Buddhists can 'make merit' by building and maintaining pagodas. This one was especially picturesque and very well maintained, meaning big merit.

Riding sidesaddle is the custom for women in Myanmar. I noted the concern the pilot had for the passenger, not offering her the helmet.

Local villagers coming to the public outdoor market. I noticed this kind of work was reserved for women.

A possible 'touring motorcycle' distinguished but the unique luggage rack on the back, something not seen on most motorcycles in Myanmar.

A Burmese businessman or entrepreneur refilling disposable cigarette lighters for sale in a local market.

This was a dentist’s office. I was glad I needed no dental work done while in Myanmar because when I looked inside I saw an ancient dental chair, no power drills and some tools that looked like part of my 1947 Indian Chief’s tool kit, including a hammer!

The village communal bath with cold and cold running water, but it was free.

Because of the Karen resistance to the Myanmar government many have been forced to flee across the border to Thailand where they live in refugee camps much like American Indian reservations in the late 1800’s.

A Burmese 'Longneck' or Karen lady. They start wearing the brass coils when they are very young, adding length as they grow older.

This Chinese Zip Star was slightly customized.

This was one of the very few BSAs left in Myanmar from the British Burma Days, seen on a side street in Mandalay.

I was having fun touring, adventuring or whatever one wants to call traveling by motorcycle in Myanmar. The downside was the butt-killer seat, made for short hops around town, and definitely not for Western-size buns on a long rides.

A 'Burmese customized trike,' using a 110 cc engine.

While Burger King and Ronald MacDonald have not made it into Myanmar yet, fast food has for those western tourists needing a burger and fries. I tried one, found it to be a little bland, but it was fast, as fast as they could take it out of the ice chilled cooler and fry it.

Need swill? Myanmar has that too. I saw Jack Daniels and Jim Beam in some stores. These American made products were not Chinese knock-offs, but the real stuff. In a country under U.S. embargo, some products still managed to find a way thru.

If you are a twisty junkie, they can be found in Myanmar. This series were as good as some in the European Alps.

A typical quiet rice field in Myanmar with the Burmese form of the Ford tractor, a water buffalo.

I hand out my personalized stickers, with my website address printed on them, the one this customized motorcycle owner is holding is his right hand. He asked for a second one wanting to put one on each side of his motorcycle. I gave him two more.

This motorcycle parts shop owner was nearly speechless when I gave him a www.horizonsunlimited.com sticker. He had never seen one before, but knew of the website for global motorcycle travelers.

A motorcycle parts shop. If you needed anything for a Harley-Davidson, or any well know adventure touring bike you would be hard pressed to find it in a Myanmar parts shop. Their inventory was for 50 cc to 125 cc models, unless a sticker would do.

My fully loaded 'adventure touring' motorcycle for northern Myanmar.

A rickshaw or bike taxi, horsepower rating of 1 manpower and ran mostly on rice.

Another typical gas station, this one just outside the city limits of Mandalay.

This Honda was owned by the same Honda parts shop owner, the difference being this was his daily ride.

In a Honda parts shop the owner proudly showed me his 1950’s Honda, a collector’s bike, rare anywhere in the world.

I saw several of these Yamaha DT 125 cc bikes but could find none to rent.

One place my motorcycle could not get me to was the world’s biggest bell. It was made for the top of a temple that was never completed. There was no fee for “gonging” it, which I did several times because the monk said to do so would be good luck. After I did it he asked for a donation.

This 'big bike' was far smaller than the engine looked. Those are covers over the small displacement cylinders. I liked the air cleaner cover which was a plastic Chinese copy saying Live To Ride, Ride to Live.

This German traveler was making her way around New Began in that city’s form of taxi, a one-horse cart. Motorcycles were not allowed, but old three speed bicycles could be rented for $2.00 for a half-day.

Mandalay, the second largest city in Myanmar, was buzzing with small motorcycles and cars, a big difference from Yangon.

This motorcycle owner had a sense of humor. They had adopted a working lady phrase heard mostly across the border in selected sin centers outside of Myanmar, 'No money, no honey.' That translates to mean if you pay no money, you get no honey.

Monks ride free on city taxis, but no one gets up and lets them have their seat.

This was one of the few motorcycles I saw on the street in Yangon, ridden there by a police traffic officer.

These temple monkeys seemed to have free run of the temple. They ate and left droppings anywhere they wanted. I asked if they were allowed to do so because they were sacred like some rats I had seen in India. I was told they were not, that they were just monkeys.

Myanmar is a poor country and tires are run on cars right down to the cords. This tire, with steel belts showing, was on a mini van carrying tourists to their next stop.

Mount Popa and the temple on the top was picturesque, but Snoopy and Goofy (my bare feet) complained all the way up and down, especially when I stepped on monkey droppings.

Tie downs or ropes for motorcycles seemed to be non-existent in Burma. The workers on the ferryboat leaned the bike up against some other passenger’s luggage, where some of the fully filled gas in the tank leaked out. No one seemed to care and I saw passengers smoking cigarettes nearby.

I did a short ferryboat ride to avoid riding some of the same roads twice. Six dockworkers lifted the Honda onto the boat, charging me $.50 for their work, not each, but for all six workers.

A week before I arrived, wild elephants near Yangon knocked down 42 houses in a village, killing two villagers. This one was a 'retired' working elephant, 42 years old.

Riding on miles of open beach was the payoff for having reached the ocean. I left my baggage at the guesthouse and wore my cameras around my neck hung by their neck straps. The lightweight Honda was perfect for plowing through the soft sand or speeding along the wet stuff near the water.

This was the tool kit I was given to go along with the Honda in case I needed to make roadside repairs. The tool bag was a well-used T-shirt that was wrapped around the tools.

This was typical of the motorcycle 'travelers' I met on the road. Once or twice I saw riders wearing backpacks, but not once did I see a set of saddlebags, trailer or tank bag.

Most motorcycle pilots and riders wore helmets as this sign advised. I was also told it was the law but seldom enforced.

The gas was nothing a catalytic converter would like and had everything from twigs to dead bugs floating in it. A T-shirt was used to filter it as it was poured into the gas tank.

A typical countryside gas station where the owner would fill a multiple liter container with the number of liters I 'guessed' would fill the tank.

There were never any warning signs before the road surface changed from smooth to rough and rutted.

In the hot sun this taxi driver and his passenger protected themselves with umbrellas, the same that was used during the monsoon or rainy season.

The roads varied from new cement to exposed stone sections like this, some with foot deep potholes.

My rental 'touring' bike. I had to pack light for life on the road, carrying everything I needed, including three cameras and a tool kit, in one bag.

This is the largest gold temple in the world, found in Yangon.

My rental bike had to be trucked to the outside of the Forbidden Area surrounding Yangon. The owner had no ties downs or rope so one of the helpers and I held it upright for the 25 mile ride.

This street kid had a paste on his face that was quite common in the south of Myanmar. Wearers of the white paste feel it makes them better looking. I saw none of this being worn in the north. The kid was as curious about me as I was of him.

For a poor country Myanmar had a great number of gold pagodas, possibly more than I had seen anywhere else in the world.

A very interesting view of city life in downtown Yangon.

Once I got to the coast of the Bay of Bengal I could ride freely on the beach, free of cost and free of police, quite unlike Daytona Beach.

The fleet of rental bikes I found in Yangon. The nearest spare part for these would be two to three days east in Bangkok, Thailand.

Shoes, and often socks, were prohibited inside the temples. My soft westerner feet never got used to the lack of footwear. I named my feet Snoopy and Goofy and they were always barking when unshod.