Cycling Myanmar

I'll be cycling 3 weeks in Myanmar in November (2015), flying to Yangon from US, then likely train to Mandalay with 3 weeks to explore. So far I'm looking at Shan State and heading out spokes toward Lashio, Myitkyina and Taunggyi. The limiting factors are time and need for paved roads for my road bike folder. I would appreciate any info to guide my plans.

I just want to tell you that the train between Yangon and Mandalay is quite uncomfortable, The tracks are very old and in bad shape. The whole train jumps about incessantly. It is difficult to eat or drink. Sleep is nearly impossible.
The roads are quite good and there are good buses now.

I did not cycle in Burma but would like to some day.

Look through the journals on this page. https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/locales/?o=179&locale_id=35&doctype=journal

I have found no evidence that anyone has ever cycled to Myitkyina, though I didn't search very hard. Certainly not very long ago it was compulsory to go there on the train or plane, but I found some recent evidence people have been able to go on the bus. You can but try and see if they will let you do it. Maybe ask what people think on the Myanmar branch. Apart from worrying about whether there might be much banditry in such an area, your other problem is that it is about 225km from Bhamo to Mogok, and then another 190km from Mogok to Myitkyina, and you'd have to find out if there was any suitable intermediate locations with registered accommodation. It is still possible that the police may prevent cyclists travelling routes if they think it is implausibly far to legal accommodation.

It makes sense to get a bus out of Yangon. Think about getting off at Meikthila, it's a good point to start touring from. If you are fit, you can cycle up to Kalaw in a day from there.

I pedaled there (Mandaly - Bagan - Inle Lake triangle) for 2 1/2 weeks in November of 2013 - flying in and out of Yangon.

To get back and forth to Mandalay I used Golden Myanmar Airlines. I do not remember how much it cost but it was very cheap. I had planned to use them only to get to Mandalay but near the end of my ride I decided I did not want to bus or train it back to Yangon. I easily booked a return ticket online and had my guesthouse print it. Unless you can synchronize these domestic flights with your international ones you will have the added cost (it is not much) of taking a taxi from the Yangon airport into town. If you have the time it is worth doing this at least once to explore Yangon on foot.

You may want to shop for international flights into Mandalay. Two years ago there were a few but I heard there were more pending. The Mandalay airport is also far from town but you could easily head from there towards the Teak Bridge and Sagaing avoiding the city completely. Mandalay is worth a miss.

You can see my Burma trip journal here:

www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/globespinner

I put my bike on the train to Myitkyina in 2005 in the hope to cycle somewhere nice out of there. To cut a long story short I was stopped at EVERY road and turned back. Grrrrrr.

Thanks for response. It seems that some travel restrictions have loosened, but Myitkyina likely still not permitted. Would like to know what other places you rode to and your recommendations. Thanks

I put my bike on the train to Myitkyina in 2005 in the hope to cycle somewhere nice out of there. To cut a long story short I was stopped at EVERY road and turned back. Grrrrrr.

Certainly back then the government only controlled a fairly small area around Myitkyina, and the railway access into it (though even the train was attacked on one fairly recent occasion, iirc), which is why you wouldn't have been allowed out of the local area into "insurgent controlled" territory, and had to go by train. You may go "Grrrr" but one major reason the govt didn't let tourists go where they wanted was because those "insurgent controlled" areas were not safe for passing tourists, at least not without having negotiated safe passage from those who were really in charge in those areas, and the govt didn't want the reputational effect of poor security for tourists. (There were also things that the govt prevented tourists from seeing, such as use of forced labour, but up around Myitkyina it would certainly have been the security issue.)

Things have certainly got a bit better as apparently you can now go by bus too, but there remains a lot of land up in that far north part of Myanmar that is still not under full government control. You'd need some local information on whether you could travel further around the area now.

I have read a recent tale of some cyclists getting a bit off the beaten track at the other end of the country, and meeting some armed non-government people, who were fortunately mainly interested in demonstrating their local authority, and the main effect on them was inconvenience in being held for a while, maybe a little cash changed hands, then having to turn around and cycle back the way they came, and then use transport to get where they wanted.

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