See, I was in total working mode before we left for Yangon and so I left the planning to my travel buddies without knowing exactly what we are doing or visiting in Yangon. And then on the 2nd day, I found out that we are supposed to take a train to the country side of Yangon on that day. It only cost USD1 for that 3 hours circular train ride and we can hop on and hop off. "You're kidding, right?" was my response. I wasn't even sure that their information was right until I reach the train station.
Of course the signage pasted all over the train station has such a nerve-calming effect on me because so far there aren't a lot of Burmese who can speak English. We might take a train that brings us to Timbuktu for all I know. Anyway, as we walked to the ticket counter, the guy were shouting 'foreigner, foreigner' and then another guy ushered us past the ticket counter straight into the station. So far, pretty impressed. There was a sort of booth with the above signage by the railway track and the guy warmly welcome us and issue us a 'receipt' of USD5 for 5 persons and assured us that yes, we can hop on and hop off the whole day. Of course we later found out that locals only pay 10kyats per ticket while USD1 is equivalent to 1000kyats. No kidding.
We asked for a map of the station where we can hop on and hop off. He showed us the one and only hand written map that he had. So yup, so we took a picture with our iPhone. I guess USD1 can't include a printed map/guide.
The rest of the train journey was a blur to me. We and 3 other foreigners (2 Caucasians, 1 Japanese) are the only brave ones to have taken this off the beaten railway-track route. So, just enjoy the photos that I have the opportunity to take while struggling to cramp in the coach along with bicycle, vegetables and live chickens.
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| Yeah, we are boarding this LV train, haha |
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| The braves or the sillies, your take |
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| Dangerous trails |
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| Vendors by the station |
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| Strong headed |
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| Paddy field or was it vegetables? |
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| My fellow brave hearts |
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| The 'other' passengers has arrives! |
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| View of our starting to filled up coach |
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| The market station, sorry, I forgot what's the Burmese station name |
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| By now, both my legs are on the seat. |
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| About 1 kilometre long of junk yard full of cars, a few tiers high. |
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| So the cab we took in Yangon is not old enough to qualify being thrown here ... wow |
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| A very dirty little boy helping his mother to lug the gunny sack into the train. |
So after 2 hours, we decided to stop in Kyat Kone station to see the white elephant (which by the way is far from white, not even greyish white), we decided to take a cab home.
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| Ya, pay the money, blast the air-cond please, please, I beg you. |
