Advice needed for cycle trip in Myanmar

I was in Burma in over the Christmas period but flew to Mandalay and rode down to Pyay, but others were there at a similar time and rode from Thailand and Yangon upwards, the roads seemed very busy from Yangon to Pyay as I noticed in the bus while in Transit to Yangon.

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Highway 2 through Pyay has long been open to tourists, but used to be a problem for cyclists because of a shortage of accommodation, which the police knew about so would put them on buses when they found them. More recently I think it is OK for cyclists because now there is enough accommodation. But you want to go further west through Hinthada, and I think hardly any foreigner has tried to ride a bicycle through places like that, even if it is a region of the country that is in principal open for foreigners to travel. But then there is the problem that places which have no tourists have no accom licensed to take tourists, a system that still exists. I did once read of someone, with some difficulty, getting bike through to Ngapali beach, near Thandwe, a known resort on the W coast that foreign tourists go to, but that is just a fairly short route going W from Pyay. But I have also read of other cyclists being picked up by the police and forced to go on a bus, because Pyay to Ngapali/Thandwe is too far for one day on a bicycle, given the road conditions and hills to cross.

I have found this description of motorcyclists riding through Hinthada. They also proceeded on to Gwa on the west coast and up the coast to Ngapali and then back east to Pyay. Have a read of it and see what you think, and then remember it will take you on a bicycle several days to get to Hinthada needing to stop the night in all sorts of other places tourists hardly ever turn up. Some roads will be bad and unpaved. Such adventure is never going to become normality that doesn't bother the authorities start happening until people start doing it regularly, but maybe you don't want it to be among the first who have such an adventure and thus have to meet the authorities and debate it with them. On the other hand, what's the worst that's going to happen - the police will put you on a bus and send you back, or stop you a short distance up some turning and send you back. Well, in some other less-visited parts of Myanmar you can meet bandits, but that's more likely in borderlands than core Myanmar.
http://myanmarmotorbiketrip2012.blogspot.co.uk/

I am planning a bike trip from Yangon to Mandalay

In general central Myanmar from Y to M is not the interesting part of Myanmar for the cyclist. Flat and - on the main highways - busy. A circuit around Mandalay through Bagan and up to Lashio and down to Inle Lake through the hill country, and also to the SE of Yangon - not that you can reasonably expect to go to far that way - are more interesting. Have a look at some itineraries on CGOAB and where else you can find them, a lot of cyclists are going there now the country is getting more open, and testing the boundaries of what you can reasonably do. There also seem to be some possibilities these days for getting into some interesting places in Chin state, now that the route to India is open.

Agree on the Yangon to Mandalay route. On the central road it's long stretches of flat uninteresting nothing. I bailed at after Yangon to Bago, to from Bago to Mandalay by train. Only interesting was partying on the train with military. Seriously fun. They're actually nice people.
I did - Mandalay - Myingyan - Nyaung-U - Meiktila - Pyinmana - Toungoo - Pyu - Nyaunglebin - Bago - Yangon. That was the west road to Bagan and was an interesting ride.. But,, I only rode 60k from Bagan At a drink stop a police turned up and told me I should get on the bus to the center road. Then two military with big guns pointing at me escorted me to the bus. Seemed a prudent thing for me to do. They were close and personal.
On the ride from Pyu I had passed a few oil facilities, some military looking places, some curious places, and a lot of appeared incarceration facilities. Think a fair assumption as I met many of them working on the roads. The many villages had never seen a foreigner.
I got the impression they didn't want me to be there. And that I shouldn't have been.
That was several years ago but even with the big changes (?) some things won't change fast. The old ways are heavily imbedded in their culture. Much will be kept out of sight. As I apparently saw what I wasn't supposed to.

It will be better now, but I only once had a problem with accommodation. In a town there was only one hotel, and it was a military one. And me being not I had to go to the next town at 10k further. Otherwise, I found plenty enough easily. As usual, before you leave an accommodation ask where the next one is. Forget guide books, ask the locals. I easily found many where the book says there isn't.

Was a great trip, recommend, took in their best culture and history and would like to do it again. But the road basically followed the Irrawaddy. I did it in December, the wet had just finished and they were remaking the roads. In the wet they flood and are impassable.
East from Mandalay didn't appeal to me. Too much scenery. People, and food, are generally more fun.
Also the east opened and closed by the day then. Probably still does. Depends on whether the drug lords are behaving themselves. When I was there it was mainly closed. Apparently they were disposing of not wanted people at about 5 a day. As those were mainly police, they didn't even want to go there.

Hey there,

Cycled from Thailand border to India border last year as part of a longer trip, we had a wonderful time on the bikes in Myanmar. We got a cargo boat from Yangon to Myaungmya just South east of Pathein,$7 for 24 hrs, great trip camped on deck and soaked up delta life. From there we cycled to Pantanaw, (one hotel only, not officially allowed tourist but owner got the okay from police) we then headed North to Hinthada, a few good guesthouses in town, from here we headed to Myanaung, roads aren't to great on this stretch and the police became a bit of an issue, followed us for the whole day and insisted on getting us a lift for the last bit of the journey to Myanaung, but there is a hotel that takes tourists. From there headed north to Oke Shit Pin then onto Pyay.

This bit of the journey was a good experience, starting in the Delta and headin up the Ayeyarwady. Very rural and charming part of the country, no tourists or real sights to see, flat roads that ranged from good to rocky hell, where is was quicker to push. Police and the authorities were okay on large but did tail us for a day or so, following 50 meters behind us, and stopping when we stopped for toilet breaks, which was a little bit awkward for the missus. Altogether an interesting ride and worth doing. We jumped on a bus from Pyay to Bagan as we had a fixed exit date for getting into India, and we're running short on time.

Happy Pedalling

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