Hello everybody!
After around 31 weeks of teaching, we are on spring break! In Myanmar, spring break happens to coincide with the Myanmar new year and water festival, called Thingyan. Imagine that it is 100 degrees outside and it hasn't rained in months, sound like a good time to stand out on the side of the road and throw water on whoever goes by? If so, come to Myanmar in April. Thingyan is a 4 day holiday. The throwing of water I believe has some symbolism to it, of fresh starts, and washing off the old year, but in practice it always seems to ultimately be a chance for some fun.
Todd and I wanted to get away from the city for a time, so we decided to take our bikes north, to the hilly Shan state, and go for a bike ride. We flew to Mandalay, and from there took a taxi up to the hill station of Pyin Oo Lwin, deliciously cool at an altitude of around 1600 meters. We had a taste of the water festival that first day, returning to our hotel quite soaked, but that was nothing compared to the next day.
We were quite ambitious, our plan was to bike 66 miles, from Pyin Oo Lwin to Kyaukme, through the Myanmar countryside, and passing through a gorge as well. While we were concerned that it might be too far, we thought we'd give it a try. But considering that the longest bike ride I've ever done before was 12 miles, this was quite an adventure.
We left at 6:45 am, and by 8am we could see them waiting, usually children but not always, armed with scoopers, water guns, buckets and sometimes hoses. We knew we were going to get wet, but that was not only OK (our stuff was in plastic bags) but also welcome during a bike ride in such heat (April is the hottest month of the year). Still, occasionally the water throwing would get a bit aggressive, and so sometimes we used our tricks to outwit them, such as Todd playing cat and mouse, and me meekly submitting and pointing to my bag with camera gestures, hoping that they would go easy on me.
At the end of the 66 miles (around 4:30pm), we were exhausted, with legs and knees aching, and still soaking wet. Our only dry time was unfortunately during the 7 mile uphill stretch, when I would have loved to have a scooper or two of water thrown at me. It was quite an experience. Would we do it again? Probably not. But are we glad we did it? Absolutely.
The rest of the trip was a bit easier (more downhills), and being in the Shan state was lovely. We were in small towns with few foreigners, and there's often a feeling of being a celebrity in these situations, yet they were very friendly, overall respectful, and we had a great time getting to know the people more. Often when we're teaching we're just wrapped up in that world and not really interacting with the Myanmar people (except our students). This was a chance to really get out there and relate to the people and see the countryside. It also pushed our own limits, by going somewhere new, and traveling by bicycle, something neither of us had done before. Being on the bicycle, gave us the opportunity to interact more, as we could stop at whatever random teahouse or temple we wanted to, and we were able to converse with people sometimes as we rode. They were so hospitable. When we stopped for watermelon, they shared their New Year's sweets with us, listened, laughed and replied as we experimented with phrases from our Myanmar phrasebook, and ultimately told us the watermelon was free! In Hsipaw, a lovely small town with a river running through it, we went swimming with the locals to beat the heat, and even though it can be hard to see people washing and putting all that soap in their nice river, it was a very friendly place to be.
Our last day was back in Pyin Oo Lwin by train, where we visited the botanical gardens, There we found a grove of pine trees, that looked like it could come straight out of California. It was a great place to sit for a while, and we loved having the chance to smell pine needles again.
Now we're back in Yangon and getting ready for the final few weeks of school. Hoping all of you are well!
love, Meghan and Todd
PS, Brian, when we were riding we heard this noise that was exactly like every cuckoo clock I've ever heard. We finally saw the bird, and he just kept calling, cuckoo, cuckoo, over and over again. So we've seen a cuckoo bird! A lifer for us.
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