The first sun in Myanmar - scooter tour

When I wake up around half past six in the morning, I immediately see that the room is brighter. Tap, tap, tap on the curtain: the sky is blue and the sun is rising. The first sun in Myanmar! Now I'm awake and can't possibly go back to sleep. I can hold out for half an hour, but then I have to wake Max up and show him the amazing view from our 5th floor bedroom. He's not as excited as I had hoped, but after a bit of nagging, he agrees to have breakfast with me. From the rooftop terrace, we have a great view of the city, the harbor, and the first islands of the Mergui Archipelago. The breakfast is as great as always!
At 8 o'clock we order a scooter and set off. It should be mentioned that tourists are officially not allowed to rent vehicles in Myanmar. The country is very careful about controlling which parts of the country are open to tourism and which remain closed. Therefore, there are no shops that rent scooters or other vehicles. The only option is to rent a private scooter. Some people apparently do this as a side business. Conveniently, our hotel arranges it for us. How else would we know who is willing to rent their scooter for a day? Although driving in Myanmar is on the right side of the road like at home, I still found it much more relaxed to drive in Thailand. The scooter drivers here are simply faster and keep less distance, and I have to get used to honking.

Our first stop is a park which is actually a golf course, and since we take the wrong entrance, we end up in a monastery next to the 'park'. As we sneak around the grounds, a monk immediately approaches us and gives us candy and fruit. So nice :)
At the first pagoda we visit, we are silly enough to park the scooter at the bottom of the hill and walk on foot. We quickly realize that here, you can drive right up to everything with a scooter. Even at religious sites. Since we are already sweating early in the morning, we unanimously decide that next time we will be as lazy as the locals.
We quickly realize that the main attraction is not the pagoda, but us. As since the first day in Myanmar, people are flocking to catch a glimpse of us. A group of teens (we think they are teens. Here, everyone looks so young.) joins us and lets their friends take photos. In all possible constellations. Yeah, I'm a monkey in a zoo. And constantly women come up and want to touch my hair. The men just shout over, point to the braids, and give a thumbs up.

Our journey takes us past many many pagodas. Even the smallest fishing village, which has no roads, let alone sewers or garbage cans, and where people gather at the village well to wash their clothes and themselves, has a golden pagoda in the village. Well, after all, Myanmar is the most devout of all Buddhist countries. When we drive through these villages on our scooter, the news spreads quickly and all the children (and even the adults) rush out of their huts and wave at us. When you wave back at the children, they start giggling and jumping up and down. Funny ^^
Actually, we wanted to try to get to the water a bit. After all, Myeik is right by the sea, reminiscent of a peninsula, and is crisscrossed by rivers. But the people here don't seem to go swimming or they swim in the gray/white shimmering water full of rubbish and plastic. Unfortunately, we don't get to see anything else. One spot, however, got our hopes up on Maps. When we arrived there, the 'beach' was unfortunately just muddy, stinky mud. Also full of garbage. What a shame...
So we probably won't go swimming and I just give the scooter a bit more gas. After all, the wind cools. When we take the connecting road between two villages, my driving skills (I'm on a scooter for the second time today) are really put to the test. Our path leads us over a several kilometer long bumpy track of red soil, stones, sand, and mud holes. Yeah... At first, it's somehow fun, but eventually it's just tiring. I'm sitting on the scooter all tensed up, trying to prevent Max and me from ending up in the mud (that would be the cheapest case). I should have practiced a bit more for off-road, but we arrive in one piece. The locals coming towards us, however, celebrate us. We get a lot of thumbs up, cheers, and high-fives. Awesome :-D

Afterwards, we see a sign that tells us that this bumpy track in the middle of nowhere is the main access road to the Technical University of Myeik. The people of Myanmar have a sense of humor. Myanmarers? Actually, "Burmesen" sounds the easiest. Damn, why did they rename the country in 1989?