Part 1 - Bangkok & Myanmar
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We all got woken up around 4am as promised by the monks prayers over the tannoy which was really loud but still we all stayed in bed until about 5.30 when we got up to see the sunrise which was not really there until 6am. I said to the girls that maybe they could swap their bike with Leo as they were planning to go to the cave and maybe bike the whole day whereas he was planning to go back to Hpa an to book a bus before heading out. We went to have breakfast and Renata asked Leo and he said it was ok and joked that they would rather he dies instead. Jacqueline said she was probably heading to Dawei so I said she probably wants to go to Mawlamyine which is where I'm going and maybe I could help carry her bag down as she had carried all of her stuff up the hill and although down is easier she's most likely still tired but she didn't want to or didn't think it was a real offer or something. Leo who looks a lot like Brendan Fraser but with a big beard was talking about the Anapona trek in Nepal and as interesting as he is he was repeating things also said the night before and he could probably keep going for a long time which may be why he missed sunset yesterday. So deciding that the group would slow me down too much I headed off and made good pace in the cool morning, going for a long while without a stop. The mountains still looked really cool a bit like the islands off Thailand in the beach film or the floating islands in Avatar they kind of rise out of flat land. I was saying I don't really know how they were formed but now they look a bit like a ridge so maybe where two plates met a long time ago before they stopped moving. I kept walking towards the Saddan cave and I kept looking back expecting to see the girls on their motorbike catching me up as they planned to go to the cave but they didn't come so I guess maybe they went back to town first. I was close to the cave but the temperature had really hotted up and there wasn't much shade as the sun was pretty much overhead and I was looking for more water when a guy on a motorbike offered me a lift which really helped and then I bought some water and went to the Saddan cave which was on a great big rock of a hill/mountain. It only cost 1000 and a monk gave me some minerals from the cave which look like mud. The cave entrance area is really big snd they had Buddhas all around but further in the cave gets darker, wetter and harder to walk around especially with no footwear. I got to the other side and was sitting to watch people take the boats and get a feel for them when Jacqueline came up not wearing glasses so that I didn't recognise her. She had a motorbike so had driven there with her backpack so we decided to share a boat and found one with 2 others so that the 6,000 fee was split to 1,500 each. The boat goes through a cave and I was considering swimming it but its a bit dangerous. After we sat down at a cafe for a bit before she offered me a ride back with her and maps.me recommended a different route from where I'd been so we went that way and I hot off at the junction since Hpa an was 20km in the wrong direction and my legs were hurting from the position on the bike, but I hoped to meet up again in Dawei only I wasn't sure I could get cheap enough accommodation there.
I was in a little town so I wandered through looking for a bus or a travel type shop and eventually I googled how to ask for the bus to Mawlamyine and asked a person who actually spoke good English and told me where to wait and what kind of bus it would be (a pickup). So I waited for 1 hour 30 minutes or so until the bus car came and jumped on and then had some boxes thrown on so it was a bit cramped, the car had little suspension and the road was terrible although they were doing work to improve it. Sometimes the road less traveled is just not good for travelling. But it was good to see some different areas and we got back into town around 5.30pm so I couldn't see the sunset but I got to walk past a few temples while my phone battery was pretty dead and it was hard to use my remaining power bank charge as I'd brought the wrong cable but I made it to the guest house around 7pm. 3 consecutive days of walking in flip flops had blended away some of my sock line ran but had given me a tan where the strap goes and also done damage to my toes so that combined with being tired it was a tough last few km walk back. After I got back I washed my feet had some food and read a book before getting an early night.
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