Having crossed back into Northern Thailand, we made for Chiang Mai, the largest city in the north. Before leaving Chiang Rai though, we made a stop on the southern outskirts to see the White Temple. Created by an avant-garde artist as a homage to both Buddhism and popular culture, it’s very different from most Buddhist architecture. The approach through the grounds is…interesting.
The temple itself is an impressive, overly ornate structure.
To get to the temple you have to pass through a representation of Hell – a sea of clutching hands.
The inner sanctum was comparatively spartan inside, but the detail on the outside continued endlessly.
Even the building housing the toilets was gaudy and overdone.
With the date of our entry into Myanmar looming, we only had a day and a half in Chiang Mai – almost all of which was taken up by sorting out our personal administration. The bikes got a full service:
I got a haircut and shaved off the now-annoying beard.
We did take the time to see some of the city, with its ancient moat and fortifications.
It’s also rapidly becoming a cultural hub – we saw a live jazz concert, and picked up some of the local street art along the way.
It’s a real pity we didn’t have more time in Northern Thailand, to explore the mountainous areas and rural regions, but we used our extra days in Laos and so had to move on. The next day was a run down to the border town of Mae Sot, where we reunited with Przemek again, as well as another Australian couple who we’d be sharing the crossing with. We were told to meet the rest of the group and our guides at 8AM at the border. Come 8:30, no sign of the guides, but we had collected most of our group – foreign motorcycles tend to stand out around here! Figuring the guides were waiting on the other side, we processed ourselves out of Thailand (now being quite familiar with the workings), just as we were finishing up we saw our guides, who told us to finish up and cross the bridge – which we did. All was going well, until an irate Thai official came over and demanded we return to the Thai side as we had missed submitting a piece of paperwork – one that we had waved under the nose of both immigration and customs, but they weren’t interested, so we figured they didn’t need it. Back on the Myanmar side a second time, we posed for a quick group photo before being signed in to country number 8!
The paperwork went smoothly with our guides translating – except that there was a live soccer match on TV, with the Myanmar national team playing against Ukraine. As the goals flowed against Myanmar we were happy to have finished up – at 5-0 down, the officials wouldn’t have been in a great mood.
Our first foray onto Myanmar roads was a single lane road over the mountains. As this is the only road, it runs in each direction on alternate days – so our guides had to come across the previous day and spend the night at the border. It was heavily potholed and in poor condition but afforded spectacular views over the area.
Another crazy thing about Myanmar traffic is that they drive right-hand drive vehicles – on the right hand side of the road! This means that any overtaking move needs a large dose of bravery and no small amount of luck, since it’s almost impossible for the drivers to see if the road is clear. It’s a little easier on bikes…
We stopped for lunch over the mountains, and had a chance to check out each other’s bikes. Apart from ourselves and Przemek on the Tenere, there was a German bloke in a van, another pair of DR650s (hi to Roosters Overland), a Russian bloke on a BMW, two Indonesians on a Benelli (Wheel Story), and a young Singaporean lass on, of all things, a two-stroke Vespa! (The Wandering Wasp).
The roads from here were significantly better, but soon enough the rain set in. Up until now we’ve managed to keep ahead of the monsoon (apart from a brief spell in Indonesia), but now it seems it has caught back up. The next week or so will be interesting!
Our main stop during the afternoon was at Kawgoon cave, a shrine dating back to the 11th century filled with over a thousand Buddha images.
Due to a few issues (delays at the border, collapsed air suspension on the BMW, and the general difficulty in getting a group moving) we ended up riding well into night, not arriving at the hotel until almost 9PM.
