BvHHS: MOTORCYCLE BURMA / MYANMAR / PAKOKKU JOURNEY 2017 no 2

Dec. 24 / MC. Journey start now

Mandalay- Pakokku 176 km.

The sun is shining from an almost cloudless sky and I'm again on the way out into the fascinating unknown. It is also a symbolic day - it is Christmas Eve day. What alternative Christmas approaches this year.

It feels great calming this time, to sit on a motorbike there is quite new. It is very silent and sound more like an automatic silent scooter than as an MC. That, I is great. I have in planning my route chosen to only run 100 kilometers as it is the first driving day. My mind and body should slowly adapt to the new unaccustomed physical requirements. Tunes to again be on the move. I had therefore expected to spend the night at a hotel in the city Myingyan. The hotel was a thrill of bad style and it was right next to the noisy main road.

The contingency plan was then to drive on to the town Pakokku, lying 76 km. therefrom. There should be a few hotels and a Guest House. It is only in the major cities they might have a hotel.

Tranquil landscapes with wide open spaces

The roads are in better condition than I had hoped for. In between there was stretches filled with bumps and small holes. With bright sunshine and about 30 degrees, the weather was absolutely ideal to run MC in a thin leather jacket. The flat calm landscape with the wide open spaces, broken by isolated trees, giving the reaches deep perspective and life. It is not the great drama unfolding in front of your retinas, but more the quiet harmonic, rhythmic and meditative repetition of nature's harmony.

The visor prevented the free view

I had to take the visor up, because it took so much of my free vision. When the wind is not cold and it's not raining, it's just great to have the visor up. The helmet visor had some scratches that I with special auto salmon sander tried to remove the scratches with. It was recommended by someone at googel. After plastered hard on the transparent plastic visor, I could see that I had slowly made the visor a little dull. But I thought that I would be able to live with it.

But unfortunately I can not, for the enjoyment of nature is not total. Fortunately I run here in Myanmare no more than an average of 60 kilometers. per hour on MC. This is due to the uneven and bumpy roads, providing many strong cash shock at greater speed. This Honda has smaller wheels and the rear wheel suspension is not the best. At the same time 60 km. an opportunity to see both sides completely relaxed and enjoy the scenery, temples and bamboo houses that go by one's retina. The speed is not faster than I can manage to stop if there is something I want to capture with my camera.

When I run a lot faster, I'm forced to concentrate more on the road.

With my camera captures me it stands out

I have resigned myself only to stop and photograph the temples that really stands out from the background, because I would the next few weeks probably see hundreds of these. In Denmark I would not use energy to take photo of the ordinary village churches. Who wants to see the photo of the ordinary.

You learn quickly to keep a certain distance to the trucks when the roads are filled with loose soil, then I must protect myself behind my visor frosted pane. I followed closely behind a young guy on the motorbike who probably chewed the narcotic leaf khat. He spat once in a while, so I had to keep distance so as not to be hit by a brownish blob. So it is important to keep a proper distance.

The staircase up to the Room With View

You can just see my Guest House in the background

Mya Ya Ta Nar Inn is located close to the river Ayeyarwady

Luckily I found easy until Mya Ya Ta Nar Inn. It is down to the great river Ayeyarwady.

It is an over 100 year old green stone house that is slowly being broken down like the neighboring houses of stone. You have not had the economy to keep it up. The landlady is 71 years and as old as. me. She speaks English and be able to say many thanks in Danish. She has run this guest house in all years. Her daughter and granddaughter with her children and spouses helping her a bit. The aesthetics and hygiene in the house I can exactly take it when I got their best room which bear clear signs of history and views to the river and a smaller pilot seat no more than 50 m. From my balcony. The price is $ 10.

Hotel rates are very high compared to everything else in Myanmar

In Mandalay, I lived in a very relaxed, beautiful and charming hotel for $ 45. A bit too expensive compared to my budget. (Now, after having been here in Myanmar for more than a week and stayed at four hotels I have found out that the price of the cheap hotels are around that). The guest houses I've seen on memories of simple prison cells and is at $ 15 without charm. So it's good that I could only get visas to 28 days. For the price jumps my budget.

The hostess actually said Merry Christmas

The hostess here also made food, so I had no problems with regards to being vegetarian. So on Christmas Eve, I got rice mixed with vegetables. Christmas Eve morning she said Merry Christmas to me. So it was a very quiet and introverted July I completely forgot to buy and lit a candle for the global future. Even the light in the darkness pollute but create light in mind.

I can manage to be close to this poverty even if it smells because I lost my sense of smell, for now more than 18 years ago after a crash on the bike. So specifically I spent the night close to the outer edge of society. At the dump where society blocks it out, as it no longer needs.

I come to think of the amazing spectacle written theatreplay by film director Rainer Werner Fast Binder 'The city, waste and Death', with Mammuttheatre. Klaus Hoffmeyer was the director and I created the sets and costumes. The idea illuminated society's waste, the psychological and physical borderland in an exciting way.

Poverty is not just a minority problem

Here on the edge, I have taken photos of some simple of the few 100 year old stone houses that are not quite weathered. But otherwise it's the simple traditional houses with plaited bamboo mats some with aesthetic elegance despite their simple construction.

Yes, I am here where society's poor live. According to statistics is it not just a minority problem, but the majority here in Myanmar financially and materially live in very poor conditions.

According to the World Bank 37.5 per cent lived of the population in 2010 in poverty, with the bulk of poverty concentrated in rural areas and ethnic areas. In addition, one third of the population just above the poverty line. (Information / Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

How fast will an economic recovery in Myanmar could happen

When I see these bikes standing on the road in front of my Guest House will I think of my visit to Shanghai in 2010 a Danish Contractor describe the economic recovery there had occurred in China with this picture. 10 years ago came all the workers ride on bicycle to the factory. 5 years ago they came on small scooter, now they the main part comes in a car.

How fast will an economic recovery in Myanmar could happen - I can only hope for Myanmar's population, the military slowly wiil release their grip so that there is significant socio-economic changes for the weakest in Myanmar.