Bangkok/Myanmar Trip [part 3]: Biking near Bagan, Myanmar

Day One of the Kara & Nate Myanmar trip started bright and early.  We left the hotel around 6:30am to drive to the biking tour (45km) starting spot.  We picked bikes and helmets then took a boat across the river to bike through some incredible small villages.  It was so fun pedaling by people farming with oxen and waving and smiling back at you as you tried calling out "minglalabar" (hello) to them.

Our group was called Team Soe Cool named for our guide Soe.  We had Jeremy and Rain from Kuwait, Sara and Micah from Alaska, Lance from Colorado, and Mark from Canada.  We started early in the day because it gets so hot in the afternoon.  I forgot what it got up to that day, but wow, it was muggy and hot!

One stop along the journey was to watch some locals weave items out of ratan.  Nate also took the opportunity to fly his drone and it was a huge hit with the village children.  We had a stop at a local roadside bar where we filled up on water and energy drinks.

After a little longer, we had to make a decision.  Keep biking or skip biking and head to our river boat to then do the Salay walking tour.  The competitor in me wanted to finish the 45km ride.  Eight of us elected to continue.  We cycled across a cool bridge and had to do a tire repair pit stop.  This stretch had some of the hardest riding we biked through a field - super bumpy and sandy.  We made it to the pick up spot only to find out the river was too shallow there for the pick up boat.  So onto the next village we pedaled  It was a great feeling of accomplishment to finish, especially since I had a baby about 5 months ago and hadn't trained!  

We then took the small boat to our home for the next week, the Irrawady Explorer!  It was a magnificent river cruise boat.  We ate a well deserved late lunch just as the rest of the group headed out for the walking tour of Salay.

That afternoon we got a couples massage and then joined the whole group for orientation and then dinner.  Food on the boat was so delicious.  I am going to miss my morning omelet.  I would also bring S breakfast in bed like Nate does with coffee for Kara.