREE accommodation. Most of that road looks like this:
All in all, it was an awesome adventure, and if I had to do it again, I may or may not have chosen to take the shorter road. Someone else do it and let me know how it was!
Budget and Accommodation:
Excluding the $90 border permit and $30 visa, I spent just over $10 per day in Myanmar. If I had been a real scrooge and foregone the excellent draft beers and (not so excellent) coffee each day, I would have spent less than $10 per day. You can get a great meal in a small town for 50 cents -$1, or pay $1.50-2.00 for fancier fare in a beer hall. The only time I spent more that $2 on a meal was in Bagan, where I splurged on a pizza. Really, the only part of your budget you won't be able to control is your accommodation costs. In Myanmar, it is illegal for you to stay with locals, or camp, so if there is any hotel at all, the police will make you go to it, even if it is out of your budget. This happened to me once or twice, when I was forced to pay up to $17 for my share of a room. Also, many of the cheaper hotels (locals pay as little as $3/room) have not purchased "foreigner permits," so you can't stay there either. Generally though, hotel costs hovered in the neighborhood of $7 per night. Keep in mind though that if you are a single traveler, hotel expenses will be higher, since hotel owners tend to charge per room, not per person. I found even the cheapest hotels to be wayyy overpriced. For $7 in Thailand you can get a clean, air-conditioned room with a comfortable bed and free wifi. In Myanmar, you get a tiny concrete box with a fan that doesn't work because there is no electricity. Perhaps this will all change as Myanmar opens up a bit more.
I managed to couchsurf in Yangon, and then in the remote northwest, we were able to camp and stay for free at temples and houses in small villages a few times, since there was not a hotel anywhere nearby. This is really at the whim of the local police though, because they ALWAYS know where you are, and while most were extremely kind and helpful, and ready to let us sleep at their village temple or whatnot if there was no hotel, a couple times we were told we must ride an extra 70km to the next hotel, or faced with attempts at extortion from a couple of bad characters. I think, though, that if you travel in a group of 2 or alone, your chances of camping are probably better (we were 6).
Visa and Permit:
Apply for your Myanmar tourist visa in Bangkok (along with your India visa!), cycle up to Maesot and chill there for a few days to enjoy your last gasps of civilization before crossing into the unknown. Once you get to Yangon, head over to Seven Diamond Travel Agency,just a couple kilometers north of Sule Pagoda in the center of town. Once there, hand over the dough (we paid $90 each) and a copy of your passport, specify which date you want to cross out into India (you MUST stick to this date), and apply for your border crossing permit. The permit takes up to two weeks to process, but you only need to be present for the application. Seven Diamond will give you a receipt, and the permit will be waiting for you at the border. Next, head north! Make sure to give yourself plenty of time to do the last 300km or so to the border, because it will take a lot longer than you expect. Once in Tamu, head over to immigration, announce your presence, and voila! You're out of Burma and into India. For us it all went off without a hitch. For the last week or so before Tamu, we were confronted by an immigration official each day, who asked to see our passports, and then would relay our information to the next town's immigration official, who would also confirm our identities and location. From Monywa all the way to the border, officials seemed to know where we were, and the immigration officials at the border we well-prepared to receive us and stamp us out of the country, even though there isn't really a border post there.
Getting Money:
Contrary to what you may have been told, there are tons of banks and ATMs in Myanmar. The banks in Myawaddy, across the border from Maesot, will change dollars and Thai Baht (dollars must be in very good condition), but there are ATMs there, as well as in Yangon, Pye, Bagan, Monywa, and possibly other places as well. I think it would be a good idea, however, to have a few hundred bucks in cash at the ready just in case you can't get money from the ATM.
Bike:
I didn't see a single bike shop that carried Shimano, Sram, etc, parts for good-quality bikes. There are, however, a lot of shops servicing the local brand bikes, so in a pinch, you may be able to make something work. But bring your own spare parts, because the next good bike shop will be in Imphal, India.
Now I'm writing from Imphal, Manipur Province, India, where the internet is also not so ubiquitous, but at least I'll be able to get some posts out. I'm going to write this as sort of a practical guide to how to cycle across Myanmar, so I'm going to assume that's why you're reading this post. I'll cover visas, permits, sleeping, costs, route, etc. Well, without further ado...
You can see from the graph above that between May 2, when we entered Myanmar, and May 29, when we exited, we were only able to take 7 days off. It really felt like a race across Burma, and generally there was little time for sightseeing. That's ok though, because each day was filled with incredible experiences and incredible people, and I never really felt like I was missing out on anything.
The route:
There is only one road from Maesot to Yangon, and most of it looks like this:
The first 90k until Kawakreik, traffic is one-way. One day it goes east to Maesot ONLY, and the next it heads west to Kawakreik ONLY, so when you get to Maesot, you will have to find out which day you need to depart. After Kawakreik, the road is two-way, although not really any wider!
