This is a touring trip using mountain bikes, and you'll cycle 498 km on country lanes and quiet roads. Though 80% of the riding will be on tarmac, the road can be in poor condition in some spots. There will be some dirt roads, but these are not technical; they are just to take you off the beaten track.
The first few days of riding are up and down the Shan plateau, but the gradient is very gentle. You will pass through many villages, and you will find the people curious, friendly, and polite. The road will be shared with ox carts, cyclists, and waving children. The second phase of the tour are flat rides or on gentle rolling hills and cut through rice fields, ancient cities, and scenic countryside. The averagely fit cyclist will have no problems.
The trip is fully supported with an air-conditioned bus following the group for the entire journey, so exhausted riders can skip the tougher sections if they wish. On major roads, riders can find their own pace and meet up at prearranged points along the way. There is an unbelievable amount to see throughout the tour, and you'll stop frequently to view temples, rural scenes (especially if riding during rice harvest), and villages.
Suitability: This trip is a touring bike journey suitable for anyone with a reasonable level of fitness. There are some long rides, and one or two tough climbs; participants who cycle the whole distance should expect a fairly challenging two weeks. But with the excellent support, inexperienced riders, and even non-riding partners, can be catered for and are more than welcome to join this tour.
Biking Conditions: Although this tour covers around 498 km in 7 full cycling days and 3 half days, it is still quite demanding. This trip has a variety of roads, some in quite good condition to broken tarmac roads, to vehicle-wide dirt trails. There is no technical riding on this trip, but there are some long days.
The trip through Myanmar exceeded our expectations. Biking through the countryside was an amazing way to see this country and to experience the people, culture, food, language, etc. Our guide, Toe Toe, and his supports were also incredible and helped us understand everything that we were seeing and experiencing. We…
The trip through Myanmar exceeded our expectations. Biking through the countryside was an amazing way to see this country and to experience the people, culture, food, language, etc. Our guide, Toe Toe, and his supports were also incredible and helped us understand everything that we were seeing and experiencing. We loved the fact that we got to experience such diverse parts of the country from Mandalay and Bagan to Inle Lake and Yangon. We also enjoyed the combination of biking, kayaking, and site seeing and were happy that we decided to do a longer tour (8 day/7 nights) through the country. Anything less and I think we would have missed a lot of the beauty of this country. As one of the trip members said, this trip was like "drinking out of a culture firehose." It was an intense and amazing culture experience. Everything was great about this trip including our guides. We are very please with the trip and would definitely recommend it to others. The only thing that was difficult at times was the short amount of time that we spent in each city and the constant packing and re-packing. We liked the fact that we spent 2 nights in Bagan and Inle Lake and would recommend that other participants do the same thing on a similar tour and schedule in "down-time." Having a few nights in one location with a little bit of downtime makes it easier to get back on the bike the next day.
Biking is a great way of touring. It slows you down and stimulates all your senses while still allowing you to cover some real miles. Plus you get so much more personal interaction with the locals. All good stuff!
This trip was extraordinary! Zaw Zaw and his wonderful team worked so hard to deliver a spectacular trip to us. They did not disappoint - it was fantastic! Myanmar is an amazing country and there is no better way to experience it than on a bike. I felt we really…
This trip was extraordinary! Zaw Zaw and his wonderful team worked so hard to deliver a spectacular trip to us. They did not disappoint - it was fantastic! Myanmar is an amazing country and there is no better way to experience it than on a bike. I felt we really saw the culture, country and the people. I would highly recommend this trip! The guides that looked after us were phenomenal. They were incredibly kind and conscientious. They were very knowledgeable and really delivered a unique experience. I was so impressed with this team! First rate! Can't say enough about how well they looked after us.