World's Most Dangerous Roads - Myanmar: Road Fear

[Applause] [Music] hey [Music] [Music] ah [Music] campy the taxi driver has seen better days [Music] his 15 clients want him to speed up whereas the 16th passenger continues to express discontent by mooing constantly [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] his worn out jeep struggles to run on the 90 kilometer track leading to the village [Music] campy has no other choice he must get through no matter what it takes the funeral service will not start without his [Music] in passengers solidarity remains a cornerstone for families going through tough times foreign with a little perseverance the journey reaches its end after three hours of travelling the passengers and the bullock can finally stretch their legs although for this animal the end of the journey truly marks the end of the line the jeep will also serve as a hearse although for the driver not everything will go to plan in burma trouble is never far away for more than half a century this country has lived in isolation cut off from the outside world by a succession of some of the harshest dictatorships on the planet the burmese consider their country to be the sleeping beauty of the world although she has finally begun to open her eyes today she faces a rude awakening the country is lacking in everything its infrastructures have been abandoned for several years but in spite of these hardships the burmese keep on smiling why would they complain now when many of them have experienced forced labor in the past [Music] the junta ran the country according to its own benefit taking all the wealth and building an immense capital city twice the size of new york however barely anyone lives there now and the highways leading to the capital are some of the emptiest in the world there are countless tracks and they are a nightmare for the burmese to deal with burma perhaps also holds another record it is home to the most terrifying train in all of asia after years of suffering the burmese can now face death with a smile for the burmese drivers monsoon season is associated with countless problems lorries and taxis move in a long procession bound together by pitfalls that literally nail them to the ground [Music] during this season several transporters refused to drive on this road only the bravest or rather the most reckless drivers dare to take on the mountain [Music] mr kosam is one such driver however he doesn't really have a choice in the matter if he doesn't drive he cannot earn any money for a while he tried to find a driver to replace him hoping to take a much needed break but any potential candidate ran away at the sight of his truck [Music] [Music] is the dr frankenstein of mechanics he brought this metal creature to life with his bare hands although she runs she's far from perfect this beast quickly runs out of steam and has to stop every half an hour [Music] heated breaks can lead straight to a fall into the ravine so khosam has invented a sort of liquid cooling mechanism his truck is an enormous machine assembled using the parts of several different vehicles [Music] to deliver rice to the indian border less than 60 kilometers away in this humid season this journey is far from easy especially given his vehicle [Music] [Applause] so [Music] the brakes start to heat up so mr activates his homemade liquid cooling [Music] devices [Music] here foreign after six long hours on the road only 20 kilometers has been covered even the mules are moving faster than this although this part of the track is new the drivers have nicknamed it the passage from hell these three kilometers alone have already seen dozens of accidents foreign [Applause] foreign [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] travels with a handyman who jumps into the mud for him his assistant doesn't quite seem to be in the mood to laugh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] day [Music] hey good mood fades quickly with the arrival of the fog after eight hours of exhausting driving his smile has gone he is stressed and apprehensive between his fatigue and the severe lack of visibility it would be crazy to continue the journey [Music] corsam decides to spend the night in this tavern tomorrow with 30 kilometers still to go he has to complete the other half of his journey unfortunately in burma the travel time is always tripled in the mountains all of the villages in molam are doing their best to help this family the grandmother has just arrived to spend time with her ancestors the meat from this bullock will be eaten at the funeral meal the dish will be accompanied with corn and campy's family is in charge of cooking it the young driver could really do without this particular chore because his back is already aching after having spent three hours behind the wheel of his old jeep its shock absorbers are as hard as wood in the next room the villagers have been gathering around the elderly woman's body for three days this act is not linked to her status she was neither wealthy nor particularly noteworthy tradition states that the vigil serves to appease the spirit of the deceased before their journey to the afterlife [Music] truck will serve as the hearse for the grandmother's final journey however this trip will prove much more complicated for the young driver than first planned [Music] ninety percent of the burmese are buddhists only one percent of the population is christian like in this village [Music] the graveyard is only 800 meters away but unfortunately it is at the bottom of a hill the heavens have another plan for campy [Music] while the elderly woman reaches her final resting place this young man is wondering if he'll ever be able to get back out of here [Music] one deflated the tyres sink down and the tread's width increases by a few centimeters just enough for the truck to grip the track a little more unfortunately campi now has another problem [Applause] [Laughter] foreign evidently in burma laughing seems to be the cure for any problem however a helping hand goes a long way an hour later and a friend comes to the rescue [Music] okay [Applause] they've now been struggling for two hours campy realizes that he should have thought about bringing chains earlier the vehicle is no longer sliding around it's digging holes instead and to make matters worse now the chains have broken but once again no one loses hope uh [Music] okay [Music] [Applause] [Music] it is already 11 pm a few other villagers have come to help out in vain and if that wasn't enough these men are starting to struggle almost as much as the worn out jeep they've been slaving away for eight [Applause] hours [Applause] [Music] [Applause] finally some of their prayers are answered just before midnight the family of the deceased woman arrived with some [Music] reinforcements okay re-energized at almost one o'clock in the morning or rather ten hours later their salvation finally arrives [Music] the burmese have learnt the importance of never giving up to understand where this determination comes from we must delve deeper into the country's history [Music] the burmese were subjected to forced labor a regime imposed by the different military dictatorships that used to rule the country for nearly 60 years burma was completely isolated from the rest of the world which hindered and impeded its development there was a