The season started sooner than ever before. The winter preparations in France were short, but sweet. The question if I would like to go Myanmar came already last year, but due to a busy schedule I needed to cancel the event. Few months later, another invitation came and because I love what I do, that is performing and entertaining people, I didn’t want to decline one more time.
So, the date for a new adventure was set.
Barely back home from France it was time to get ready again. We packed my travel kit with my mechanic Denis and before I realized I was already sitting with my photographer Head Lens on the plane, with a long 36h trip to Mandalay/Myanmar.
Myanmar, the golden land of pagodas, was a totally unknown for me, so before traveling there I googled a bit about it, watched some YouTube movies and before you can say “RokON”, I was literally sitting on a rock, breathing the Mandalay air and posing for the camera.
People there have so little but they know lots of life tricks to survive. One of the examples was the way of working in the KTM workshop. Back at home in my Moto Garaža we have lots of high-end tools and everything what a mechanic desires to make his work easier; in Myanmar they had a small fracture of that. But even with that little they have, they know how to use it, sometimes what we throw away after usage, like the cable ties, they gently remove and use again.
Bobo and his mechanic team helped me out with transforming the KTM 200 Duke into a stunt bike in no time. 
Short practice and press conference later we were ready fort he next day event.
A short practice later and we were ready for the event next day.
There was again that curiosity of how much people will show up, although for the last 2 years that never was a big issue anymore, but you never know. 🙂 The team prepared free tickets for around 2000 people which were already handed out and they expected for all of those people to show up. In the end the place was packed on all three shows.
I fought again with the slippery concrete surface, but you use what you get, where there was no better place in the whole city.
Let’s not talk much about the atmosphere, just check out a few pics bellow:
The day after the show was a free day so we went for a trip outside the concrete jungle into the villages in the outskirts of Mandalay, to see how the locals produce cigars and bowls, but also take part in the manufacturing process and make an image for ourselves about the life in Myanmar.
Myanmar has a rich history with thousands of pagodas and ancient ruins. We have visited one of them, which used to be a library back in the day.
When we came there, the kids that were close to the temple were heading to school and started to cheer for a short show. The only place that had a flat surface was a dirt pawed football court and I quickly turned it into a stunt show area, because a true entertainer never cares about the numbers, but to share his passion. 🙂
A little show for the locals, to put some smiles on the little faces. As usual for a stuntrider, we were kicked out by the local police, ha-ha.
As the adventure began, it was already over. We did not plan too much extra time for this trip. Since lots of testing is waiting at home for me and I need to prepare for the big tour in Philippines, starting Feb 4th in Cebu.
Surprised to see that a stuntriding community exist here, but unfortunately my tight schedule did not allow me to join the local stunt riders and throw a short stunt sesh together. If I ever come back to Myanmar, I will definitely plan ahead.
