The experience was both unique and strangely pleasant. It seemed to take ages for the train to leave Yangon behind the spread of the city spread along the train line. A group of boys were playing a game on the secondary tracks, a curious blend of soccer and volleyball in the afternoon sun.The sunset over an industrial vision and the buildings fell away and we were rocking through a rural landscape of bamboo huts, agricultural land plowed and bullock carts , passing a number of massive low-tech brick plants.We all moved to the adjacent carriage, restaurant car, and were huddled around a table drinking beer as the train rattled through the countryside darkening.
It was a challenge to negotiate the rolling, bouncing cars to move along the train to the bathroom, especially with a couple of beers in me. It was like being on a boat on rough seas. About ten o'clock in the evening the restaurant car had emptied significantly and those who remained began to rearrange the seats to form beds , I took the hint leaving Chris and Mike in deep conversation. Climb military dozing on chairs near the door , I was soon back in our compartment, back on my top bunk, Karen and Robert already asleep on opposite berths. The violent irregular motion of the train took some getting used to sleep and did not find me. Chris snuck three hours later, revealing the next morning the guys in the dining car had joined after I left, especially the young men who worked on the train as attendants, and a moment of intoxication was had by all. I must have slept for finished good few hours and I got some remodeling around six. The light was beautiful, morning sun reflecting in flooded rice fields. I spotted a small ruined temple , very reminiscent of Angkor and wrapped in foliage, it increased the plain among some tall palm trees. Everyone went to the dining car for breakfast, but I stayed in the quiet bay to enjoy the peace, light and the landscape through beyond the open window.
Lulu looked at her friend / sister in disgust, in a way they ARE -kidding. Karen encouraged them to take, to do what they wanted with them. The girls looked at each other again - contained probably they could sell oranges on to someone else -. Then tore Karen's hands and walked off on the carriageThere was an interesting act Lulu and his friends had obviously had a lot of interaction with tourists , they knew what we wanted, what we asked for and what we might need, and it was not beyond their pride wait gifts . By their attitude toward oranges, they got in general too. The train left at 17:20, an hour and twenty minutes later than expected and we soon discovered why the guide had described the form as uncomfortable. the whole train violently swung and bounced along the rails as no train, I had never been on. spaciously wide trolleys are designed for wider tracks than the narrower gauge they run on the tracks and did not feel quite as smooth either.
The Myanmar rail experience -
More than most other forms of transport, the train immerses the traveler in the countries it crosses. a slow train can be a window into people's lives and an expression of the way the country works.rail network Myanmar is all this and more. Myanmar railway experience starts at the station, reserving tickets. We requested information to our guest house if they could book tickets, but recommended to stay at the resort.Arriving at the box office kind of see why, the ticketing system is entirely manual, carbon copy paper reams and books on the great books. Not a computer to . We took a taxi to the ticket on our first morning in Yangon, he took us to a window at the back (?) From the main railway station, perhaps because the parking was easier. It looked more like a shop selling auction desk Notes but there was a long teller. Few were open and there was a lack of customers.All signs, and there were many, were in the Burmese script disconcerting. Fortunately, our taxi driver had accompanied us to the counter and asked where we should be.we were directed to a small bank counters to the left. Here there was a board prices with destinations and ticket prices for the listed English foreigners the cost of overnight sleeper in Bagan was reduced from $ 50 to $ 40 and it was from good news! The man who sold our tickets spoke enough English to explain our ticket, he had a very strange accent, unlike anything we had heard, he was chewing betel and odd-sounding words fell from her red mouth -stained showing him his handwritten details.We left the ticket office with two tickets for the night train the next day to Bagan.
I really wanted to take the train, it sounded like a unique experience Burmese and taking the train is something "I do". The Man in Seat61 - first stop site for travel planning - more confirmed; for being a geek like me, it was a must The problem is that it is a service managed by the government , every dollar spent on the ticket goes to the government !. It was another dilemma, the NLD wants the tourist to choose independent service, not to support the government (see previous post).In this case, I would take a bus, or pay a driver. He was a selfish decision, I chose the train. We were not tourists pack shipped escorted round of a public service to another, we were independent travelers who interact with the ordinary people of Burma on a daily basis and taking the Train this interaction is something I very much hope would happen.
