Mt. Popa to Bagan

Today was easy. Net downhill. Hot, good rest day.  

Hotel had a tourist guide that had this image. I bought a copy of the book for a dollar as it had locally drawn cartoons and was funny. 

Leaving hotel. 

Local markets. Lots of fresh produce. 

Back side of Popa. 

Getting more dry. 

We stopped at a place that displayed local industry. This ox goes in circles to grind peanuts into peanut oil. Later in Bagan we had peanut grinder leftover stuff that they soak in water and season with onions and garlic. The tin pot collects oil. 

Palm juice collected from trees. 

Boiled into sugar. 

Mixed with yeast and fermented. 

Distiller. 

Rocket fuel strength moonshine. 

Cindy got her makeup done. They grind the tree on a stone with water, no additives. 

We bought sugar and coconut candies and moonshine for a grand total of $3. I think this was both at once a high tourist price and a "so low I can't find interest to debate prices in this range" win-win transaction. 

Ride into Bagan was hot and net downhill. 

Myin Gyan to Mount Popa

We drove 3 hours to our hotel in Myin Gyan. It was humorously noisy. The reception area had guys cutting rebar with grinders. Our room was on the third floor. Across the street was "Baby World" which nobody should take a baby to unless they're high on recreational stimulants. Baby World had electronic dance music pumping "because it is Christmas" apparently. Our room was positioned to amplify it perfectly. I have a video I'll share later. My feet touched the wall when on the bed, there was a fluorescent light above the bed we could not for the life of us figure out how to turn off, and Baby World was loud. Like our room could be a dance club loud. I can't believe I only have video and no pic. I found night time Advil in my kit and took two after dinner. 

Cindy was tired so tried to pass out. I went to see a dead Bhuddist. 

Had a good dinner at a posh/tacky restaurant. Made tracks outta there in morning for Mt. Popa. 

Beautiful, hot ride. This tower says it is 19C at like 8am. 

Crossed a washout where a bridge was being built. 

Traffic. 

Flat and straight. 

Sunflowers. 

Baby bump. 

Shady section. 

So later today it really got hot. Cindy went in the van for a bit which was wise. I've been upping the electrolytes, and despite a black jersey on, just could let it rip when I was solo for the last 20k, 15k of which was on the ascent up the mountain.  Riding a tandem solo is lonely. It is stiff under the weight of only one person.  It is apparent that a Schmidt front hub, Rohloff rear, two belts, and 40 lbs is not the easiest way to climb a volcano. 

We checked into a hotel which was luxurious. Mt. Popa is the thing the monastery is on, not the large extinct volcano mountain, but I never got the name of the big one. 

View from room. 

Mt. Popa. 

Large grasshopper. 

Dee lux. 

This is what Cindy looks like when I told her the massage place only books in 1 hour increments so we "had" to do two hours instead of 90 minutes. 

Transportation

We are the only tandem I've seen. I didn't know tandems had such big cheering sections in Myanmar. People just love it!

But there are thousands of Chinese trucks. They belch Diesel smoke and can be piled higher than you'd think was possible.  The front fly wheels have three belts, I presume for redundancy. We are faster than them uphill. The mufflers blow exhaust right into the windshield. Many windshields are oily from this. No hood makes road side banging on them to fix them easier. They refill the water for coolant all the time as it just spills as they drive. 

This is a Chinese Buffalo. It belches smoke and runs at low rpm. The dead spot in the steering appears to be nearly 90 degrees each way as the drivers turn the steering wheels almost 180 degrees to get enough left and right correction just to stay straight on the highway. 

The ox cart does a lot of work.  It also is nearly silent and doesn't pollute. Nice by those standards. 

 

This is how kids get to school, if not on the back of the above two. I like this method. 

This is pretty common transport too 

Scooters are everywhere. They hail more than the average Ford F-150 at home. They carry anywhere from 1-5 people. Hondas are cherished. Thai ones work. Chinese ones last a year between full rebuilds. 

One scooter can carry 500 farm hats that people make in a village. A guy aggregates them and sells them. Villagers profit 10c per hat. 

Tandem team

Cindy says a tandem team needs power and happiness. We have both. 

Ywar Ngan

Dinner was at a restauranteur and farmers operation.  I think he does well as he had diplomas on the wall of all his kids going to english classes.  Sunset on way to dinner. 

The hundred mile diet is redundant here. They can't effectively move produce further than that. But the area we're in is so fertile. Tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, garlic, potatoes, water melons, rice, you name it.  That's a hearty soup. 

This spread is below $3 before my drink. 

Erik tries a local beverage. Cost? $1 for foreigners (for the bottle). 

Needed mixer.  After a confusing translation effort, this is carbonated water. 

Locals were drinking this. 

So after reading the label, this is not what I expected.  It is fermented black rice. They sort of call anything fermented beer. I can't imaging that is the natural color, but who knows. It tastes like candy but it smells like dead animal. I had this bit that was poured for me and that's all. 

We did a homestay tonight in a small village. We stayed with "Auntie San" in her two bedroom house. Basic, but quite nice as the world goes. 

Kitchen was well equipped. 

Flashes always look harsh. This bathroom was nice. The hose on the side fills the toilet tank. 

Shower was neat. Red plastic bucket has a heating element glued in bottom that you plug into wall and come back 15 mins later. Bucket is hot. Blue one on ground is cold. You use the scoop bucket in proportion of your choosing to get temperature right. Rice paddy squat is the best way to conduct all this. 

Sleeping was actually really comfy. The bed was a firm floor underlay style foam. On that note, every pillow and mattress in Myanmar is firm. I love it. 

Auntie San knew we cycled and was amazed at the distance. She gave me some local tiger balm style ointment. It was so effective Cindy was scared to experiment with its potency.  I gave her a chocolate bar.