Mawlamyine, Burma

The rice paddies

The next morning, after taking the day off, I was chaperoned to the train station where I took a train to the southern most place that foreigners can travel. From Bago to Mawlamyine was about a 13 hour train ride with a very bumpy train. Most of the shocks of the train are shot, mean its like driving on the worst road in a car with no shock absorbers. What is great about this trip is that it goes right along the large mountain range separating Thailand and Burma.  On one side you have high mountains and to the right you can catch a glimpse of the gulf of Martaban. With good conversation partners the trip went by fast. I arrived in town in the late afternoon and started looking for hotels or hostels. There is a great shortage of hotels in the whole of Burma but in this small city I finally felt it. I went to about three places before I found the smallest most cramped room in all of the city, a plank and a fan in a room that smelled of pine resin.  At eight dollars a night I was not complaining since I would only have to stay there one night.  I enjoyed the scenery for the rest of the next day and boarded a train heading back to Yangon around eight in the evening.  Then it was another 15 or 16 hours back to the city.  I arrived mid morning and went straight to the Indian area straight away to secure my housing and meet up with some of the musicians that I have written about before.

Lunch on the train

Betel making stuff

Dosa like foods

Hipsters

A real gentleman

This keeps the power on when the lights go out (happens at least three times a day)

Freedom of expression

Punk

Naba Burma: The train back to Mandalay

 

After my delay along the Irrawaddy I had to high tail it back to Mandalay.  I must have done something right because I was able to catch the most sketchy bus of my life and travel directly west from Kata to Naba which is where the train connection is.  So with no shower and a clean shave and a big bottle of talcum powder I waited with everyone else.  On other lines of the Burmese rail system there are options about which carriages to travel on.  This line is about maximizing the amount of cargo people and otherwise that can be hauled from the North to Mandalay.  I expected the train to take 24 hours but again along this trip there was a delay and at 4:30 am we stopped and had to wait for a new engine to take us.  This meant another I don't know how many hours.  Build in lots of time for travel around the country because somethings are accessible and others trying at times.  The one regret that I have is that I did not take a picture of the carriage when it was really full.  Full with people, and their belongings, not belongings in the western sense but products to sell at the market.  Leaves used for religious ceremonies which I can't believe sold for much when they arrived crushed by the countless bodies because they were sitting in the aisle as well as the lady.  It was a very uncomfortable and very hot ride.  Thankfully there was a sense of comradery and people shared food, water and pillows.  In the late afternoon we arrived back in Mandalay after about 36 hours.