Mandalay to Inlay Lake

29th Jan 17

We left at 8am, caught the Mandalay rush hour..8 bikes against 5000 mopeds. Major intersections had no traffic lights no priority no give way signs..just go, most mopeds have no mirrors; total mayhem but it works. Unfortunately our northern friend Paul had been up all night with stomach upset, looked bad but no option but to ride..check out the pics.
We headed up into the Shan state mountains fantastic scenery but brutal twisty road 40kms of dirt, dust, gravel, deep sand and the odd bit of tarmac..trucks cars mopeds..covered us in clouds of dust and hot 28. I reminded myself several times that this is “an adventure, not a holiday” ..that road certainly was an adventure!

The mountains are very remote, no villages but still the odd shack selling food and drinks. At every stop great photo opps including the blue loo hut high on the hill. We got stopped twice for road construction as the diggers and bulldozers moved earth and rocks. Lunch was fried rice up in the hills; at one point we passed soldiers with guns. We then started to descend from the mountain peaks and the road improved, nice and twisty but quite bumpy but ok to pick the pace up.
We arrived at our hotel near Inlay lake and were welcomed with cold flannels and orange juice; very nice after a hard day. Lots of tourists here; that night we found a restaurant that served Western food..hamburgers, chips and red wine..a welcome change ?. Tomorrow is a rest day and we’ll take a boat on the lake.. this is the holiday part of the adventure!