Skateboarding
Skate the Dense and Dusty City of Mandalay
Haslam and crew turn heads in the famed Myanmar city before hitting the local roller disco.
8 min
Skate Myanmar: The Golden Skate Odyssey pt. 3
Our Myanmar trip featuring Haslam, Poole, Garson, Rogalski and Debauche roadblocks the famed city!
The third leg of our adventure through the hidden skate lands of Myanmar sees Chris Haslam, George Poole, Matt Débauché, Max Garson, Korahn Gayle and Patrick Rogalski descend upon Mandalay for what proved to be some of the most heated sessions of the entire trip. The municipal parks of the dense city delivered.
No visit to Mandalay could be complete without a trip to Champion Skate Land, the rubber-floored and more than slightly bizarre roller disco track you may remember from 411VM Issue 62 from way back in 2004. That's, like, before iPhones, so if you don't remember, we understand.
As if the rubber floors weren't tricky enough, the lipless transitions offered up plenty of novelty challenges in a way that the often sketchy streets did not. But hey, who can resist a disco?
Korahn Gayle - Switch Heelflip
© Kevin Metallier
Flower market in Mandalay
© Kevin Metallier
George Poole - Frontside boneless
© Kevin Metallier
Myanmar countryside
© Kevin Metallier
So, dive into the edit above to round out this episode and, for that matter, this series itself. You'll find one last fascinating snapshot of life in Myanmar as seen by English ex-pat skater and former Harmony Skateboards head honcho Ali Drummond. He's the man behind "Altered Focus: Burma," a pioneering documentary about the skate scene here.
