TIME STAMPS: 3:54 - Train Arrives at Yangon Station; 6:48 - Boarding My Carriage; 12:57 - Train Departs Yangon Station; 16:22 - Story of Girls Selling Water; 23:06 - Story of Buying My Train Ticket; 29:07 - Train Picks Up Speed in the Countryside; 31:38 - Views of Houses Along the Train Tracks; 33:50 - My Bed in the Train as Night Falls; 16:02 - Next Morning on the Train; 49:37 - Pondering My Guest House Location in Bagan; 54:10 - Pulling in to the Bagan Train Station; 54:44 - Short Tour of My Guest House Room and Goodbye.
It wasn't really a mistake. 🙂 At the time, when I was looking out the window, I didn't realize that that was a train station. I just saw a large group of people standing there near the train tracks, and I wondered what they were doing. A few seconds later, though, I realized it was a train station, and they were just waiting for their train - probably the Circular Train that goes around Yangoon. But I left my comment in the video anyway.
When I was in Burma about 10 years ago I knew that the most convenient and obvious way to get there was to fly and it wasn’t expensive, at that time the roads were very bad and no way would I suffer this train ride!
@@PlanetDoug Looked like Pagoda Road, the first stop on the Circular Railway. I also went in 2019 and at rush hour there always seemed to be a crowd of workers waiting at the same point and the buildings all looked the same as I remembered from my very short trip I did between Yangon Central and Pagoda Road on my trip!
I took the Yangon-Bagan overnight train in 2016 - and boy, your storytelling sure made it come back alive! Spot on with the rattling and banging. Fun fact - i got locked in for 26 hours, our train hit a landslide somewhere in the middle for 8 hours.
Thank you. With 20 hours of time, it made sense to turn to the camera and tell a story. I wish I had filmed my ticket-buying experience, but at least I got to tell the story. 🙂
Oh my heart - the pang of nostalgia for the old soul of Malaysia. The clickty clack and the swaying of the train left and right bring back all the fond the memories of my youth when i first venturing out from rural Malaysia to the big city of Kuala Lumpur 30 years ago. The humming of the ceilling fan, the not so clean train lavatory, the peddlers with their nasi lemak, kueh and cakes, tea in plastic bags and the faces of the youth full joy and hopes going to Kuala Lumpur -some will work with factories of the new industrilized Malaysia , some will goto the universities and training colleges. It will take about 8 hours from my small home town to KL but the 8 hours marked the first phase of my adult life. Thank you for this wonderful video and safe journey.
You captured the atmosphere of train travel from that era perfectly. I didn't have any opportunities for traveling by train in my early childhood, but I started taking the train regularly once I went to university and traveled from there and back to my hometown a lot. In Canada, we didn't have anything like train travel in Asia. There were no hawkers selling drinks and snacks from window to window and car to car. I had to go to the dining car to get my coffee to bring back to my seat. But I loved every minute of every trip. The clickety clack of the train tracks and the views outside the window were the best parts. Of course, the ride was a lot smoother than my experience on this train from Yangon to Bagan. Even if I could get a coffee on this train, there is no possibility of drinking it. The ride was too rough. The coffee would have ended up in my lap and all over the floor in one second. I could barely get up out of my seat much of the time.
I'm burmese but I always feel ashamed to see some people forcing people to buy stuffs or forcing to get tips....I really hope that will stop soon in near future
I realized that later on. I guess that it took 25 years to get their application finally approved. The funny thing is that I went to the museum in Bagan on that day, and I talked for two or three minutes about how Bagan was NOT a World Heritage Site and how strange that was. Yet, on that very day, their application was finally approved by UNESCO.
Even us as a local we have never taken a train coz we already know the train services are poor .Anyway thanks for sharing your experiences.We are also hoping train services to be improved in future.
Yes, I've heard a lot about the plans to upgrade the railway system in Myanmar. For a visiting tourist like me, however, the rough and ready quality of these old trains is very attractive. It's part of the adventure of the trip, if you know what I mean. So I didn't mind at all that the service level was low. It was actually non-existent when you think about it, since I never even saw a single staff member of the railway. It was just me in my private empty car for 20 hours. It was actually a lot of fun, and I have good memories of that ride even if it was a bit bumpy and strange. 😃
An adventure you will not forget. Missed seeing the NPT station. Monsoon season does not hit that area to the same degree as in Yangon....1/3 of the rain. I just left there to return to Canada. Thank you for sharing.
By NPT, do you mean Naypyidaw? Do you know if this set of tracks even goes through Naypyidaw? I thought it followed a route to the west of Naypyidaw. I could be wrong, though. I tried to figure out what towns the train went through, but I didn't have much luck. I don't remember it going through any towns or cities of any large size, though. They were all quite small places.
That's interesting. Beer certainly seems to be a big part of this train ride. I'd read a little bit about this train beforehand, and it's standard for these women to sell beer to the foreigners that ride it. I just watched another video from foreigners riding this train, and they paid 4,000 kyat for a large can of beer. They were joking about it being the "foreigner price". 🙂🙂
It was definitely interesting, and I actually enjoyed it quite a bit despite the strangeness of being so isolated in there. As I said in the video, I don't think I could have endured such a long trip sitting on a hard bench. That would have been too much. But now that I know what the sleeper cars on the train are like, I'd do it again.
It was probably the strangest train ride I've ever been on. With my total lack of contact with other passengers or railway employees, it felt like a ghost train. And the extreme roughness made it feel like an old wooden roller coaster. But I would do it again. In fact, after that trip, I wondered if I should take an entire month and do nothing but travel around Myanmar by train. It would be interesting.
The Cycling Canadian The rough train ride together with human isolation sounded like pure solitude and it was also very interesting. A greater consciousness could perhaps arise within your body and mind and I am sure you could do it again and again.
It's funny you should say that. The rhythmic thumping of the train was practically hypnotic. A few times, I found myself dancing around the train car to the drum beat.
Well, I wouldn't call it a nightmare. That might be a bit strong. 🙂 It was more a dreamlike experience - a bit odd and surreal. I guess there was some physical hardship with the constant bouncing up and down and shaking from side to side, but I kind of knew about that beforehand. Given a choice, I'd take the train again. And I did have a very good time in Bagan. I loved the temples and pagodas, but maybe I loved the fun of riding around on my rented e-bike even more. 🙂
@@PlanetDoug Ah... but the cockroaches, mosquitoes and other creepy crawlies in the darkness; shut doors and no windows no light? You're a greater than a Spartan.
Congrats on completing 20 hrs train ride! Your vlog are authentic, I felt connected through nearly 1 hr long vlog. Hope you have great in Bagan which, by the way, just inscribed in world heritage today.
Yes, I heard about that. From what I understand, they first applied for World Heritage Site status 25 years ago. And their application was finally approved by UNESCO on July 6 (2019). It's now the second World Heritage Site in Myanmar.
Wow a very long 20 hours train trip from Yangon to Bagan. I love train trip in Southeast Asia and Europe. Love your channel. New friend here. Hope you have a great day my friend.
If I was stuck in that train prison for more than 24hours, I would have gone beserk... lol! Thanks for sharing your epic journey Doug as always. Take care of yourself buddy!
Luckily, my prison sentence lasted just 20 hours. But, to be honest, I didn't mind being by myself for that long. It was weird, but not unpleasant. The only thing is that I wish I knew what it was like beforehand, and I wish I knew for sure that I had the whole car to myself. As it was, I could never really relax and just enjoy my private prison. I kept wondering if at the next stop, a half dozen people would suddenly pour in. And I guess I was lucky that the drinks woman went into the utility room and opened the fuse box and flipped up the fuses to turn on the lights and the fan. I imagine that I'd eventually have figured out how to do that, but who knows? I can imagine someone taking that train and sitting in the dark and the heat the entire time because they didn't know about fuses and fuse boxes.
