Favorite Places

Transportation in Myanmar isn't easy. That being said, we decided to break up our trip from Yangon to Inle Lake with a stopover in Taungoo, thereby avoiding a 10+ hour bus ride to Thazi followed by a 10+ hour train ride to Shwenyaung. After spending a lovely night at the Myanmar Beauty Guesthouse II, we discovered that the train is by far the better way to get to Thazi, the bus being too many stops and changes. Our guesthouse found motorcycles to take us to the train. However, when we arrived at the Taungoo train station with plenty of time to spare, there were no Primary, First Class or Second Class seats available and had to convince the station master to allow us to ride "Ordinary Class" - an adventure we will never forget. For over six hours we sat on hard wooden seats with nowhere to place our feet due to baskets, things wrapped up in mats, bags full of stuff and a few live animals thrown in for good measure. The noise level was insane with people climbing over those sitting in the aisles selling everything from corn on the cob, weird solid and liquids in expanded plastic bags to candy, beer and sodas announcing in (very) loud voices what they were selling and for how much. Lots of items changed hands with the usual inspection of the item being purchased and a bit of haggling over the price! There were 8 of us seated facing each other in seats meant for two on each side and I could tell I wasn't welcomed. (I later found that this is because they made people leave their seats to give space to the tourist - not cool!) My apologetic smiles finally softened the angry woman across from me and we endured the trip together. My friends, who were seated in the next group of seats, had instruments of friendship that solidified relationships with their train buddies and helped us, ultimately, to find a place to stay in Thazi. The "instruments" were - a map and a Leatherman multi-tool! They were a hit and something not often seen by the people on this train. We spent one night in Thazi and then took the scenic mountain tourist train to Shwenyaung near Inle Lake. The scenery was, indeed, beautiful but the train seemed empty without the hustle and bustle of the previous day. Of all the amazing scenery, incredible ruins and genuinely friendly and kind people we met in Myanmar, the bizarre, loud, chaotic ordinary train ride from Taungoo to Thazi will be the "thing" we talk about ten years from now - with big smiles on our faces!