complete lack of supplies electricity drinking water and infrastructure in spite of this the country abounds in wealth deep in the land's subsoils oil gas and even precious gems such as rubies and sapphire can be found since 2011 it seems as though a new page has turned for the country the junta has eased off the country's doors are finally open and the economy is slowly improving the burmese hope to finally be free of life's hardships since these times of terror cintin no longer fears death no king solomon [Music] [Music] that he's been spared thanks to the seemingly magical tattoos that adorn his body the shaman who designed them supposedly blended medicinal herbs and the venom of different snakes with the tattooing [Music] after half an hour of invocations the cobra is ready for the kiss of death however this time it's not the snake who will bestow the kiss but rather this young woman sochner and the snake charmer put on the performance together but it is not without risk [Applause] foreign when he isn't practicing his talent at yangon zoo cynthia earns a bit of extra money by performing in the rural villages where these beliefs are still firmly rooted for some the cobra is a valuable animal it allegedly protected buddha from the sun for others it represents an evil god who destroys harvests and makes women sterile legend states that only the purest of girls can break this curse by kissing its head three times in a row [Music] [Music] represents one of these pure women as she dances her movements gradually hypnotize the snake to avoid being bitten she must respect two very important rules never stop dancing and avoid any sudden movements [Music] [Music] the snake is agitated asked his assistant to try to calm it down by giving it a fresh water bath the danger is all too real sinting does not cheat his snake still has all its fangs and is full of venom [Music] um although it is merely a spectacle the inhabitants hope that thanks to the kiss of death the birth rate will significantly increase at the village this year at dawn the fog drifts over the mounted tops mr kosam has not slept well the stress must be getting to him the previous day it took him 10 hours to travel 30 kilometers and he still has to cover the same amount of ground today to get to the indian border [Music] to make things worse all of the drivers he encounters tell him the same story [Music] um [Music] it's not long before the difficulties begin the water holes follow one after the other [Music] [Music] without his assistant the journey would be impossible for less than 10 euros per trip with food and shelter the young man helps him to make up for lost time without him mr kosam would not be able to handle all of his delivery jobs [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] hey gradually this part of the road becomes submerged in water under the weight of the truck the verge could collapse [Music] [Applause] hello [Music] oh in the navy this is not the trap that he was expecting so now he has no other choice but to wait after the events following the funeral campy is back behind the wheel of his taxi he's relying on his chains to compensate for his broken 4x4 transmission these two women are very much aware of the dangers on the track leading into town [Applause] [Applause] it has to be said that this young man makes quite a decent living for himself he earns 200 euros a month while a civil servant only earns 75. with this salary he was able to buy himself this jeep albeit a vehicle in poor condition that struggles to overcome obstacles [Music] foreign but in spite of everything all of the villagers are queueing to travel with him campy plays an important social role in this part of the mountain [Music] you know [Applause] somehow the difficult journey comes to an end the most important thing is that they got there in the town there's no shortage of garages luckily for campy his 4x4 is quite basic so repairing it is like child's play [Music] [Music] the garage is run by young and very bright people they're like kings they're between 7 and 12 years old in 2014 at the time of the last census burma was said to have more than four million working children the irony is that since the country opened its doors to foreigners this figure has been increasing continuously because the new companies are looking for cheap labor [Music] these five children were fortunate enough to have been taken in by this monk warlay helps these disadvantaged young people by giving them shelter in his monastery [Music] he hopes that they will eventually want to continue the vocation dedicating their lives to helping others monks take a vow of poverty and live off the charity of others their meal has been provided by this gentleman before they met worle the children had never left their village and they had almost no hope of ever doing [Applause] so [Music] [Music] foreign their first train experience is not just on any train a ride far better than one found in any theme park it travels on the narrowest and highest viaduct in the country [Music] [Music] this structure was built in 1901 and reaches a height of 100 meters its construction was the main feat of the time foreign this is perhaps one of the most terrifying trains on the planet there is no guard rail so only a few centimeters separate the wheels from the abyss [Music] so [Music] like all buddhists monk worley believes that there is no such thing as chance even if he tries to change their destiny he believes that the fate of these poor children is deserved [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] further on in the mountains mr kosam is asking himself what he could have done in a past life to deserve such a punishment another truck is blocking the way and its driver is nowhere to be found his old vehicle cannot turn sharply enough to get past he only needs 30 centimeters more space which he hopes to achieve by moving the rear with a jack [Applause] right with 15 kilometers still to go before he reaches the border this driver is no longer thinking about the time his only hope is to arrive before dusk and even that seems unlikely [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] foreign mr kosam knows very well that tarmac roads are still a long way away he has several good years of driving left ahead of him the country has more important priorities before even considering repairing these forgotten mountain roads but in spite of this their deplorable state is paralyzing a part of the country's [Music] economy before turning the vehicle over the passengers have to unload all of their merchandise [Music] um oh [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] mr khosam sets off but he's never far away from disaster [Music] [Music] i think [Music] just before nightfall after having spent 48 hours on only a 60 kilometer journey [Music] burma is a developing country slowly democracy is gaining ground although nobody has yet dead to criticize the past 50 years of oppression the junta may have abdicated their power but they are still ever present in the country's political sphere [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: undefined

Views: 242,899

Rating: 4.7617168 out of 5

Keywords: documentary, roads, National Geographic, waterways, travel

Id: 2EbOIN21bqg

Length: 51min 23sec (3083 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 20 2020