@@PlanetDoug - yeah I was concerned too after the train left Yangon but luckily you were not disturbed. As for myself, I would prefer to be able to move around and more importantly, chill out for a coffee or drinks at the dining area or cafe. Did you know if they even serve food during the journey? Also I think you were meant to sleep on the top bunk buddy.
@@WanderEats I've heard from people since then that staff from Myanmar Railways usually come to your car before it leaves, and you can pre-order dinner and breakfast. And then they bring it to your car. But no one ever came to my car. before or during my trip. In any event, I have no idea how that would even work. How could they even bring the meals to your car since there was no door into it from the other cars? The only way they could do it would be to wait until we stopped for two minutes at these small stations and then suddenly run down the platform from the dining car to my car and then run back again. That would work, but they'd have to time it precisely, and it would look pretty funny. 🙂
Thank you for sharing your experience. Very informative 👍🏾 I just got back from Yangon myself a few weeks ago but didn’t have time to go Bagan. Fell in love with Myanmar and will definitely go to Bagan next. Your video was surely helpful! Very hilarious start 😂 of the train adventure. Thanks again for sharing!
You're welcome. I'm glad you enjoyed the videos. I also missed out on quite a few places in Myanmar, and I'm planning to go back in a couple of weeks for perhaps a whirlwind tour of many more spots around the country. I'm sure you'll enjoy Bagan when you go back. It is so laid back and enjoyable and yet impressive at the same time. And for a place of such historic importance, it is so accessible. It doesn't feel remote and removed. You can move around among the temples and stupas and feel right at home.
Hi Doug, that must be the strangest train ride! I've never seen a totally isolated cabin. The only upside is that you got total privacy and that's about it. Good thing you brought some food with you otherwise you'll be starving! This video reminds me never to take a train for long journeys in Myanmar.
I'd never seen a train car like that before, either. When I bought my ticket, I just assumed that I would be able to walk up and down the entire length of the train and visit other cars and go to the dining car, etc. But I was trapped in my little train prison the entire time. It was easily the strangest train trip I'd been on in my life. But I still enjoyed it. I would do it again in a heartbeat. It was odd but fun. 🙂
Thanks for sharing info that I am looking for. I did a train ride from Hsipaw,northen shan state to Pyin Oo Lwin in Dec 2018, first class seater cost MMK 1800 ( USD 1.3) per seat. Journey took 8 hrs and very beautiful sceneries along the way The most unforgettable memo is passing Gokehteik Viaduct!!
I've heard a lot about that train ride. I'm making plans to take that train myself - perhaps starting in Mandalay and then heading north up to Pyin Oo Lwin and then on to Hsipaw and perhaps Lashio. I don't know much about it yet. I just started doing some reading about it. Any other tips for riding the train in that area? So, you started in Hsipaw and then headed south. How did you get to Hsipaw to start the journey there? Had you gone up there by bus beforehand?
@@PlanetDoug I have rented a car to Hsipaw from Mandalay around 9am. stopped at Pyin Oo Lwin for lunch break. Arrived Hsipaw around 5pm. I think Pyin Oo Lwin is a good starting point. I choose different transportation modes not to repeat same route. Some travellers like to hop off at Naung Cho, take the bus to Inle Lake.
Reminded me of my 16 hour journey from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. Uncomfortable basic wooden benches. But I'll always treasure that trip when we rattled in the night through the wild countryside. It's great to travel through and to unknown places where everything is an experience to cherish later on.
I really enjoyed that vide. It bought back similar memories of my own trip up the line that you can see on my own channel. I think I was lucky. When we went, we had a berth where you could get into you other parts of the train. There were also many people that got onboard during the night to sell us different things, a very different experience I think! Thanks for the video.
I enjoyed your video as well. It does look like we had very different experiences. As far as I can remember, there were no cars like yours attached to my train at all. The only option for me was a car like I had - completely cut off from the rest of the train. And no one ever came into my car or even to my door or window to try to sell me food or beer or anything. It made for a somewhat odd Twilight Zone type of atmosphere. 🙂 And it could be just because you didn't mention it in your video, but your ride seemed quite a bit smoother than mine. I was thrown around so much and so hard during my journey that I was a bit bruised and battered and sore afterward. It was quite the experience just to hold on as my car rocked back and forth. It was a challenge but also a lot of fun. It was interesting to see the similarities, though, particularly the young women at the beginning who followed you into your car. And then you remarked on one of the train station dogs as you left Yangon. There were so many of those.
When I was a kid, there was a Burmese actor named Pyay Naing who fell out of a sleeper car to the bottom of a high bridge near Taungoo, killing him violently. I've never seen what a sleeper car looks like until now, so thanks for that. Now that I know what it looks like, it's a great possibility that he was riding solo and could've walked out if the door wasn't shut, if sleeper car he took was something like this one, which is another great possibility since Burmese trains are all old. They said he would sleep walk sometimes, so this train car isn't a good idea at all for someone who does that. I used to so love to ride a train but last time I went back to Burma, they really discouraged me not to take the train, so you're very brave to take a 20-hour bouncy train ride. I still think seeing country side scenery by train is an irreplaceable experience.
I'm not surprised to hear the story of Pyay Naing. If you aren't careful (or if you sleepwalk), I think it would be quite easy to fall out of one of these trains. When I looked out the doorways or held my camera outside the train, I made sure to hold on tightly to something. If I were just standing there without holding on, and the train suddenly rocked or rolled in one direction, I could easily have been tossed outside. It moved around so much and so suddenly at times. But that is one of the great pleasures of traveling around this part of the world. I remember that on my very first trip overseas, I had the opportunity to ride on a train from New Delhi to Udaipur in India, and I was amazed that I could just sit in the doorway and watch the world go by. It was a magical experience. In Canada, it would be impossible because there are so many safety rules and regulations. So I get a lot of enjoyment out of train rides like this. They're great fun (as long as you don't fall outside, of course).
While i am watching ur video, in a few sec i fell horrible to watch those girls who locked the door, its very scary incident to me , but its nice to see ur patience to manage the incident . God blessed .
maybe someone from Ireland may read this, but the noise of the track reminds me of a stretch of line that ran from Rosslaire Harbour to Waterford Railway station, which I used to travel on when I was a kid. Even the rain adds to the memory
Oh, thanks for the video. The train ride was more fun and pleasant during its golden days up to the 90s. The scenery was more enjoyable, and cleaner (less plastics and garbage). Oh I miss train rides. Myanmar railways really takes you back to 60s, like that final scene in "Days of Being Wild".
The experience you shared about my nation india as well as Myanmar is very impressive and by the way you're good story teller and I have observed lot of similarities between india and Myanmar like floura and fauna.
Very funny compartment with no connections to other compartments...20 hrs locked out !! Bad management ! WH&S issue big time if there is any issue comes up ! No connections to dining area of the on-moving train !! Its train prison! TCC, u r so lucky nothing major has happened to you for the 20 hours of travel in one locked-out compartment ! May be u have been blessed by Buddha for what u doing to community of world trvaellers to Myanmar..U have done a very good job for all of us..ur instructions were very clear and in very dtail. Ur help is much appreciated..thanks from Australia..
Thank you very much. In a way, it was like a train prison. But, honestly, it wasn't that bad or that serious. I enjoyed the journey very much. And the train stopped at quite a few stations, so I could always get down from my car onto the platform and then walk to another car if there was a problem or an emergency. I just couldn't do that while the train was moving. 🙂 And maybe I could have done that to go to the dining car. I could walk to the dining car along the platform when we stopped at a station and then wait until the next station to walk back. I thought about doing that, but I had enough food and water with me for the whole trip, so it was no problem for me. I just stayed in my little train prison and enjoyed the scenery out the window.
