An unconventional route to Pyin Oo Lwin
Read any travel guide on Mandalay and they will all tell a similar story, “not a lot in the city centre, but a great base to explore the surrounding area.” As dismissive as this sounds, they aren’t wrong. Mandalay is not particularly easy on the eye, and it doesn’t really have cool hip factor of Yangon or other major Asian cities. However, like the guidebooks say it is a fantastic place to base yourself to explore the surrounding area.
We rented a motorbike from Mandalay Motorbikes, who we would definitely recommend. The owner Zac does custom tours through Myanmar when he is not Mandalay. When we were renting our bike we got chatting to his wife about where we were headed and she gave us a great tip on a stunning road route from Mandalay to Pyin Oo Lwin.
Take route 3 out of Mandalay towards Pying Oo Lwin, but after the toll booth and before heading uphill into the mountains take a right turn heading towards the village of Kyauk Chaw. Keep on this road until you reach a fork, take the left hand road and just keep on going until you hit Pyin Oo Lwin. I would recommend downloading maps.me as we did, it made this trip so much easier. Although it didn’t stop us missing the right hand turn after the toll.
After we ditched route 3 and headed towards Kyauk Chaw it was apparent we were in for something special. The river that had been steadily flowing to our right disappeared as we negotiated ever steeper hills and ever sharper corners. It seemed that every corner gave us another breathtaking view. Sadly we had to be selective with our photo stops otherwise we would not have made it to Pyin Oo Lwin.
It took us close to 45 minutes to get to the highest point, by which point our ears had popped so many times that we were yawning on every climb. At the peak, our poor little 125 was finally able to have a break, having worked overtime carrying the two of us this far. Speeding along the ridge, we passed through beautifully simple villages where were greeted with cheek to cheek smiles and cries of “mingalabar” (hello).
After grabbing a quick bite to eat at Cafe Feel on Kandawlay Lake, it was time to take our saddle sore bodies back onto the bike and head back. Sadly our limited time didn’t allow for more than a day trip, and so many photo stops meant we were a little late.
Heading back was a slightly less scenic affair, although we did get to experience some mind bogglingly terrify roadworks. Basically 2 lane tarmac roads became a mixture of 1 lane of tarmac’d road and another lane of gravel at any corner. Since we were going downhill, these corners were particularly sharp. Which lead to rather terrifying side by side duels with huge Chinese trucks bring goods down from the porous China-Myanmar border.
We rejoined familiar roads down at the toll we passed earlier in the day. From here it was a straight shot back to our guesthouse in Mandalay and a well earnt rest. A lot to pack into a day, but it was absolutely worth it.
What did we love: The sense of freedom of being able to explore and the amazing scenery.
What did we struggle to love: The dust, oh my, the dust, it is everywhere. We would definitely recommend a mask or a bandana to cover your nose and mouth. Also Miranda got a very sore bottom after a whole day of being a passenger.
Would we do it again: Definitely, would’ve been great to have more time, but alas it wasn’t to be.
What would we do if we had more time: We would have spent the night in Pyin Oo Lwin, heading to the botanical gardens in the afternoon and the Anisakan Falls or Dee Dote Falls the next day. As is so often the case with travel, sometimes you run out of time before you run out of money.
