Train Across Gokteik Viaduct – Scene Outshines Famed Engineering

Reading guidebooks and travel forums, the famous train from Mandalay-Pyin oo Lyin – Hsipaw – Lashio got on our short list of must-do’s within our limited 28-day Myanmar Visa.

You may have paid the equivalent of US$4 for a mile or so taxi ride in a pickup truck to get to the train station. The 8-hour train ride though only costs $1200 kyet, roughly the equivalent of US$1.

When you get to the Pyin Oo Lyin station you join a long chaotic queue for foreigner tickets. (Warning: our hotelier had told us that our seats had already been reserved, which was not true.) The wait time gives you a chance to ponder how miraculous it is that much of anything gets done. Not only are the ticketers not working with computers, but they seem to have several files and pages to reference and then they need to confer again and again with their colleagues to eventually find empty seats and then need to hand write out your ticket details in carbon duplicate.

Like us, you too may be knocking knees on the train with other tourists facing you, usually European. Cameras come out to jockey for best window positions. Some go to the doors between trains for the best views. But most of the “ordinary train” goers are Burmese, not foreign, giving you a chance to see family dynamics, mingle with Buddhist nuns, and perhaps chat up a local with a good command of English.

Though your seats are reserved, it’s likely that someone coming on to the train at a later stop will be inclined to take any empty seat they find. That makes for awkward moments if you are trying to keep reserved seats for your partner and newfound Westerner friends.

What is the family of eight Burmese people thinking as they look at you sitting next to three empty seats while their eightsome is squeezed into four seats across the aisle? One thing you can expect in a situation like this, because you see it almost all over Myanmar, is that with the stares come warm smiles.