Now that is one train I would love to take, despite my fear of roaches. Reminded me of a Sleeper I once got in Thailand that had a creepy crawly problem. Thai Whiskey and Beer probably helped me on my way to that land of Nod on that one! (being a train buff probably also helps deal with my phobia!). Probably just as well you were unable to get to the Buffet Car as it looked a bit sketchy when you walked past on the platform!
Hi, again another interesting vlogs. Thanks for sharing and glad to see you are ok. Just one thing to highlight is workers along the way are not fixing for flood. It is for massive rail upgrade program that will shorten the trip by 2 to 3hr and also with new Trains from Japan. You wont have the same experience again in future after the upgrade is done :)
I remember hearing about the railway upgrade program when I went for a ride around Yangon on the circular railway. I only made that comment about the flooding because all the workers seemed to be working in deep pools of water. It looked like they had to get rid of the water first before they could get to work on the rails and the ties. 🙂
I wasn't aware of that. Somehow I got the impression that there were two tracks - the line going through Napyitaw to Mandalay and then a second smaller line going directly to Bagan. Maybe that explains why I felt so lost all the time. The places I saw out of my window never matched up with what I saw on Google Maps. And I never saw any kind of large station. Perhaps I had the windows closed and was sleeping when we got to the station near Napyitaw. 😀
I try to be as careful as I can. In this train car, I felt comfortable just leaving my bag sitting on the seat because I was all alone in there. No one could reach it through the window or the door. I guess that was one advantage to having the entire train car to myself. 🙂
That was the explanation given to me by a local colleague but I found explanations to be incorrect at times - for a variety of reasons - I guess you understand that! Enjoy all of your discoveries…
Your train experience in Myanmar sounds rather stressful n frustrating. Even sleazy lol. At least you had the whole coach to yourself during the trip. But I will personally pass such an experience. Thanks for sharing.
I guess it depends on what your expectations are. I enjoyed every minute of the train ride. It was sort of what I was expecting, and I don't mind a bit of adventure even if it is a bit stressful. The one really big surprise was how my car was cut off from the rest of the train. I'd never experienced that before. 🙂
Yes u did u good thing closed your door that will be more safer for you by the way you should choose the upper class train from yangon that will be much more comfortable for you sorry for my english. But come bagan in december it will be a lot of fun than rainy season.
I remember reading about some kind of "upper class" berth on the train, but when I bought my ticket there didn't seem to be any choice. They asked me if I wanted a sleeping berth and I said yes, and that was it. I didn't have a choice between different prices or different classes. There only seemed to be one class. I could be wrong. It's possible I just didn't understand what they were saying at the train ticket office. That happens a lot with me. I often misunderstand things. But it always works out in the end. 🙂
I wasn't worried about the two women. I was just kind of confused about why they closed and locked the door behind them when they came into my car. They were just selling beer and water and coffee, so it was weird that they locked the door. I guessed that it was just to keep out other people selling water. Then they can keep me prisoner as their customer. 🙂
You just put me off train travel in Myanmar watching your excursion. Looks far worse than any other trains I've been on in other countries and some are shockers. Got to be worth the airfare. Good vlog thabks fir sharing a real bht education. Bushyboy Oz.
More or less the speaker said 10 USD for Yangon to Bagan train running about 17hrs trip is tips to travel for all budget travelers to get having fun and to meet local real experiences
Thank you. That's very interesting. I often hear announcements like that in different countries, and I always wonder what they said. It sounds like this particular announcement was meant for foreign tourists like me.
thanks for sharing this! that train i wont try that when visiting next time in Myanmar, was palling little bit to use train, but no thanks. Even Indian trains are much much better.
Curious to know if any body such as ticket checkers came to check you up for the entire journey. How safe is it security wise keeping the doors open, any one (bandits) can just jump into the carriage when moving slow.
Oddly enough, no one ever came to check up on me. No one checked my ticket in Yangon, either. I never saw anyone from Myanmar Railways for the entire journey. I just got on what I thought was my car and that was it. I sat down and 20 hours later arrived in Bagan without seeing anyone. For me it was fine. I wasn't that worried about security, so I left the doors open much of the time just to get some airflow and be able to see the outside world. But it's true that anyone could have jumped into my car in any of the stations or even between stations when we were moving slowly. At night when I went to sleep, I closed both doors (and all the windows) and threw the latches, so it was quite secure then. Even so, it did feel odd to be in there all alone without any way to reach the rest of the train. 😀
It was a funny experience, that's for sure. It's normal to go to the wrong ticket window at train stations or bus stations. But the way it happened in Yangon was pretty odd. But they were all very nice and helpful, and I eventually found the right window. 🙂
Nice video but i am not going to do a trip like this - that's for sure. I will go bonkers being cooped up for 20 hours alone. Very wise of you to have locked both the doors of the carriage before you go to bed. Take care brother and travel safe. I am making a second trip to Yangon (first was in May) in a month's time because i missed some places which i ought to visit on my first short trip.
What places are you thinking about in Yangon that you missed? I really liked Yangon myself. When I first got there, it actually seemed a bit tame compared to most cities I've visited in southeast Asia. That's probably because of the ban on motorcycles. But I really grew to enjoy the city. I missed it when I finally left.
I made the mistake in only planning a 5 day trip on my first visit in May. All these were spent on travelling outside Yangon (Bago, Golden Rock and Dalla/Twandy across the Yangon River). I missed walking around the lanes and alleys of Yangon. This i will do on my coming trip next month and not missing out on the local food. Since I am from Kuala Lumpur which is only slightly more than 2 hours away, I might want to try out Bagan as you just did. Btw how did your boat ride from Bagan to Mandalay go?
That's great! That was a rainy morning, wasn't it? I didn't mind, though, because I could just sit inside the train and look out the window while it rained. Were you also going to Bagan, or did you take a train to somewhere else that day?
Rail lines in Myanmar are more than a little bit unbalanced. LOL Apart from your incident experience, love some of the scenarios. Leave both doors locked. You will never know who might be on board without your knowledge.
That was an awsome presentation thanks to you, i should visit Myanmar verry soon and do some train journeys as well. Do locals think its better to take the bus or to fly ?
I loved that whole train experience as well. And I'm currently planning to return to Myanmar in a couple of weeks, and I hope to ride on lots more trains. I kind of want to make it a focus of the trip. Local people in Myanmar really don't like the trains. For them, they're not quaint or historic or interesting. They're just slow and uncomfortable. So they prefer to fly or take the bus. I think buses are far more popular than flying for the simple reason that domestic flights in Myanmar are actually fairly expensive. I didn't take any flights inside the country, but I heard from lots of people that they were expensive. And I didn't take any buses either, but I heard from lots of people that they are very comfortable and reliable.
@@PlanetDoug You will be there around a couple of weeks before my arrival( if I can get my visa)..I knew not there were more train trip destinations. It will be awsome to see your videos on your different train journeys. Yes, train travel sounds exciting as a tourist especially in Myanmar, i guess one can sample taste a variety of food and experiences durring and when the train arrives at the different stations , hopefully? It would be nice to meet up with locals and learn from their take on a variety of subject's..be it culture..Cuisine( probably lots to sample regards Game Cuisine, un farmed seafood, veggies), religion, fashion, etc ; etc
For this train, I paid 16,500 kyat, which is about $11.50 US. That's for a sleeping car, of course. I don't know for sure, but I think there is sometimes a class above this one with nicer beds and nicer conditions overall. Maybe during the busier seasons they add more sleeper cars and they are nicer ones for tourists. I don't know. For this train, there only seemed to be the one type of sleeper car. I wasn't given a choice of class or price. The standard price seemed to be 16,500 kyat. And normally, I think you'd be sharing this car with other people. I just got luck (or unlucky?) and I was the only person there. I had the whole section to myself.
Hi Sir, Thanks for the video, nice! btw where did you find the ticket and how much is it? I plan to go there alone. Do you think is it safe for woman to have night travel at the train?
