Checking the map, I’d noticed I was
only two kilometres from the Myan-
mar border. I was there, so thought I
should probably go check it out.
It turned out to be an awesome
ride down there. The little concrete
road weaves through lush green fields
with huge jagged limestone karst out-
crops. Very dramatic scenery.
Upon reaching the border I noticed
a very decrepit guard hut that ap-
peared to be disused. No soldiers in
sight either. I pushed on …
I soon came across a village and
saw lots of Burmese writing and Bur-
mese looking people. I stopped and
asked a guy if it was possible to go on,
he said yes and told me there were
soldiers and a checkpoint further on
but it was ok. As I had already come
that far I decided it would be remiss
to pass up in the opportunity to go a
bit further however, in the back of my
mind I didn’t want trouble from the
soldiers for being on the wrong side
of the fence.
It turned out to be a really cool
trail yet quite tough in parts. Kind of
wish I had the CRF250L but the Africa
Twin did the job just fine. Passing
through numerous Burmese villages
brought delight and bemusement to
the villagers. The trails led across
open hills, the views were epic.
I rode about 5 kilometres before
deciding it might be best not running
into any checkpoints. I could see
from the map that the trail popped
back into the Thai side at a different
point, possibly with guards. I didn’t
fancy explaining why I had cruised
through 10 kilometres of Burma. I
turned around and headed back the
way I had come.
There were no issues, just an en-
joyable ride along the trails, cruising
back to the main road and then on to
Umpang.
The next day was intended for
riding south of Umpang all the way to
the end of route 1288. Unfortunate-
ly, I missed a turn at one point and
found myself back at the Myanmar
border.
A KNU Karen army checkpoint
blocked my path presenting a chance
to chat with the soldiers, I wanted
to see if it was possible to proceed.
I explained I wanted to come back
another day and was planning on
TRAVERSE 40
turning around and heading back to
where I had originally started.
We spoke for a while, as I explained
to them that the road looked like it
was fun and I was keen to have a look
around some day. I was told I could
proceed with no problems. Not only