Hi All sorry for the delay in posting this as I needed a break from everything for a few days. Myanmar was very difficult both physically and mentally. Though it’s true the police force did help me a lot, it came with a price. I ran myself into the ground over sand and rocky mountain roads with high mileages while all the time amateur doctors monitored my health and wondered why I was so tired as after all I was running around the world for 3 years! Immigration officers sat down at my dinner table and asked me what my plans were for the next couple of days. Or they phoned to ask. Is this democracy I ask?

I rarely had a moment to myself in almost 3 weeks as I was followed even to the bathroom and could only make one internet visit which I was followed to. There is much more including a demand from the Great Wall Hotel in Mandalay for $75 for a 5 hour hotel night after a promised sponsor changed his mind overnight. My passport was held by the new two day old manager who was unable to use any discretion till I paid. It was actually $70 dollars but as I paid in Myanmar kyats and not $US there was a ‘ supplement ‘ Locals pay $50, Ah! Yes, discrimination!

Some readers may have read my brief update in the comments. I was not allowed to run over the Myanmar/Indian border at Tamu/Moreh. So as my 28 day visa was rapidly running out I ended up returning to Mandalay on a bus. The Tamu immigration turned up to see I was on the bus! And yes another one met the bus in Mandalay!

What is all this about you may ask, perhaps they thought I was a spy!! Control, Control, Control and the great excuse to control.. ” We are looking after your safety and security! ”

Yes. They helped me but the level of control was 'over the top' Here you can see the immigration officer going through my file at a breakfast break.

So when I asked why they needed to guard my safety and security and if Myanmar is a dangerous country and if so I will have to write about it. They are usually shocked by this question.

Breakfast is over and ' my team ' are ready to roll! They changed officers a couple of times a day as I progressed along their jurisdiction.

At this stage they, they as in the Myanmar equivalent of the KGB were seriously in my face asking me what I was going to do with a rapidly expiring visa. I told them I was going to the Indian Consulate in the morning to inquire  about permits for the border states in India. I knew there was an embassy in Mandalay but they lied and said no. By that stage I was pretty angry and stressed and knowing I had booked a precautionary flight to Bangkok the following morning , just in case of this kind of hassle… Well having booked that flight was a true moment of inspiration. Because I stood up from the table and told them to get stuffed that I was going to Bangkok and would sort things out from there!

I jumped on a motorcycle taxi went straight to the airport, slept there, caught the flight to Bangkok. I slept a little in a 24 hour internet cafe that night while making contact with some Indian runners and a social worker in the restricted Indian states of Manipur and Nagaland. It seems they can and are helping me smooth the way with the permits, thanks folks!

So I decided to fly to New Delhi with Nirvana my cart which Danny Corrigan has been kindly minding for me in Bangkok. I plan to store it in the Irish embassy in New Delhi till I run through in a couple of months time. Many thanks to the Irish ambassador Gerry Kelly and his assistant Co. Cork woman Katie. I wondered if I could do anything in New Delhi the next day re the elusive permits and then got a brain wave to question the immigration officer who gave me my entry stamp into India. He brought me to see his supervisor who confirmed it was best to inquire in the two state capital cities.

As mentioned I am grateful for the help I am getting from local people in that area. So with all this and the need for a break I decided I would use my frequent flier miles and take a break in Dublin till after Christmas. I booked the flight from the Amor restaurant just around the corner from the embassy. I  just had time for a taxi ride to the airport. I also need some time to obtain some visas as the Pakistan visa is only issued in ones own home country since the US invasion on Bin Laden things have tightened up.

I have been told that with this particular visa there is also a high chance that I may be called for an interview, so this is another reason for the break. I thought about returning to the route and running for a week or 10 days but then wouldn’t have time for the visa and would also waste about 2 days travel each way for where I would likely finish would be pretty remote far away from Delhi or other airports. So all in all after a lot of consideration it made sense to take a (much needed) long break, for it was a tough year around 14,000km in just under 11 months through the Australian Outback in record time, 3 months of ‘ Road Hell ‘ in Indonesia and now a very tough month in Myanmar. I was only in India for 12 hours! Using up one of my precious double entry stamps, so that means Nepal is definitely out of the run as the immigration officer said I would have to get another Indian visa and there is always a chance of a refusal which would totally screw me up, not a chance I want to take.

I return to India on December 27th, it will take me a couple of days to get back to my route in Moreh at the Indian border. Unfortunately when I finished up there on December 1st it was the first time there was a ‘ road gap ‘ on the run after almost 38,700km.  A gap of about 1km between the Myanmar and Indian immigration offices has been declared as a ‘ no mans land ‘

Many people do not consider a ‘ no mans land ‘ to be a breakage but in my mind I do.

Merry Christmas to all the readers, please stay tuned as I want to post some updates and time permitting post a lot of the absolutely amazing Myanmar photographs I took.

Briefly there were two wonderful days when I was running through the sand duned mountain roads where villagers crowded all along the roads of their villages. I stopped many times, sometimes for snacks in restaurants and counted up to 100 gawkers a time!

It was AMAZING!! One of these days I called the most incredible day of the run, so you see even with all the police hassle they did help me, not least carry my stuff and feed me water and my snacks.

I am tired now, I need to rest and recover for the last 10 months of the run but as always still have a lot of work to do.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 8th, 2013 at 2:27 am and is filed under jogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.