The Burma Road with David Kulka

David Kulka bought a one way ticket to New Delhi in 1981. As a naive young backpacker, his India experience began at the hottest time of the year in one of Delhi’s many half star hotels. After two days of culture shock he started learning how to get by, and in the end traveled the subcontinent for six months. Thus began a lifelong love affair with Asia, and annual 3-4 month return trips to increasingly remote and challenging destinations.

His favorite countries there have been Nepal, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and of course…Burma. In 1996, during a brief time when the country was relatively open, David noticed that his Burmese visa application had a new section entitled “Overland travel from China.” Those words inspired him to begin planning a journey he had long dreamed of, traveling the length of Burma Road.

The trip was full of surprises — often comical, sometimes sad, but always engaging. David traveled the Burma Road backwards, heading west from Kunming, China. The series of road trips involved 35,000 feet of climbing and 39,000 feet of descents against the grain of the lower Himalayas, and across the Mekong and Salween rivers. Along the way he searched for Communists in a city park, learned that traffic accidents in China are sometimes accompanied by singing and fireworks, observed tribal musicians and dancers in Dali, narrowly avoided an earthquake in Lijiang, detoured to an ancient bridge on the Mekong, had his brain softened by all day propaganda programs featuring the music of Kenny G, became one of the few western travelers to cross the land frontier into Burma, traveled by train over the “forbidden” Gokteik Viaduct (the largest railway trestle in the world when it was built in 1901), and learned how to wear a Burmese sarong.

David’s a California native. He and his wife have a home in Burbank, but live in Chiang Mai, Thailand most of the year. David has operated Studio Electronics, a pro audio service company, since 1981. Though his business activities are winding down these days, the company is known globally and has served clients like Michael Jackson, Capital Records, Lenny Kravitz, songwriter Diane Warren, KCET Television, Bruce Willis, The Ahmanson Center, and many other famous names.