big bike.
Eventually I passed another village
with a Burmese army checkpoint.
A soldier with an automatic rifle
hopped up from his guard post and
approached me. Prepared to perform
a powerslide U-turn I thought about
riding away as quickly as possible
however, it became clear from his
body language that he wasn’t too
concerned. He simply asked which
way I was going. It crossed my mind
to say I was lost and heading back to
the Thai border, his demeanour sug-
gested I should chance telling him I
was heading inland to the next town.
Looking at the map I found the name
of the next town, Su Ka Li, he simply
pointed me in the right direction.
With the road deteriorating and
the weather becoming wetter I decid-
ed I would indeed head to the town
and see what it was about. The road
soon became a construction site as
upgrades were attempting to recon-
nect it to the rest of the Karen state
and central Burma.
By now I was 50 kilometres inside
of Myanmar, I needed to turn around
and head back to the border crossing
from where I had come. I noticed
a temple atop a hill and needed to
explore further.
At the entrance there was a monk
and other people. One called to me
and in almost perfect English invited
me to sit with them. I couldn’t refuse.
Surprised to see me they explained
that they hadn’t come across any
falangs in that area before. Despite
the surprise they were extremely
welcoming, something I discovered
right across my time in Myanmar,
even from the military. They gave the
impression they were extremely glad
a foreigner had bothered to make the
effort to come visit their region.
Hours passed as I chatted with
them, while we walked amongst the
temple and surrounding area. Lead
by the monk, they told me about the
history of the area and how the site
of the temple had once been a gun
position during the battles between
the Karen and the Burmese.
We dined at a Thai restaurant
chatting more about the history and
culture of the region, their welcom-
ing nature was beautiful and our time
together ended with a blessing from
TRAVERSE 42
the monk.
It was time to leave and I headed
back in the direction from where I
had come.
I was told it's possible to ride all the
way to Myawaddy and even though a
dirt road was a much quicker way of
getting from Umpang to Mae Sot than
along the 1090 on the Thai side.
And then back into Thailand ...
It had been an eye opener to ride
the short distance into Myanmar,
in particular the Karen state. I, like
most, hadn't heard too much about
this region and was eduacted some-
what by speaking with the locals. The
area is at peace with the Burmese, at
least for the time being, civilians and
military coexist peacefully.
It's perhaps an area I would like to
return to. SB
*Falang is a generic term for a caucasian
and often used for tourists.
Shane runs tours through Thailand, Myan-
mar, Laos and Cambodia. And in his unique
explorative way he can show you what these
countries have to offer -
adventurebikingasia.com