After our morning walk around town I met an English guy back to the guest house, hearing the talk by train, I showed him our tickets and talked to him through the process. Mike was eager to experience the train too and had been down to the station to a different ticket office by all accounts, and booked himself on the same train.
three of us took a taxi to the station Yangon and found some empty seats in the huge covered space between the brick and the station fenced-off runs. This "waiting room" was busy with locals and we settled among them.Chris recognized a couple who had been on our flight from Bangkok and when the train did not appear at the scheduled time, we got chatting. It turned out Karen and Robert would be our cabin mates for the trip. A small group of Burmese girls teen sitting in front of us seemed rather puzzled by our conversations peering over the back seat us wide-eyed. When we talked to them but they have become very very shy sudden narrowing behind the seats and laugh, he was cute.A train pulled into the station and the waiting room came to life, but it was not our train: it was the train Mandalay run more one hour late. I read the trains could be terribly unreliable and prone to long delays, we learned that from the get-go, or not-get-go as it was turning out. to 17 hours we were told over the tannoy (in Burmese) that the platform has changed, we confirmed it by an employee of the station, and all feet warm room, waiting there on the deck of the platform 3. Yangon to Bagan train pulled in ten minutes , we only had time to buy fruit off the platform providers before finding the sleeper car.
Our compartment was huge! so spacious, with four bunks, a wardrobe, two windows and a fan overload. The beds were also quite wide. We settled, Mike was in the next compartment with some Burmese passengers.While the train was still standing on the platform we were accosted, in a friendly way, by two girls confident sell us bottles of water, fruit and beer, wondering what they could do something we (apparently) when we refused something.
Lulu , the eldest of two daughters, was particularly clever, she knew how it all worked, we will eventually buy something from her.We bought some water, she disappeared and came back with some fans Wicker, a bargain for 20p. Mike also bought water to discover the plastic seal was missing and they were filled We arrived and they had the bar an air ok, Lulu just shrugged. hey, that's how it goes!The girls strolled in the door of our compartment, they were obviously waiting for a gift or something. We decided it was not something that should be encouraged, especially since we bought things from her. Robert had bought a lot of fruit on the platform, including a bag of large oranges to Karen offered them a couple.
One of the young officers came in, asking if I needed anything. I did not and he struggled, noticing my open cake package.He was one of the guys drink with Chris and Mike and seemed much more confident now. He stressed the cake "Now? A gift for me?". I did not open, intend it to be my breakfast. I promised, if he returned later, he could have what I have not finished. That seemed to satisfy him.There were grapes on the cabinet through the windows, he used, watching the bay. He wanted to see my Kindle, which I had read when he breezed in. I handed over to establish quickly that there was not what he expected.I guess many of his usual tourists iPads these days as he patted the matte screen.
Our basic old Kindle was not the bright, color display, touch screen wonder he hoped! He returned very disappointed with a thing-the-point expression on his face, I was very amused.Our new friend became a regular visitor at bay, and as we neared it Bagan raises its request for a gift. now, he wanted "current money" .Chris revealed had already been a "money now" when they had been drinking the night before. As not to encourage begging!Throughout the morning, the train slowed for junctions and rural stations where women and children were waiting waving at the train station. We agitons back, blissfully think that the people were friendly.Then we realized the sad fact is that they begged.
Begging for food. The lowest train passengers were throwing fruit and other products that was scrapped over by staggering.The train pulled into the Bagan station just after 14 hours, after nineteen hours of travel on the rocking train our legs were somewhat unstable we wobbled out of the car with our bags . later, we met the other travel the guest house in Yangon, most had arrived on buses, especially comfortable business mundane air while a couple had deviated somewhere else on the road and bus trip was rather uncomfortable. I'm glad we took the train, it was a unique and eye-opening experience and I could not wait to get another!
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