From Yangon heading North, we chose to stick to Highway 2 all the way up to Monywa. The main Yangon-Mandalay highway, although probably quicker, is reputed to be devoid of towns and facilities. I think Highway 2 was probably a good choice. For most of the way it was a beautiful, relatively quiet, tree-lined thoroughfare with places to stop and eat along the way. As you head north, traffic thins, and the road gets worse.
From Monywa, there is a road that goes directly to Kalewa, the last big stop before Tamu and the border. We'd heard that this road is impassable during the rainy season, so we opted to to a slightly roundabout route north to Ye-U, and then west to Kalewa on what the map shows to be a highway, but in actuality is nothing more than a dirt track for a couple hundred kilometers. We were told later that this road was built by the British and then hardly used or maintained since, and it shows. This road was probably the hardest thing I've ever done on a bike, but in the end it was worth it. We passed through so much uninhabited jungle, friendly tiny towns that had probably not seen a foreigner in decades, good food, and FREE accommodation. Most of that road looks like this:
All in all, it was an awesome adventure, and if I had to do it again, I may or may not have chosen to take the shorter road. Someone else do it and let me know how it was!
Budget and Accommodation:
Excluding the $90 border permit and $30 visa, I spent just over $10 per day in Myanmar. If I had been a real scrooge and foregone the excellent draft beers and (not so excellent) coffee each day, I would have spent less than $10 per day. You can get a great meal in a small town for 50 cents -$1, or pay $1.50-2.00 for fancier fare in a beer hall. The only time I spent more that $2 on a meal was in Bagan, where I splurged on a pizza. Really, the only part of your budget you won't be able to control is your accommodation costs. In Myanmar, it is illegal for you to stay with locals, or camp, so if there is any hotel at all, the police will make you go to it, even if it is out of your budget. This happened to me once or twice, when I was forced to pay up to $17 for my share of a room. Also, many of the cheaper hotels (locals pay as little as $3/room) have not purchased "foreigner permits," so you can't stay there either. Generally though, hotel costs hovered in the neighborhood of $7 per night. Keep in mind though that if you are a single traveler, hotel expenses will be higher, since hotel owners tend to charge per room, not per person. I found even the cheapest hotels to be wayyy overpriced. For $7 in Thailand you can get a clean, air-conditioned room with a comfortable bed and free wifi. In Myanmar, you get a tiny concrete box with a fan that doesn't work because there is no electricity. Perhaps this will all change as Myanmar opens up a bit more.
I managed to couchsurf in Yangon, and then in the remote northwest, we were able to camp and stay for free at temples and houses in small villages a few times, since there was not a hotel anywhere nearby. This is really at the whim of the local police though, because they ALWAYS know where you are, and while most were extremely kind and helpful, and ready to let us sleep at their village temple or whatnot if there was no hotel, a couple times we were told we must ride an extra 70km to the next hotel, or faced with attempts at extortion from a couple of bad characters. I think, though, that if you travel in a group of 2 or alone, your chances of camping are probably better (we were 6).
Visa and Permit:
Apply for your Myanmar tourist visa in Bangkok (along with your India visa!), cycle up to Maesot and chill there for a few days to enjoy your last gasps of civilization before crossing into the unknown. Once you get to Yangon, head over to Seven Diamond Travel Agency,just a couple kilometers north of Sule Pagoda in the center of town. Once there, hand over the dough (we paid $90 each) and a copy of your passport, specify which date you want to cross out into India (you MUST stick to this date), and apply for your border crossing permit. The permit takes up to two weeks to process, but you only need to be present for the application. Seven Diamond will give you a receipt, and the permit will be waiting for you at the border. Next, head north! Make sure to give yourself plenty of time to do the last 300km or so to the border, because it will take a lot longer than you expect. Once in Tamu, head over to immigration, announce your presence, and voila! You're out of Burma and into India. For us it all went off without a hitch. For the last week or so before Tamu, we were confronted by an immigration official each day, who asked to see our passports, and then would relay our information to the next town's immigration official, who would also confirm our identities and location. From Monywa all the way to the border, officials seemed to know where we were, and the immigration officials at the border we well-prepared to receive us and stamp us out of the country, even though there isn't really a border post there.
Getting Money:
Contrary to what you may have been told, there are tons of banks and ATMs in Myanmar. The banks in Myawaddy, across the border from Maesot, will change dollars and Thai Baht (dollars must be in very good condition), but there are ATMs there, as well as in Yangon, Pye, Bagan, Monywa, and possibly other places as well. I think it would be a good idea, however, to have a few hundred bucks in cash at the ready just in case you can't get money from the ATM.
Bike:
I didn't see a single bike shop that carried Shimano, Sram, etc, parts for good-quality bikes. There are, however, a lot of shops servicing the local brand bikes, so in a pinch, you may be able to make something work. But bring your own spare parts, because the next good bike shop will be in Imphal, India.
