Cycling the Burma Railway

Bhutan is not an easy destination to reach. Not only are the entry requirements very strict, but the isolated position, high in the Himalaya, keeps the little country effectively isolated from most of the outside world. For those travelling from Australia, the most common method of reaching Bhutan is to fly to Bangkok, and then catch a connecting flight to Paro.

Since we would be returning to Australia via Bangkok, I thought that we could utilise our time there by spending a few days cycling. It seemed like a good idea at the time, however I underestimated the brutal heat and humidity that we would be facing at that time of the year in Thailand.

The following is a brief account of our days spent sweltering on the Burma Railway. Unfortunately, most of my pictures from this trip were lost some years ago. The few images I do have have been collected from those few that I recovered.

Here is my diary entry from the 16th May 2013, written after we had landed in Thailand.
Bangkok May 16th
The old saying reminds us that "what a difference a day makes" and we certainly witnessed the truthfulness of that today. This morning we packed up our bags for our final day in Bhutan, said goodbye to our faithful guides and made our way to the tiny Paro airstrip. Since this airstrip has everything going against it - including being at high altitude, having a short runway and being nestled between towering mountains on all sides, we were all a little apprehensive about the takeoff. I must admit that I had been hoping that the plane would be only half full and thus give us a better chance of lift after takeoff, however when I inquired of the check in girl, she calmy assured me that "every seat is full sir". Looking at the overladen bags of brass buddhas and similar heavy souvenirs being checked in, my anxiety levels rose even more. On the other hand, if we were going to fly headlong into a cliff face, at least it would be painless.

There was one other plane to take off before us and I was pleased to see that it took off in the direction of the slightly less high mountain range. When it was our turn to take off the pilot decided to add some extra spice by taking off towards the highest mountains possible. Obviously, he wanted a challenge and he put on quite a display as we roared off with engines straining and then rapidly swerving from side to side in a series of stomach twisting maneuvers. In spite of his best attempts to prune the treetops, somehow, we did manage to break away from gravity and climb through the thin air - right into the centre of a huge cyclone.
the morning news told all about the massive cyclone that was currently devastating Bangladesh, but I did not know then that we would be flying right into it. With massive thunderclouds all around us the plane tossed violently from side to side as the pilot warned that "the drinks service will be suspended". He also announced that we would be landing for a refuelling stop in Dakar !
Nobody told us about that in the itinerary. As we dropped to a landing our views of Bangladesh revealed a country almost completely under water, in fact the whole place looked like a huge swamp. Dropping lower the rain started sheeting across the window beside me. Although we did not have mountains to consider I just hoped the pilot's windscreen wipers were in good order. With a few side shifts the plane did manage to crab its way onto the runway but then had to dramatically execute a high speed left hand turn when a tractor appeared on the runway in front of us. I guess that probably happens all the time here, but it did convince me that we would NEVER conduct a Ghostriders Bangladesh ride !!!!!

After a 45 min stop and a bellyfull of fuel the plane took off again for a rough 2 hour flight to Bangkok. The towering cloud and storm formations all around us were quite spectacular and the Drukair plane seemed to be taking the battering in its stride. Needless to say we did land safely and are now resting in our hotel in Bangkok.

Tomorrow our next adventure begins when we confront the searing heat of Thailand to begin our first Thailand ride.Read more