I bought the ticket in person at the Myanma Railways Booking Office in Yangon. You can find it easily on Google Maps. Just type that into the search window. This ticket-buying area is just around the corner from Yangon Central Railway Station. There isn't much information or signs in English there, but if you ask around at the different counters, they will direct you to the appropriate counter to buy tickets to whichever city you want to travel to. I believe I ended up buying my ticket to Bagan at Counter 14. You'll need to bring your passport with you. The ticketing system isn't computerized. It's all done on paper. So you can't buy tickets online. You have to physically go to the booking office to buy your ticket. And you should go there a few days in advance to make sure you can get a berth or a seat. My ticket to Bagan (a sleeper berth) was 16,500 kyats (about $11 US at the time). Whether it is safe for a woman to take this night train alone, I really don't know. My sense was that Myanmar was quite a safe country for foreign visitors. I didn't encounter any problems at all, and I haven't heard any stories from other people about problems. I think my situation on this train was a bit unique in that I had that entire sleeper to myself. No one else joined me for the entire trip. And it was a bit odd to be inside a compartment that was completely cut off from the rest of the train. My guess is that normally there will be other people in the compartment with you, and I think they tend to put all foreigners together in the same car. So you'll likely have other tourists in the car with you. I think traveling alone in Myanmar overall should fine. I wouldn't be concerned about it. In this train, in this secluded sleeper car overnight, I think I'd be more comfortable as a woman if someone were with me. Even I felt a bit weird in there all by myself cut off from the rest of the train. But I'd definitely recommend the experience. Train travel is always exciting, and it's even more so in Myanmar. 🙂
@@PlanetDoug thanks for your details answer. Very helpful info and you are a positive person. I don't hear complain about anything even I can put myself on the situation. Thanks for objective opinion over your videos.
This was a long time ago, before I bought my first GoPro and before I had any kind of microphone or special camera. All I had was an old and very broken Olympus OM-D E-M5 . And that's what I used on this train ride. That was the original E-M5 that came out in 2012. There was no microphone jack on that camera, and many things were broken, including the stabilization and autofocus. But that was the only camera I had at the time. 🙂
My impression is that most things are quite casual in Myanmar. There was no one collecting the fares on the city buses in Yangon. There was simply a small box on the wall beside the door and people put in their money as they went in, and the bus driver wasn't monitoring it at all. And when I rented an e-bike in Bagan, there was no paperwork at all. They just handed me the key and let me drive away. They didn't even ask me for my name. It all seems to be on the honor system. So it makes sense that the train ride would be just as casual. As you said, it was an unusual train ride in Mystery Myanmar. 🙂
@@PlanetDoug that's because trains are nationalised and operated at a loss. The central bus system in Yagon is subsidised too. This is because the externalities from having affordable travel are important for the wider economy.
I know that Red Skirt Lady since she was child, basically she is vendor on station to sell water and other eateries . . . . . she can not sell Beer its illegal, but you can buy inside of Train . . . .
To my surprise, I was able to sleep a little bit. I normally have trouble sleeping - especially on anything that is moving. I didn't think I would be able to sleep at all on this train. But I did sleep. In the morning, I felt quite rested. 🙂
Thank you for your prompt reply. I am a native Burmese but left the country at the age of 4. I have not yet been to Bagan, etc so I really enjoy watching your videos on Burma. I am living and working in Berlin, Germany. Thank you once more and God bless you.
It was definitely unusual. I'm so accustomed to being able to walk up and down the full length of any train I've been on. That's part of the fun and the appeal of traveling by train. You aren't stuck in your seat. You can get up and move around. This is the first time I was ever on a train where I couldn't actually leave my car and go to any other car. Of course, I could jump out at any platform when the train wasn't moving, but that's the only time. But it was a fun trip. A lot of new experiences. 🙂
One thing I've learned to accept about SE Asia is that you will often be misinformed. People would rather give you incorrect information than just say they don't know. I think they have good intentions and they truly feel it's rude to just say they don't know. I was in Cambodia for a month last October and it was really bad there. It got to the point where I just stopped asking questions, because I just assumed the answer was going to be incorrect anyway.
I know exactly what you mean. One thing I've tried to do is train myself to NOT ask Yes/No questions because everyone just says "Yes" automatically to everything. It makes me wonder how many foreign tourists are wandering around the world with totally incorrect information because everyone just says "Yes" to whatever they ask. Instead of asking, "Does this train go to Bagan?" I'll try to ask "Where does this train go?" I still get incorrect information to my where/what/when questions, but I seem to get slightly more accurate answers than with Yes/No questions. 😃
No, I didn't get to eat any meals. To be honest, I have no idea how that would have worked. There was some kind of dining car on the train. I walked past it on the way to my carriage, but I don't know if they served any food there. And even if they did, there wasn't any way to get there except by jumping out of the train at one of the brief stops and then running outside the train to the dining car and then jumping back in again. And if I did that, I'd have to wait until the train stopped before I could go back to my own car. Who knows how long that would be? Could be hours. It wasn't a problem for me, though. I brought my own food and water. And I tend not to eat full meals on long journeys anyway. I just have a snack, and I wait until I arrive somewhere to have a meal. But I do wonder how other people would handle this train trip. Most people eat regular meals and would want to eat something - especially on a journey that lasts 20 hours. Maybe you can order meals beforehand and have them brought to your car. But I have no idea how they would do that either.
Normally before train leave from station. A waiter from dinning cart come up and ask u to order dinner and breakfast .. Dont know why no one come up to u .mayb low season and less people on train i guess 🌝
It could be because it was low season. Or maybe I was in the wrong car and no one knew I was in there. The only people I saw were the young women that were selling bottles of water and beer. I'm still wondering how the food service would have worked though. Even if I had been able to order dinner and breakfast, how would they have brought it to the car? Or how would I get to the dining car? I'd have to climb along the outside like Spider Man. 🙂
I often think about going to India. My first trip overseas in my life was to India on a kind of cultural exchange program. That was when I was 19 or 20 years old. I spent nearly four months in India, and I couldn't stop talking about it for the next ten years. It was an intense experience for a young Canadian who had never been outside of Canada before. That was in 1982. It would be interesting to see how much India has changed since then.
@@user-cp3wc5yj3g I don't think of it that way at all. I just learned so many new things, had so many new experiences, and was exposed to so much and it was such an intense time that it took ten years to talk about it all and get it out of my system. There were lots of young people in my exchange group that went to India from Canada, and I think we were all affected in the same way. We'd meet up years after the exchange program was over, and we were still talking about our time in India.
@@PlanetDoug All good, I was wondering if you're one of those who only travel to India to boost their subscriber numbers, and the moment they get what they want and return overseas start bad mouthing the place. There's a lot of so called vloggers who unfortunately do that sort of thing.
The sound could be overwhelming at times. As I think I mentioned in the video, it was MUCH louder in real life than how it sounded in the video. The microphone I was using was designed to focus on my voice and reduce ambient noise. So that Train ASMR was pretty dramatic. 🙂
@@PlanetDoug I know right. 😂 When I lived in Myanmar, I used to live in Kachin State so.. I used to take one of those trains to go to Mandalay which was the only option that time. There were cilvil wars going on there in Kachin State around that time (I think there still is) and sometimes the train had to pass through the battlefield. So there were not only the sound of the train but also the sound of the gunshots and other big booming. Oh man! This video brings all the memories back. 😭
Like Niel Wong said, I just wasn't in a hurry. I had lots of time, and I prefer to travel overland if I can as opposed to flying. When I planned that trip, I was actually more excited at the prospect of the train ride than seeing Bagan itself. I ended up really liking Bagan, but the train ride was something very special that I won't soon forget. 🙂
Well, I had two wide-open doors, but they didn't go anywhere except the outside world. 🙂 I couldn't use them while the train was moving. So, I guess it was like a moving prison.
