Drinking to adventure
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Pyay Bagan 350km Words - Swells |
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We rolled out of another comfortable night stay in the luxury resort style villas' come workshop. Some tentative bouncing on the forks to test the strength of my newly welded tank mount soon became rad wheelies (attempts). The TTR rolled on strong and I stated to find in myself a new respect for the battle hardened bike beast and the calm positivity possessed by its tamer. The very same tamer who had sadly said good bye to another battle hardened friend he was dragging around the world, he's phone. Who had perhaps died ironically from a suspected case of knee to the screen during the previous night’s workshop operations. So it was off to the local phone shop to replace Jonny bang's first ever "flat screen phone" he had bought for a steal at well-known electronics distributor - Aldi. A team of friendly sales assistants gave us friendly conflicting advice and vitamin c tasting fizzy drinks.
After settling on a phone the next logical thing to do is saw off the front of your fender and then explore its new possible uses.
After a fun start to the day we had a long ride ahead of us, mostly filled with colourful road characters
The vegetation surrounding us had been rich and fertile seeming to provide a good life supported by the land. But as our day went on we found ourselves riding into a much drier area. Palm trees grew tall here while tilled sand made the ground. I have never been to Egypt but if I had, I would imagine this place is similar. The new land scape was mesmerising, later Jimmy would tell us the sand paddocks where peanut plantations that awaited the wet seasons.
Road construction techniques have been an ongoing source of entertainment as we ride. Through Myanmar the roads have been well maintained, it would seem that each village along the way is responsible for its stretch of road. Today we passed a local team of people working along the road side placing crushed rocks to strengthen the shoulder, perhaps for a road widening project.
As we approached our destination for the night sporadic temples appeared casting long shadows in the setting sun, their silhouetted beauty reminding me I was in an ancient land still close to its roots.
We were once again in accommodation far too fancy for twentyonehorses. The architecture of the hotel draw heavy influences from the surrounding temples, big marbled hallways lead us down to our own rooms with big old timber heavy doors with gold fixtures. A beer later we found that the food price reflected the build expense, so we hit the town to find a vibrant street lined with restaurants lit up with fairy lights strung between trees. Odd chairs and tables packed the restaurant fronts as people crowed in adding laughter to the ambiance. The price complimented the overall vibe so we settled in for food and beers. An aspect I have perhaps neglected to mention to this point has been the comradery fostered within the trip, a shared stoke was all ways evident, but our Myanmar adventures severed to highlight the fact we were sharing a rad adventure of a lifetime, and to this we drank many a Myanmar long neck as the night slipped amongst the laughter and blatant law breaking...
We were drinking in a backpackers until shut-in and they realized we weren’t staying there and kicked us out. We lost Shaun completely, me and Dan watched him ride past us twice, got home and had to go and get him (Johnny Bang stayed in, deeming himself a traffic risk due to consumption and sighting he had a family to consider…)
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