"Cycling the Golden Land" Burma Sports & Outdoors Tip by ecuriocity

Bikepacking! Or in my case bike & bus. Yes, it can sound daunting, trust me, but then travelling Myanmar isn't much less daunting by other overland modes anyway! Hahahaha

It's difficult to plan a trip to Myanmar, with many uncertainties, from how much money to bring(the yo-yo freemarket exchange) to debates on currently off limits places & not. With not too detailed maps, places which have guest houses licensed to take foreigners is a concern too. All in all, in my opinion that is, is to have a rough plan & play it by ear once you arrive & prepare yourself for an adventure of a life time! The Myanmese, being the most helpful & kind lot that they are certainly make things a lot easier.

Alternatively, if you have the cash, is to hire a pickup truck with driver cum guide as a support vehicle to follow you around as you cycle. This of course may diminish the sense of adventure somewhat, but it's really up to you.

Things to look forward to are invitations to tea; waves of goodbye & greetings of hello as you pass the people in the countryside; mind blowing scenery that you can take in at your own sweet time; small but interesting towns & villages that your bus just passes by; flexibility of schedules & reschedules; chatting to locals; in certain places probably a middle ground between walking(seeing less) & motorised transport(seeing in a blur); opportunity to explore around off the beaten track enroute...

It won't be without it's setbacks. You pay 1& half the price for your bus fare; a bit more time may be needed in securing a bus service that has the space to accomodate you & your bike which otherwise wouldn't be a problem; hot spots can be far in between & road conditions quite frustrating; the weather which can get terribly hot & unforgiving...

Equipment: Fast drying clothes; standard bike repair kit + essential spare parts; good set of panniers; your least favourite bike, preferably of steel or chromoly; mountain bike tyres or semi slick at 1.95 or slick but at the very least a 1.6, I would go for mountain bike tyres the next time round so that I can do a bit of offroading too!; rain gear, two ply if you want to go up into the higher regions as it can also act as a piece of warm clothig; sufficient water as much as you can buy enroute..

The idea is to travel light so you won't end up lugging your 'house' with you across Myanmar! hahahaha

A little note on tyres is to bring ones that use a thicker diameter tube that doesn't require you to pump it up to 90psi to work at it's optimum. We made the terrible mistake of using 1.15 slicks which use 1.0 tubes at the insistence of a dear friend. The dear friend paid dearly with 2 tyre sidewall rips thus ended up with a no ride & the missed opportunity of riding the Gokteik Gorge for the rest of us! (if you're reading this, yes this is going to haunt you for the rest of your life! hahahaha). Bicycle shops that sell tubes & stuff don't do tyre repairs & the tyre repair shops don't sell tubes & stuff. SO don't jump for joy if you see either one without the other if a patch is more than what you need. Have a great time, honestly! The pro's far surpass the con's...

Directions: It wasn't a hardcore on the bike only trip. To be honest we only rode from Hsipaw to Mandalay plus exploratory rides done in & around many of our stops.
Theme: Biking