TIME STAMPS: 3:54 - Train Arrives at Yangon Station; 6:48 - Boarding My Carriage; 12:57 - Train Departs Yangon Station; 16:22 - Story of Girls Selling Water; 23:06 - Story of Buying My Train Ticket; 29:07 - Train Picks Up Speed in the Countryside; 31:38 - Views of Houses Along the Train Tracks; 33:50 - My Bed in the Train as Night Falls; 16:02 - Next Morning on the Train; 49:37 - Pondering My Guest House Location in Bagan; 54:10 - Pulling in to the Bagan Train Station; 54:44 - Short Tour of My Guest House Room and Goodbye.
I think u made a mistake in 16:02
It wasn't really a mistake. 🙂 At the time, when I was looking out the window, I didn't realize that that was a train station. I just saw a large group of people standing there near the train tracks, and I wondered what they were doing. A few seconds later, though, I realized it was a train station, and they were just waiting for their train - probably the Circular Train that goes around Yangoon. But I left my comment in the video anyway.
When I was in Burma about 10 years ago I knew that the most convenient and obvious way to get there was to fly and it wasn’t expensive, at that time the roads were very bad and no way would I suffer this train ride!
Typical american winger
@@PlanetDoug Looked like Pagoda Road, the first stop on the Circular Railway. I also went in 2019 and at rush hour there always seemed to be a crowd of workers waiting at the same point and the buildings all looked the same as I remembered from my very short trip I did between Yangon Central and Pagoda Road on my trip!
I took the Yangon-Bagan overnight train in 2016 - and boy, your storytelling sure made it come back alive! Spot on with the rattling and banging. Fun fact - i got locked in for 26 hours, our train hit a landslide somewhere in the middle for 8 hours.
You are a great story teller !
Thank you. With 20 hours of time, it made sense to turn to the camera and tell a story. I wish I had filmed my ticket-buying experience, but at least I got to tell the story. 🙂
Oh my heart - the pang of nostalgia for the old soul of Malaysia. The clickty clack and the swaying of the train left and right bring back all the fond the memories of my youth when i first venturing out from rural Malaysia to the big city of Kuala Lumpur 30 years ago. The humming of the ceilling fan, the not so clean train lavatory, the peddlers with their nasi lemak, kueh and cakes, tea in plastic bags and the faces of the youth full joy and hopes going to Kuala Lumpur -some will work with factories of the new industrilized Malaysia , some will goto the universities and training colleges. It will take about 8 hours from my small home town to KL but the 8 hours marked the first phase of my adult life. Thank you for this wonderful video and safe journey.
❤️😊
You captured the atmosphere of train travel from that era perfectly. I didn't have any opportunities for traveling by train in my early childhood, but I started taking the train regularly once I went to university and traveled from there and back to my hometown a lot. In Canada, we didn't have anything like train travel in Asia. There were no hawkers selling drinks and snacks from window to window and car to car. I had to go to the dining car to get my coffee to bring back to my seat. But I loved every minute of every trip. The clickety clack of the train tracks and the views outside the window were the best parts. Of course, the ride was a lot smoother than my experience on this train from Yangon to Bagan. Even if I could get a coffee on this train, there is no possibility of drinking it. The ride was too rough. The coffee would have ended up in my lap and all over the floor in one second. I could barely get up out of my seat much of the time.
I'm burmese but I always feel ashamed to see some people forcing people to buy stuffs or forcing to get tips....I really hope that will stop soon in near future
Bagan got officially recognized as world heritage site by UNESCO today
I realized that later on. I guess that it took 25 years to get their application finally approved. The funny thing is that I went to the museum in Bagan on that day, and I talked for two or three minutes about how Bagan was NOT a World Heritage Site and how strange that was. Yet, on that very day, their application was finally approved by UNESCO.
The Cycling Canadian Bayan, not given the UNESCO Heritage award earlier, was basically due to the political situation in Myanmar.
Even us as a local we have never taken a train coz we already know the train services are poor .Anyway thanks for sharing your experiences.We are also hoping train services to be improved in future.
Yes, I've heard a lot about the plans to upgrade the railway system in Myanmar. For a visiting tourist like me, however, the rough and ready quality of these old trains is very attractive. It's part of the adventure of the trip, if you know what I mean. So I didn't mind at all that the service level was low. It was actually non-existent when you think about it, since I never even saw a single staff member of the railway. It was just me in my private empty car for 20 hours. It was actually a lot of fun, and I have good memories of that ride even if it was a bit bumpy and strange. 😃
😮wow your so brave and amazing
An adventure you will not forget. Missed seeing the NPT station. Monsoon season does not hit that area to the same degree as in Yangon....1/3 of the rain. I just left there to return to Canada. Thank you for sharing.
By NPT, do you mean Naypyidaw? Do you know if this set of tracks even goes through Naypyidaw? I thought it followed a route to the west of Naypyidaw. I could be wrong, though. I tried to figure out what towns the train went through, but I didn't have much luck. I don't remember it going through any towns or cities of any large size, though. They were all quite small places.
great vlog loaded with info. I don't know why but I'm laughing (with you). Hahaha. You are a great sport
In situations like that, all you can do is laugh, right? It was a pretty absurd train ride, but a lot of fun in the end.
The first part of the sign above the restroom said no alcohol and yet trying to get you into buy a bottle of beer..
That's interesting. Beer certainly seems to be a big part of this train ride. I'd read a little bit about this train beforehand, and it's standard for these women to sell beer to the foreigners that ride it. I just watched another video from foreigners riding this train, and they paid 4,000 kyat for a large can of beer. They were joking about it being the "foreigner price". 🙂🙂
Nice video. Interesting how things are there. Can’t wait to visit. Will definitely do the train experience
A long video....i enjoyed it...thanks for sharing with us!!!!!
Thank you for the vlogs TCC. I miss home watching these.
You're welcome. I'm glad you enjoyed them. Where are you living now? How long have you been away from Myanmar?
Interesting train ride. I like to listen to the details of your adventure. 😀
It was definitely interesting, and I actually enjoyed it quite a bit despite the strangeness of being so isolated in there. As I said in the video, I don't think I could have endured such a long trip sitting on a hard bench. That would have been too much. But now that I know what the sleeper cars on the train are like, I'd do it again.
@@PlanetDoug Thanks for replying Douglas! Looking forward to your next adventure
Had the come and watch this video.
Another beautiful video sir. Keep the good work up.
Thanks for the video ! enjoyed it
I admire you and like your videos as non judgemental westerner,base line informer.
Thanks! Yes, I try to keep a sense of perspective and just describe what I see and experience. And, hopefully, maintaining a sense of humor. 🙂
Wow, how you survived the torturous 20 hours train ride? Congratulations!
It was probably the strangest train ride I've ever been on. With my total lack of contact with other passengers or railway employees, it felt like a ghost train. And the extreme roughness made it feel like an old wooden roller coaster. But I would do it again. In fact, after that trip, I wondered if I should take an entire month and do nothing but travel around Myanmar by train. It would be interesting.
The Cycling Canadian The rough train ride together with human isolation sounded like pure solitude and it was also very interesting. A greater consciousness could perhaps arise within your body and mind and I am sure you could do it again and again.
Great for those who love rock n' roll
It's funny you should say that. The rhythmic thumping of the train was practically hypnotic. A few times, I found myself dancing around the train car to the drum beat.
Thank you for your promotion for our country tourism.
Still my favourite place. So much more authentic than other South East Asian countries.
Kiwi Greetings...That was awesome .
It was a great trip. It made me want to take more trains in Myanmar someday.
Great video & story
We really enjoy your channel! Thank you for promoting our country.
What a nightmare your night train journey was! Great you got to Bagan in one piece... Hope you'll be nicely rewarded with a better time in Bagan.
