20th February 2015 ice creams at the border

After an early night it was finally border time, we set out just before six in anticipation of a lengthy wait getting out of Thailand and into burma, however it was soon apparent that Melvyn from CARS had gone above and beyond the call of duty and we whizzed through the border like a colonial invasion.  The problem with arriving early and quickly entering burma we had a long wait for the convoy run down the road, it was a relief when an ice cream vendor showed up, we nearly didn't have time to eat what could be described as a turd on a stick when our select batch of cars arrived and we departed down the road that only 6 Brits had been on before, at one point we were directed off the road through villages on a dusty track which actually was a nice touch to be honest.

Houses made of leaves was evidence that we had now entered a part of the world that hasn't developed over the years and I think it must be one of the true olde worlde part of planet earth!

It was a relatively short blast down some very poor tarmac roads to the three hotels us and the competitors are living in tonight, we arrived about lunchtime and not much work is needed to be done, that was until Willy Van Loon turned up with some wiring issues, a Datsun 240 with collapsed suspension and a Mercedes Benz with failed steering, this all done it was time to head for dinner, the best sweet and sour chicken I've ever had and a trip to a spice market (the smelliest place I've ever been to), a small stop at a hat shop where I've managed to get a hat made of wood, here shown by Tony, it's amazeballs!  First impressions of Burma is mixed, the roads are terrible and the traffic is incredible but the people seem very nice and it's obviously very strange for them to see westerners driving old cars.  Here's some inviting piccies of Burma.

More snaps tomorrow