Adventure tour through a tropical city

We had heard it from friends and read it in some blogs: Rail travel in Myanmar is nowhere near as comfortable as in Thailand and even more exotic than in Vietnam. You need a lot of time and seat meat. But it is incredibly cheap by our standards. The trains are not on time, but uncomfortable. What you see and experience is so fascinating and moving that you quickly become a repeat offender.

From our hotel in Little India we walked the almost 2 kilometers to Yangon Central Station and wanted to get in the mood for the Burmese railway system first with the circular train. While we crossed the length of the impressive steel structure of the waiting hall, we were asked by several helpful people where we were going. So we learned that you have to buy the tickets for the suburban train on platform 6 directly.

So we went over a long bridge over the tracks over there. As soon as I took the last step down onto the platform, a girl jumps up to me and asks “Circular train? You want tickets?”. I say “yes” and she says “follow me”. She takes me to an ordinary platform kiosk, where you can buy drinks, not very tempting looking sandwiches – and tickets. We learn that a construction site is preventing the Circular Train from circling the city. You can only go either east or west.
We do that then. And get impressions that we won’t forget.

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