Well, I wouldn't call it a nightmare. That might be a bit strong. 🙂 It was more a dreamlike experience - a bit odd and surreal. I guess there was some physical hardship with the constant bouncing up and down and shaking from side to side, but I kind of knew about that beforehand. Given a choice, I'd take the train again.
And I did have a very good time in Bagan. I loved the temples and pagodas, but maybe I loved the fun of riding around on my rented e-bike even more. 🙂
@@PlanetDoug Ah... but the cockroaches, mosquitoes and other creepy crawlies in the darkness; shut doors and no windows no light? You're a greater than a Spartan.
Congrats on completing 20 hrs train ride! Your vlog are authentic, I felt connected through nearly 1 hr long vlog. Hope you have great in Bagan which, by the way, just inscribed in world heritage today.
Yes, I heard about that. From what I understand, they first applied for World Heritage Site status 25 years ago. And their application was finally approved by UNESCO on July 6 (2019). It's now the second World Heritage Site in Myanmar.
Wow a very long 20 hours train trip from Yangon to Bagan. I love train trip in Southeast Asia and Europe. Love your channel. New friend here. Hope you have a great day my friend.
Thanks! Yes, the trip was a long one. But it ended up being pretty enjoyable. Weird, but enjoyable. 😀
If I was stuck in that train prison for more than 24hours, I would have gone beserk... lol! Thanks for sharing your epic journey Doug as always. Take care of yourself buddy!
Luckily, my prison sentence lasted just 20 hours. But, to be honest, I didn't mind being by myself for that long. It was weird, but not unpleasant. The only thing is that I wish I knew what it was like beforehand, and I wish I knew for sure that I had the whole car to myself. As it was, I could never really relax and just enjoy my private prison. I kept wondering if at the next stop, a half dozen people would suddenly pour in.
And I guess I was lucky that the drinks woman went into the utility room and opened the fuse box and flipped up the fuses to turn on the lights and the fan. I imagine that I'd eventually have figured out how to do that, but who knows? I can imagine someone taking that train and sitting in the dark and the heat the entire time because they didn't know about fuses and fuse boxes.
@@PlanetDoug - yeah I was concerned too after the train left Yangon but luckily you were not disturbed. As for myself, I would prefer to be able to move around and more importantly, chill out for a coffee or drinks at the dining area or cafe. Did you know if they even serve food during the journey? Also I think you were meant to sleep on the top bunk buddy.
@@WanderEats I've heard from people since then that staff from Myanmar Railways usually come to your car before it leaves, and you can pre-order dinner and breakfast. And then they bring it to your car. But no one ever came to my car. before or during my trip.
In any event, I have no idea how that would even work. How could they even bring the meals to your car since there was no door into it from the other cars? The only way they could do it would be to wait until we stopped for two minutes at these small stations and then suddenly run down the platform from the dining car to my car and then run back again. That would work, but they'd have to time it precisely, and it would look pretty funny.
🙂
@@PlanetDoug yeah.. that would be a feat indeed. Anyways very glad to see you making it to Bagan safely.
Thank you for sharing your experience. Very informative 👍🏾 I just got back from Yangon myself a few weeks ago but didn’t have time to go Bagan. Fell in love with Myanmar and will definitely go to Bagan next. Your video was surely helpful! Very hilarious start 😂 of the train adventure. Thanks again for sharing!
You're welcome. I'm glad you enjoyed the videos. I also missed out on quite a few places in Myanmar, and I'm planning to go back in a couple of weeks for perhaps a whirlwind tour of many more spots around the country.
I'm sure you'll enjoy Bagan when you go back. It is so laid back and enjoyable and yet impressive at the same time. And for a place of such historic importance, it is so accessible. It doesn't feel remote and removed. You can move around among the temples and stupas and feel right at home.
Hi Doug, that must be the strangest train ride! I've never seen a totally isolated cabin. The only upside is that you got total privacy and that's about it. Good thing you brought some food with you otherwise you'll be starving! This video reminds me never to take a train for long journeys in Myanmar.
I'd never seen a train car like that before, either. When I bought my ticket, I just assumed that I would be able to walk up and down the entire length of the train and visit other cars and go to the dining car, etc. But I was trapped in my little train prison the entire time. It was easily the strangest train trip I'd been on in my life. But I still enjoyed it. I would do it again in a heartbeat. It was odd but fun. 🙂
Well explained Sir,welcome to India.
Thanks for sharing info that I am looking for.
I did a train ride from Hsipaw,northen shan state to Pyin Oo Lwin in Dec 2018, first class seater cost MMK 1800 ( USD 1.3) per seat. Journey took 8 hrs and very beautiful sceneries along the way The most unforgettable memo is passing Gokehteik Viaduct!!
I've heard a lot about that train ride. I'm making plans to take that train myself - perhaps starting in Mandalay and then heading north up to Pyin Oo Lwin and then on to Hsipaw and perhaps Lashio. I don't know much about it yet. I just started doing some reading about it. Any other tips for riding the train in that area?
So, you started in Hsipaw and then headed south. How did you get to Hsipaw to start the journey there? Had you gone up there by bus beforehand?
@@PlanetDoug I have rented a car to Hsipaw from Mandalay around 9am. stopped at Pyin Oo Lwin for lunch break. Arrived Hsipaw around 5pm. I think Pyin Oo Lwin is a good starting point. I choose different transportation modes not to repeat same route.
Some travellers like to hop off at Naung Cho, take the bus to Inle Lake.
Awesome adventure ..... lol...
Woww Amazing I love it
Wow.. great journey 👍
Reminded me of my 16 hour journey from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. Uncomfortable basic wooden benches. But I'll always treasure that trip when we rattled in the night through the wild countryside. It's great to travel through and to unknown places where everything is an experience to cherish later on.
Excellant and honest explaination.
Thank you!
I really enjoyed that vide. It bought back similar memories of my own trip up the line that you can see on my own channel. I think I was lucky. When we went, we had a berth where you could get into you other parts of the train. There were also many people that got onboard during the night to sell us different things, a very different experience I think! Thanks for the video.
I enjoyed your video as well. It does look like we had very different experiences. As far as I can remember, there were no cars like yours attached to my train at all. The only option for me was a car like I had - completely cut off from the rest of the train. And no one ever came into my car or even to my door or window to try to sell me food or beer or anything. It made for a somewhat odd Twilight Zone type of atmosphere. 🙂
And it could be just because you didn't mention it in your video, but your ride seemed quite a bit smoother than mine. I was thrown around so much and so hard during my journey that I was a bit bruised and battered and sore afterward. It was quite the experience just to hold on as my car rocked back and forth. It was a challenge but also a lot of fun.
It was interesting to see the similarities, though, particularly the young women at the beginning who followed you into your car. And then you remarked on one of the train station dogs as you left Yangon. There were so many of those.
Nice Dude
Very impressive
When I was a kid, there was a Burmese actor named Pyay Naing who fell out of a sleeper car to the bottom of a high bridge near Taungoo, killing him violently.
I've never seen what a sleeper car looks like until now, so thanks for that. Now that I know what it looks like, it's a great possibility that he was riding solo and could've walked out if the door wasn't shut, if sleeper car he took was something like this one, which is another great possibility since Burmese trains are all old. They said he would sleep walk sometimes, so this train car isn't a good idea at all for someone who does that.
I used to so love to ride a train but last time I went back to Burma, they really discouraged me not to take the train, so you're very brave to take a 20-hour bouncy train ride. I still think seeing country side scenery by train is an irreplaceable experience.
I'm not surprised to hear the story of Pyay Naing. If you aren't careful (or if you sleepwalk), I think it would be quite easy to fall out of one of these trains. When I looked out the doorways or held my camera outside the train, I made sure to hold on tightly to something. If I were just standing there without holding on, and the train suddenly rocked or rolled in one direction, I could easily have been tossed outside. It moved around so much and so suddenly at times.
