10 days,1,600 kms thru the Chin state in Burma

[phuketrichard]

heres a very brief report i did.  still need to go thru and edit 12 gigs  of photos;

https://goo.gl/maps/3G6RSzveQuN2

 

Burma is truly the last frontier for avid bike riders, I am not referring to those that take 500 ,800,1,200 cc bikes, but those willing to get down and dirty on dirt/mud roads through some amazing scenery, Very friendly people, at times u feel a s if u have stepped thru a portal and ur back in the early 1900.
Parts of the chin area only got electricity 2 years ago!! and many villages relied on solar power or candles at night.
Highlight of the trip was spending a day riding on single tracks up and down valleys to visit remote villages where the last of the remaining Tattooed chin ladies reside. AS face tattooing was outlawed in the late 60's, these women are the last you will see.

 

 

Bikes easily rented thru Zach at Mandalay Motorbike Rental and Tours Although I rented a small 125 Chinese honda dream copy, I do NOT recommend it, Rent his 125 dirt bike as my companion did and truly enjoy the trip, even forget the 250,to much power , the 125 is perfect

one of the many routes we had to ride,down to the river and than back up, repeated over and over again on our 1,600 kms ride thru the chin state.
Thru mud,an hard/soft packed dirt.

 

if ur adventurous and get away from the big 4 ( Yangon, Bagan Mandalay, Inle lake) Burma holds some treasures

[craigt3365]

That had to be an amazing trip.  I saw your earlier pics of going up the hairpin curves towards Pyin Oo Lwin.  You are brave!  Those Chinese truck drivers are crazy! LOL

 

Awesome!

 

P.S. did you do home stays?  Was it hard to negotiate? 

[phuketrichard]

NOT Brave;   <deleted> just crazy   LOL  my body aches all over.....

[craigt3365]

2 minutes ago, phuketrichard said:

NOT Brave;   <deleted> just crazy   LOL  my body aches all over.....

I bet!  I saw These guys when I was in Turkmenistan.  They were going from somewhere in Europe to Kazakhstan!  Unreal.  Younger and braver than me.  But what an adventure.  They had just come in from Iran and were headed across the desert to Uzbekistan.  It was a guided group tour.

[phuketrichard]

59 minutes ago, craigt3365 said:

That had to be an amazing trip.  I saw your earlier pics of going up the hairpin curves towards Pyin Oo Lwin.  You are brave!  Those Chinese truck drivers are crazy! LOL

 

Awesome!

 

P.S. did you do home stays?  Was it hard to negotiate? 

home stays ,while on the books are illegal, i have stayed with people. (got friends living in Yangon)

problem is, as soon as u pull into any town, immigration is notified and they come looking.

 

Wen we went to Mogok without permission, no hotel would allow us to stay, it was about 6 pm, raining and we were at at resort and i told them fine, i will just sleep in the lobby, i am NOT leaving.Finally they gave us a room but did not register us.

asked us to leave early, we went to breakfast early and while there, sure enough immigration showed up and asked if we were there, they denied it but told us to get the hell out of town fast  :-)

 

This last trip,we stopped in Chauk, 5 hotels would not allow us to stay, went to the police and asked where we can sleep. one of them  told us to follow him and he got on his bike and rode for10  minutes to a new resort out of town that had never had a Farang stay,    30,000 kyat, breakfast, air con, ( didn't use it as we were in the mtns) swimming pool and a  good bed  :-)

[craigt3365]

When I did my over night trek near Kyaukme, we did a home stay, but was organized by a guide.  There were only 2 of us and it's not as remote as where you were.  A few weeks later, fighting broke out there and all treks were cancelled.  Definitely a military state still!  But an adventure!

[itsmark]

It is really good to know about your adventurous trip in the chin state. 2 years ago, I have also visited for a Myanmar trip. But I hired a local destination management company who had planned my trip amazingly.