PART III:  Yangon Circle Train

I stayed in Rangoon (for some reason I just like the sound of the old name) longer than expected.   Motherland 2 could only offer me a room for one night; they were booked up.  This turned out to be good thing as I really did not care for the place.  It is very popular (getting listed in Lonely Planet will generally do that for a business).  It was also really touristy and the internet was extra and slow (slow, I would discover is endemic to Myanmar).  However, the worst was the location.  To walk to anywhere in town required a minimum of 30 minutes and the afternoon temperatures averaged 105° F.  Glad I came in the cool dry season!  I understand summer temperatures in Yangon frequently top 115° F (46°C).  Needless to say, even a simple walk to a temple required considerable planning (what to take, where to go from there, et cetera) and I do like to be a bit more spontaneous. As usual, things worked out well.  I met Australian journalist and travel blogger Michael Turtle online who happened to be in Yangon staying at the Whitehouse (yep, that’s really the name).  We met up for a beer and got acquainted.  The following morning I moved my stuff to the Whitehouse where I stayed three additional nights.  They only had one room available.  It was a three room ‘suite’ by the rooftop and they gave me a decent single price. The Whitehouse gets my recommendation.  It is nothing fancy, catering mostly to backpackers.  It is four blocks from Sule Paya (the pagoda located in the middle of the central traffic circle) and in the midst of all the hustle, bustle, and yes, great street food of Yangon.  On the minus side I had to walk up eight flights of stairs but actually that was a plus as I needed the exercise after so much flying and sleeping.  Wifi is free (and yes it too is slow).  But the clincher is their free breakfast buffet which is beyond awesome.  At least 15 Burmese and Western items are served (all you can eat) and they bring you a homemade piping-hot banana panini to start it off. During our first breakfast Michael and I decide to take the Circle Train, a three hour train ride that circumnavigates the greater Yangon area.  Another couple from Austin joined us.

Gives new meaning to the “hot seat.”

The train is great.  We are placed in a car with a couple of tourist police and we get very friendly with them.  The first part of ride is looking at the backside of some rather shabby buildings.  But it is really about the ride and the people.  More people get on.  We get into some rural area out of town.  Rice and vegetable fields.  People get on with huge bags of produce, dried fish, etc.  I am guessing that they are taking them into town to sell.  The center aisle piles up with sacks.  We are  joking and laughing nonstop with the police on board.  Even though we don’t speak each others language, much communication is taking place, often with sign language.  They don’t carry guns.  Their utility belts are hanging from the rafters.  One has a rather wicked looking knife in it and of course handcuffs.  We get a demonstration of how to quickly handcuff someone.  He pulls out a slingshot and demonstrates how he stops someone who is fleeing by taking a pellet and shooting it across the train into a wall above a women’s head.  We are all laughing hysterically, including the woman.

There are many opportunities to buy food on the Circle Train

Anyone want to buy some fish?

  At one point we pass about a half mile stretch of junked cars piled very high.  It is my understanding that until just a few years ago, only a few wealthy elite could buy automobiles.   So where did these thousands of autos come from?     A bit later at one of the stops a women with a baby hands our favorite tourist policeman some food through the window.  With sign language I ask if this is his wife.  Yes.  I tell him his baby is beautiful, she is.  More people are boarding and preparing and selling food.  He offers me a bowl of rice with some stir-fried cauliflower.  I accept and begin to devour it as I am getting quite hungry by now.  Every few minutes he puts some more veggies on top of my rice.  Then he adds some pieces of fish.  I am sitting in half lotus on the bench really appreciating the food and the company even more.  We are all having an amazing time.  Three hours goes by really quickly and soon we are getting off the train.

Loading bags of farm goods through the window into our train car.

One of many farm shacks we passed.

Tourist police captain (the one in the undershirt) demonstrates his double handcuffing technique.

After returning to the Whitehouse and grabbing a quick shower, I walk briskly to Shwedagon Paya to catch the sunset.  All in all a very full day in Yangon.    More circle train photosTweet