Day 5 + 6 + 7: Scooters, Pagodas, Caves, Myanmar Mom

Day 5

Woke up at 3:30am today. We decided to hike up a mountain and wanted to catch the sunrise at the top. In order to do this we rented some motorcycles for the day (finally!!!) to drive there. In the excitement of cruising around on our bikes, no one really thought to ask for specific directions. We had a hand drawn map that was not to scale. It took a lot of back and forth driving to get to where we needed to be. We also got a flat tire in one of the bikes, so we ditched it in some bushes and kept going. At one point we were really pushing our 100cc bikes up some steep gravel hills. Matthieu's bike had a completely worn out rear break and a very sensitive front and on the way back down the hill he wiped out. He was ok, got back on and kept going. And then, disaster struck for a second time. He was pretty scrapped up and bleeding but ok. Apparently those types of scrapes are referred to as "Thailand Tatoos", because so many tourists in Thailand get them doing the same thing. One of the girls from dinner yesterday had some nice Thailand Tatoos on her face :-)

We finally found the mountain and did the hike. I really don't like hiking. At least the first 30mins. It was so hot (even at 5am), it was difficult, and I kept asking myself why I signed up for this. It was a 1.5 hour hike up stairs going at a 30-45 degree slope. Quite challenging. I felt like quiting several times, but my FOMO (fear of missing out) would kick in and I knew I would regret it if I don't go. Pain is temporary.

We made it to the top past sunrise because we were so lost getting there. There was a pagoda/ monastery at the top. Some tourists from France had actually stayed the night there. There were some monkeys as well. Monkeys always creep me out. They are so smart and agile. Their teeth are sharp and they can jump on top of you. I was challenged by one of them and had my tripod in hand, so I challenged back. Monkey showed his teeth and hissed and I cowered away... The young monks (kids) shoot at the monkeys with sling shots.

The view up top was phenomenal. Reminded me of the mountains I saw in China, very steep, but the foliage is much more jungle like. It was green everywhere we looked, with flooded fields that are perfect for growing rice.

As the rainy season is over, many people are repainting the pagodas. We joined in and helped some of the monks paint this morning, and I think we did quite a good job!

The walk down was ok. My knee started hurting again, which is concerning because I am too young to have failing knees. I need to get to a physio when I'm home and resolve this issue. The muscles in my legs were actually so drained that if I stood on my toes they would shake uncontrollably. What's the point of going to the gym and working out if I'm not physically capable of handling "real life" scenarios? I still have a lot of insecurities about my self image, and I don't think I'm going to the gym for the right reasons. I care too much about what I look like, and less about what I can actually do with my body.

We went back to the hostel and Adam W worked with the guy we rented the bike from to figure the flat tire situation out. Apparently the scooter that Adam used after dropping the rental guy off got a flat as well that he had to get repaired for 600Khat ($0.60 CAD). I napped at this point to try to sleep off the cold I have (runny nose, slight cough, super annoying). Who gets a cold in a country this hot?!?

We went for lunch with a new German friend Markus, and then decide to take our scooters to visit some of the caves around the area and maybe go for a swim in a lake to cool down. As we head out on our 2 scooters, guess what happened? Flat tire (that's 3 now, in the span of 12hours)!! We ended up with 3 people on 1 scooter to find a repair shop. We dropped the bike off and head off to the "lake", which is really a damned up area of water flowing from the mountains. At this point, the sun is actually quite low, the water is cold, and we didn't really need to cool down. The whole day was spent figuring out flat tires and getting lost :-) that's my kind of adventure.

When we got back to pick up the bike, the guy tried to charge AdamW 8000Khat for the repair. Adam dealt with the guy for the next 20mins explaining this price was impossible. He finally gave them 2000, told them that was a fair price and we drove away. Did I mention that the guy changing the tire looked like Bruce Lee? Kind of intimidating...

We had an early night and went to bed around 930pm.

Day 6

Hired a tuktuk to go visit the caves this morning. Left at 6am drove for 1.5 hours down a crazy bumpy road to Saddan cave. There was a monastery inside the cave with some Buddhas, but what was most interesting was the walk all the way through the cave. It was really huge. It must've been at least 6-10 stories high. We walked through barefoot (as its a monastery) and the ground went from rock, to soft mud (bat poo?) to water puddles, to super slick and slippery. There were some amazing stalagmite and stalactite formations. It was really cool to finally see something like this in person. The walk through was about 30min.

We took some traditional canoe type boats on the other side to get back to the starting point. They were hollowed out from a single tree. We actually went back through some of the cave with the boat and then through flooded fields. We caught a bus at 11am to go to Yangon.

At our rest stops, it started very suddenly pouring rain. The sound of the rain impacting the corrugated aluminum roof was deafening. There was a misty hallow of water a foot of the road from the spray created by the drops crashing down. The mist would float in every direction. It felt like being beside a waterfall. Just as suddenly as it started, the sun started to come out and everything stopped. The road ahead was completely dry...

Met an interesting Israeli girl on the 6 hour ride. She has been travelling for 8 months and has another year or more ahead of her, until the money runs out. Classic post-army Israeli traveller. This idea of travelling for an undefined period of time always intrigues me. I so badly want to leave everything behind and do that. It's very possible, but I get worried about money, job, retirement savings... my friends and family have quite a conservative view as well, and no one close to me has ever done anything like this, so I don't see a clear path. Apparently for SE Asia and South America, $15,000 USD is enough for a couple years. It's also possible as a native English speaker to teach English along the way. Some places (Vietnam) can pay up to $30USD/ hour. It feels really "risky" to do something like this. Most of society doesn't do anything like that, so I feel I shouldn't do it either. Perhaps I need to live a more frugal life at home and start saving faster to make the dream a reality.

We got home at 7pm to our Myanmar mom and some nice, safe home cooking. AdamW needs some time for his stomach to rest, and my runny nose has progressed to a manageable cough.

Day 7

Sarah flies in this morning. We are picking her up from the airport at 10am. I can't wait to see her and travel together. India was interesting because she was under the weather the whole time and not her true self. The pace was relaxed and includes lots of naps. This will be very different. It'll be interesting to see how the three of us get along in the travels too, as our personalities are quite different.

I am going to challenge my self to continue meeting other travellers. It's really easy to get complacent when travelling in a group and not reach out to new people. My goal is to reach out to every tourist I see.

Also, I have been taking more and more portrait photos! Things have gotten a lot more comfortable!!!