The trainride
we took from Mandalay (covered in earlier Posts 1 & 2) to Yangon (or also called Rangun) was a whole experience for itself.
We bought tickets at the train station in Mandalay and booked an own "sleeper room" for about 6$. This room is basically a compartment for two people with bunkbeds and a table. This is what ours looked like while sunset:
very comfy, right?
But first things first:
When we went to our train in the afternoon we didn't know what to expect at all, so we felt like we should get some wine to pass the time of the 12 (!!!) hour and about 620 kilometres trainride to Yangon.
sadly google maps doesn't show train connections on here, but the route pretty much was the same
So at the train station we did our best to find the right train and especially the right compartment we booked for ourselves. That wasn't easy at all.
Being german we are used to ask one of the train officials who shows us the exact direction, but in Myanmar things are a bit different. We walked up and down the train about three times, following directions of nearly everybody until a very nice train steward helped us out and finally led us to the right compartment.
On our way we already saw some great impressions, like the cook preparing meals in the kitchen wagon...
...or the "Pulp Fiction businessman" waiting for the train to take off ;)
So finally we "moved in" for the next 12 hours and it didn't took long until the train departed the Mandalay train station. With around 30 kilometres per hour we were on our way.
My buddy Alex enjoying the window seat and a cold Myanmar Lager beer.
It was very relaxing to see the sourroundings move by and just watch the villages, fields and landscapes from our seat. And like so often we saw people living in very poor conditions and cabins, especially out in the more rural areas.
We drank and talked the whole evening and surprisingly smoking is not forbidden at all in the train. Even the steward came by with a cigarette in his mouth one time. He had a funny impression from us and our plan to drink during the evening. One time he opened the door, yelled PAAAARTYYY and gave us high fives while laughing :D
Yeah that evening went by fast (faster than the train moved^^) and soon we went to our beds, being rocked to sleep by the steady moving train.
The next morning came early.
Way too early.
I got woken up by the sunrise at about 5 am, looked out of the open window and was instantly wide awake. The sun. The fog. The landscape.
I grabbed my camera and started shooting right away, which wasn't so easy with a hangover and a short nights sleep. But this moment was magical.
I saw people walking to work in the deep fog, lighted by the low sun of the newborn day which created such a beautiful atmosphere that made me forget everything around me.
I didn't even notice the steward from yesterdays evening coming into our compatement with fresh coffee and breakfast :) I was so happy to see him when I finally noticed him. I think he was a bit suprised seeing me up so early, bursting out rounds with my camera at the window^^
Alex was waking up aswell, we tipped the guy and sat down at the table and ate breakfast while still looking out of the window the whole time.
And then at 7 am we finally arrived in Yangon.
Walking down the platform next to the train I spotted a monk looking out of the window.
So now here we are. Yangon.
But I'll cover that in another post ;)
Thank you for stopping by!
Cheers,
all photos I post are taken by me with a Canon 6D
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