Meeting up with three other adventure-loving friends from around the world (London, Singapore and Zurich) in Myanmar, there were lots of opportunities to choose from for my microadventure this month. In many ways, the whole week was a string of mini adventures, all threaded together into one big adventure, but our 24 hour combo of mountain biking and hot air ballooning was the absolute highlight for me.
The plains of the ancient city of Bagan's archaeological zone lie next to the Irrawaddy river in the Mandalay region of the country, and are made up of over 2000 impressive temples, pagodas and monasteries. Covering a vast area of 40-sq-km, the best way to take it all in is from the perspective, peace and quiet of a hot air balloon. But just standing in a hot air balloon would be wayyyy too easy, so we decided to cycle the 60km from Mount Popa to Bagan first...
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| In front of Mount Popa with Helen, Anna, Sarah and our awesome guide Toe Toe |
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| Matching Trek Mountain Bikes |
All more used to road cycling than mountain biking, we decided to give fat tyres and front suspension a whirl. Getting used to the additional weight and tyres wasn't easy. When riding through loose sand, it takes a while to learn to trust the tyres and lean into any slips and slides, but it all added to the fun (-:
We started on paved roads, making our way down from the Mount Popa Resort to Mount Popa Rock Temple, where a certain Aung San Suu Kyi was also visiting... so that was an interesting start to the day! Joined by our super friendly guide Toe Toe, we were well looked after with regular water refills and dragon fruit, sesame brittle and peanut brittle stops. It's actually debatable as to whether we actually burned off more than we consumed.
At the half way point we stopped for lunch at a palm wine distillery for yet more food (and drink...) before hitting the off-road tracks and sandy paths for the remaining 30km to Bagan.
Arriving in Bagan in time for sunset beers, we got a sense of the expanse of the plains, but it wasn't until the next morning at sunrise that we could really appreciate the dizzying array of golden stupas and ancient temples. The whole thing lasted just under 2 hours but time seemed to stand still and fly by simultaneously.
A completely magical microadventure that we'll never forget...
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| Filling the balloon with hot air |
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| Up up and awayyyyyy |
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| Sunrise with Mount Popa (where we'd cycled from) in the distance |
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| Long morning shadows over the Bagan and the Irrawaddy river |
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| Letting the cool air in to prepare for the descent |
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| Excellent landing in a fallow field, with help from the ground crew |