But that is one of the great pleasures of traveling around this part of the world. I remember that on my very first trip overseas, I had the opportunity to ride on a train from New Delhi to Udaipur in India, and I was amazed that I could just sit in the doorway and watch the world go by. It was a magical experience. In Canada, it would be impossible because there are so many safety rules and regulations. So I get a lot of enjoyment out of train rides like this. They're great fun (as long as you don't fall outside, of course).
While i am watching ur video, in a few sec i fell horrible to watch those girls who locked the door, its very scary incident to me , but its nice to see ur patience to manage the incident . God blessed .
how excitement!
Very interesting train journey.
It was definitely interesting. I'm hoping that when I go back to Myanmar, I can take trips on a few more trains.
Great story . I follow though !
maybe someone from Ireland may read this, but the noise of the track reminds me of a stretch of line that ran from Rosslaire Harbour to Waterford Railway station, which I used to travel on when I was a kid. Even the rain adds to the memory
Oh, thanks for the video. The train ride was more fun and pleasant during its golden days up to the 90s. The scenery was more enjoyable, and cleaner (less plastics and garbage). Oh I miss train rides. Myanmar railways really takes you back to 60s, like that final scene in "Days of Being Wild".
The experience you shared about my nation india as well as Myanmar is very impressive and by the way you're good story teller and I have observed lot of similarities between india and Myanmar like floura and fauna.
I like your narration nonjudgemental you say things as they are
Thanks! I try to keep a sense of humor about things and just accept them as they are. 😀
Very funny compartment with no connections to other compartments...20 hrs locked out !! Bad management ! WH&S issue big time if there is any issue comes up ! No connections to dining area of the on-moving train !! Its train prison! TCC, u r so lucky nothing major has happened to you for the 20 hours of travel in one locked-out compartment ! May be u have been blessed by Buddha for what u doing to community of world trvaellers to Myanmar..U have done a very good job for all of us..ur instructions were very clear and in very dtail. Ur help is much appreciated..thanks from Australia..
Thank you very much. In a way, it was like a train prison. But, honestly, it wasn't that bad or that serious. I enjoyed the journey very much. And the train stopped at quite a few stations, so I could always get down from my car onto the platform and then walk to another car if there was a problem or an emergency. I just couldn't do that while the train was moving. 🙂
And maybe I could have done that to go to the dining car. I could walk to the dining car along the platform when we stopped at a station and then wait until the next station to walk back. I thought about doing that, but I had enough food and water with me for the whole trip, so it was no problem for me. I just stayed in my little train prison and enjoyed the scenery out the window.
Now that is one train I would love to take, despite my fear of roaches. Reminded me of a Sleeper I once got in Thailand that had a creepy crawly problem. Thai Whiskey and Beer probably helped me on my way to that land of Nod on that one! (being a train buff probably also helps deal with my phobia!). Probably just as well you were unable to get to the Buffet Car as it looked a bit sketchy when you walked past on the platform!
Welcome to Myanmar from the kayin state.
Thank you.
Thank you. 🙂
Hi, again another interesting vlogs. Thanks for sharing and glad to see you are ok. Just one thing to highlight is workers along the way are not fixing for flood. It is for massive rail upgrade program that will shorten the trip by 2 to 3hr and also with new Trains from Japan. You wont have the same experience again in future after the upgrade is done :)
I remember hearing about the railway upgrade program when I went for a ride around Yangon on the circular railway. I only made that comment about the flooding because all the workers seemed to be working in deep pools of water. It looked like they had to get rid of the water first before they could get to work on the rails and the ties. 🙂
@@PlanetDoug Noted. Ic, I might be wrong :)
Many memorues. I was there in February 1993
Yes the tracks go to a huge station just outside NPT and this is the main line!
I wasn't aware of that. Somehow I got the impression that there were two tracks - the line going through Napyitaw to Mandalay and then a second smaller line going directly to Bagan. Maybe that explains why I felt so lost all the time. The places I saw out of my window never matched up with what I saw on Google Maps. And I never saw any kind of large station. Perhaps I had the windows closed and was sleeping when we got to the station near Napyitaw. 😀
Beware of thief when ur travelling alone or not place the bag near of you that will be more safer and nice trip for bagan
I try to be as careful as I can. In this train car, I felt comfortable just leaving my bag sitting on the seat because I was all alone in there. No one could reach it through the window or the door. I guess that was one advantage to having the entire train car to myself. 🙂
That was the explanation given to me by a local colleague but I found explanations to be incorrect at times - for a variety of reasons - I guess you understand that! Enjoy all of your discoveries…
For those adventurous types and do not prefer comfort and luxury... trip in Myanmar is the right choice..enjoy the chaos ... rough and bounce....
Your train experience in Myanmar sounds rather stressful n frustrating. Even sleazy lol. At least you had the whole coach to yourself during the trip. But I will personally pass such an experience. Thanks for sharing.
Holy grail H which part was sleazy? There was no hanky Panky
I guess it depends on what your expectations are. I enjoyed every minute of the train ride. It was sort of what I was expecting, and I don't mind a bit of adventure even if it is a bit stressful. The one really big surprise was how my car was cut off from the rest of the train. I'd never experienced that before. 🙂
Yes u did u good thing closed your door that will be more safer for you by the way you should choose the upper class train from yangon that will be much more comfortable for you sorry for my english. But come bagan in december it will be a lot of fun than rainy season.
I remember reading about some kind of "upper class" berth on the train, but when I bought my ticket there didn't seem to be any choice. They asked me if I wanted a sleeping berth and I said yes, and that was it. I didn't have a choice between different prices or different classes. There only seemed to be one class. I could be wrong. It's possible I just didn't understand what they were saying at the train ticket office. That happens a lot with me. I often misunderstand things. But it always works out in the end. 🙂
I feel scare for u when the 2 girl's approach. Anyway thank u for making such an interesting video.
Lee Ti nothing to be scared of, MM people are honest and nice
I wasn't worried about the two women. I was just kind of confused about why they closed and locked the door behind them when they came into my car. They were just selling beer and water and coffee, so it was weird that they locked the door. I guessed that it was just to keep out other people selling water. Then they can keep me prisoner as their customer. 🙂
@@PlanetDoug thank. I am waiting for ur Mandalay Video. I am a Canadian living in Vancouver but I was born in raised in Mandalay.
You just put me off train travel in Myanmar watching your excursion. Looks far worse than any other trains I've been on in other countries and some are shockers. Got to be worth the airfare. Good vlog thabks fir sharing a real bht education. Bushyboy Oz.
Watched other's videos on Myanmar train. They weren't that bad.
Just take the bus for goodness sake
Your very brave
More or less the speaker said 10 USD for Yangon to Bagan train running about 17hrs trip is tips to travel for all budget travelers to get having fun and to meet local real experiences
Thank you. That's very interesting. I often hear announcements like that in different countries, and I always wonder what they said. It sounds like this particular announcement was meant for foreign tourists like me.
thanks for sharing this! that train i wont try that when visiting next time in Myanmar, was palling little bit to use train, but no thanks. Even Indian trains are much much better.
i think the coach you were in stated B2 sit position.
Curious to know if any body such as ticket checkers came to check you up for the entire journey. How safe is it security wise keeping the doors open, any one (bandits) can just jump into the carriage when moving slow.
Oddly enough, no one ever came to check up on me. No one checked my ticket in Yangon, either. I never saw anyone from Myanmar Railways for the entire journey. I just got on what I thought was my car and that was it. I sat down and 20 hours later arrived in Bagan without seeing anyone.
For me it was fine. I wasn't that worried about security, so I left the doors open much of the time just to get some airflow and be able to see the outside world. But it's true that anyone could have jumped into my car in any of the stations or even between stations when we were moving slowly. At night when I went to sleep, I closed both doors (and all the windows) and threw the latches, so it was quite secure then. Even so, it did feel odd to be in there all alone without any way to reach the rest of the train.
