Day 5 - The Circular Train

We needed to figure out how we were going to get to Bagan.  As soon as we moved to our new hotel, we set out for the train station.  Jay had read that the bus companies' sell tickets near it.  Surely enough, we found a number across from the front side of the enormous station.  I don't know the building's construction date but it was from the era when energies went into grand transportation hubs that resemble cathedrals.  We were stuck as to whether to take an 8 am bus or a night bus leaving at 6 pm.  For the morning one, we'd miss the scenery but would need to get up at 5 o'clock as the station is an hour outside of town.  We selected to go tomorrow evening.  At least, we'll save the expense of one night in a hotel.

After buying our tickets, it was about a quarter to noon.  We crossed back to the station and purchased tickets to the 3-hour "circle train" we'd read about.  It is a local route for commuters.  It is very cheap for locals but takes the stated time to loop a short 40 something kilometers.  We, as tourists, paid eight times the fare of a local; we paid exactly one dollar!  One surely does get a slap in the face on how many near the former capital must live.  This is probably the poorest country we've ever visited and it showed in the way that many people have to live.  I kept thinking how much of life is simply an accident of birth.  Cleanliness in theory doesn't have to correlate with wealth, but on the ground, it seems to work out that way.  I felt a little depressed but the folks we witnessed weren't.  In fact there was a whole lot more laughter and smiling faces on this train than I'd see in a hundred trips doing to downtown Vancouver on the Skytrain.  So, who is to judge?

It was nearly 3:00 pm by the time we go back to the Yangon Station, so we went back to the hotel to rest.  Just being close to the center area of this city is fun. So much happens on the sidewalks and the streets!  After dark, the lights make it even more fascinating.  Finding a place to eat dinner was an adventure in its own right.

We won't be rushed tomorrow as we won't need to take a taxi to the bus station until 3:30 pm or so.