I arrived in Thazi by train to sleep and get another train ride in Myanmar the next day to Bago. I feel like there is no other tourist doing this… I have seen none. I stayed at the hotel closest to the train station, a 5 min walk, and that’s all I did in Thazi.
On the next day early morning I go to the train station to buy a ticket to Bago. This is my second day spent on a train. This train ride will also last around 10h and I spent another day inside the train. To mention that I was always prepared in advance for this train ride in Myanmar with food for my lunch. I know there are sellers on the train but I’m not so brave to try eating what they have to offer. The only things I bought on this train ride in Myanmar is drinks and fruits. Very tasty fruits!
The landscape from Thazi to Bago is totally different than the one from Inle Lake to Thazi. The groud is very plain and you get this green view the full time. Again, every train stop is a market. I liked the train ride from Inle to Thazi the most. I was in the upper class too on this one and the sits were the same comfortable, the problem is that on this train the windows are closed. That wouldn’t be a problem if you could still see the outside, but you actually can’t. The window is so old and dirty that you can see nothing through it. But, you can open the top of the window which means that you must seat on the arm of your seat to reach a viewpoint. That wasn’t very comfortable, but all the other Burmese travelers were also doing it. Cause that is one of the coolest things of train rides in Myanmar, the view.
This train is going much faster than the other one. It reaches 60-70km/h. This fact turns this trains the most bouncing and swinging train ever. I was laughing every time it starts to shake like there is no tomorrow. It is so much fun. My backpack was falling off the luggage place on the top due to the train bounces. This train is just like a roller coaster. I LOVE IT! Going to the toilet in this trains is such a challenge haha
I had a bag with some food on the floor next to my feet when all the sudden I look at it and there is a small mouse smelling it. I’m like: OMG, there is a mouse in the train!!! But actually, there isn’t just one mouse in the train. I saw his other fellows coming to meet him and sniffing my bag too. I immediately took it off the ground and placed it on the upper part in the hope to get rid of the intruders. Well, they weren’t around my stuff but I still could see them running around the train. Ok, I cannot be staring to these mice for hours so I need to let go of the idea that they are all around and appreciate this ride and after all, I loved and would repeat a hundred times. I am the only foreigner on that train ride in Myanmar and that makes me feel special.
Another unusual fact about this train ride in Myanmar is that there are no traffic lights. That means that every time we cross a road there is a man in the middle of nothing with a green flag up on this hand. I wasn’t expecting to see such a thing…
When I arrive in Bago it’s already totally dark. I do the same as in Thazi and look for the closest hotel to the train station. Also a 5min walk. While I’m on my way to the hotel, there is a Burmese old guy approaching asking if I’m going to the hotel where I’m from and keeping a conversation while following me to the Hotel. I don’t understand who is this guy cause he acts like he belongs to the hotel and even takes my backpack to my room. Meanwhile, he was asking me what I’ll be doing tomorrow. Now I see he is a guide trying to get a client. I never explore the cities with a travel guide as I like to do things on my own, but before leaving he asks me: tomorrow at 8 AM? I say yes to make him go away. On this night there was a light blackout in all the town, I realized it after a few minutes trying to figure out how am I without light in my room.
This Hotel is really big and I’m the only guest it has. I will have to explore the city on my own tomorrow as there are no other guests there. But, the following day I wasn’t expecting what has happened.