😀
Threre are no railway bandits in Myanmar.
The girl with the red skirt is trying to make you in trouble. Because the warning sign says "No alcoholic."
I can’t stop laughing about that ticket buying story. 🤣🤣🤣
It was a funny experience, that's for sure. It's normal to go to the wrong ticket window at train stations or bus stations. But the way it happened in Yangon was pretty odd. But they were all very nice and helpful, and I eventually found the right window. 🙂
Nice video but i am not going to do a trip like this - that's for sure. I will go bonkers being cooped up for 20 hours alone. Very wise of you to have locked both the doors of the carriage before you go to bed. Take care brother and travel safe. I am making a second trip to Yangon (first was in May) in a month's time because i missed some places which i ought to visit on my first short trip.
What places are you thinking about in Yangon that you missed? I really liked Yangon myself. When I first got there, it actually seemed a bit tame compared to most cities I've visited in southeast Asia. That's probably because of the ban on motorcycles. But I really grew to enjoy the city. I missed it when I finally left.
I made the mistake in only planning a 5 day trip on my first visit in May. All these were spent on travelling outside Yangon (Bago, Golden Rock and Dalla/Twandy across the Yangon River). I missed walking around the lanes and alleys of Yangon. This i will do on my coming trip next month and not missing out on the local food. Since I am from Kuala Lumpur which is only slightly more than 2 hours away, I might want to try out Bagan as you just did. Btw how did your boat ride from Bagan to Mandalay go?
I am from myanmar i saw you vloging at the railway
That's great! That was a rainy morning, wasn't it? I didn't mind, though, because I could just sit inside the train and look out the window while it rained. Were you also going to Bagan, or did you take a train to somewhere else that day?
Welcome to Myanmar the details are never correct online
Rail lines in Myanmar are more than a little bit unbalanced. LOL
Apart from your incident experience, love some of the scenarios. Leave both doors locked. You will never know who might be on board without your knowledge.
I am laughing with you here with the situation..that is unforgatable journey
This Rail track is a Burma First Rail Build by British in 1860.
That was an awsome presentation thanks to you, i should visit Myanmar verry soon and do some train journeys as well.
Do locals think its better to take the bus or to fly ?
I loved that whole train experience as well. And I'm currently planning to return to Myanmar in a couple of weeks, and I hope to ride on lots more trains. I kind of want to make it a focus of the trip.
Local people in Myanmar really don't like the trains. For them, they're not quaint or historic or interesting. They're just slow and uncomfortable. So they prefer to fly or take the bus.
I think buses are far more popular than flying for the simple reason that domestic flights in Myanmar are actually fairly expensive. I didn't take any flights inside the country, but I heard from lots of people that they were expensive. And I didn't take any buses either, but I heard from lots of people that they are very comfortable and reliable.
@@PlanetDoug
You will be there around a couple of weeks before my arrival( if I can get my visa)..I knew not there were more train trip destinations. It will be awsome to see your videos on your different train journeys. Yes, train travel sounds exciting as a tourist especially in Myanmar, i guess one can sample taste a variety of food and experiences durring and when the train arrives at the different stations , hopefully? It would be nice to meet up with locals and learn from their take on a variety of subject's..be it culture..Cuisine( probably lots to sample regards Game Cuisine, un farmed seafood, veggies), religion, fashion, etc ; etc
seems rail line is meter gauage , what we call in india..
although its almost phased out...
Brave
hello... i love your videos! how much is the FARE? thank you
For this train, I paid 16,500 kyat, which is about $11.50 US. That's for a sleeping car, of course. I don't know for sure, but I think there is sometimes a class above this one with nicer beds and nicer conditions overall. Maybe during the busier seasons they add more sleeper cars and they are nicer ones for tourists. I don't know. For this train, there only seemed to be the one type of sleeper car. I wasn't given a choice of class or price. The standard price seemed to be 16,500 kyat.
And normally, I think you'd be sharing this car with other people. I just got luck (or unlucky?) and I was the only person there. I had the whole section to myself.
@@PlanetDoug whoaaa thank you!! Hope you visit the Philippines too!! :)
Hi Sir, Thanks for the video, nice! btw where did you find the ticket and how much is it? I plan to go there alone. Do you think is it safe for woman to have night travel at the train?
I bought the ticket in person at the Myanma Railways Booking Office in Yangon. You can find it easily on Google Maps. Just type that into the search window. This ticket-buying area is just around the corner from Yangon Central Railway Station.
There isn't much information or signs in English there, but if you ask around at the different counters, they will direct you to the appropriate counter to buy tickets to whichever city you want to travel to. I believe I ended up buying my ticket to Bagan at Counter 14.
You'll need to bring your passport with you. The ticketing system isn't computerized. It's all done on paper. So you can't buy tickets online. You have to physically go to the booking office to buy your ticket. And you should go there a few days in advance to make sure you can get a berth or a seat.
My ticket to Bagan (a sleeper berth) was 16,500 kyats (about $11 US at the time). Whether it is safe for a woman to take this night train alone, I really don't know. My sense was that Myanmar was quite a safe country for foreign visitors. I didn't encounter any problems at all, and I haven't heard any stories from other people about problems. I think my situation on this train was a bit unique in that I had that entire sleeper to myself. No one else joined me for the entire trip. And it was a bit odd to be inside a compartment that was completely cut off from the rest of the train.
My guess is that normally there will be other people in the compartment with you, and I think they tend to put all foreigners together in the same car. So you'll likely have other tourists in the car with you. I think traveling alone in Myanmar overall should fine. I wouldn't be concerned about it. In this train, in this secluded sleeper car overnight, I think I'd be more comfortable as a woman if someone were with me. Even I felt a bit weird in there all by myself cut off from the rest of the train.
But I'd definitely recommend the experience. Train travel is always exciting, and it's even more so in Myanmar. 🙂
@@PlanetDoug thanks for your details answer. Very helpful info and you are a positive person. I don't hear complain about anything even I can put myself on the situation. Thanks for objective opinion over your videos.
Awesome. Which camera you used ?
This was a long time ago, before I bought my first GoPro and before I had any kind of microphone or special camera. All I had was an old and very broken Olympus OM-D E-M5 . And that's what I used on this train ride. That was the original E-M5 that came out in 2012. There was no microphone jack on that camera, and many things were broken, including the stabilization and autofocus. But that was the only camera I had at the time. 🙂
Strange train journey.. Mystery maynemar
My impression is that most things are quite casual in Myanmar. There was no one collecting the fares on the city buses in Yangon. There was simply a small box on the wall beside the door and people put in their money as they went in, and the bus driver wasn't monitoring it at all. And when I rented an e-bike in Bagan, there was no paperwork at all. They just handed me the key and let me drive away. They didn't even ask me for my name. It all seems to be on the honor system. So it makes sense that the train ride would be just as casual. As you said, it was an unusual train ride in Mystery Myanmar. 🙂
@@PlanetDoug that's because trains are nationalised and operated at a loss. The central bus system in Yagon is subsidised too. This is because the externalities from having affordable travel are important for the wider economy.
I know that Red Skirt Lady since she was child, basically she is vendor on station to sell water and other eateries . . . . . she can not sell Beer its illegal, but you can buy inside of Train . . . .
Thank you for your wonderful video. Could you sleep on the sleeping train? God bless you.
To my surprise, I was able to sleep a little bit. I normally have trouble sleeping - especially on anything that is moving. I didn't think I would be able to sleep at all on this train. But I did sleep. In the morning, I felt quite rested. 🙂
Thank you for your prompt reply. I am a native Burmese but left the country at the age of 4. I have not yet been to Bagan, etc so I really enjoy watching your videos on Burma. I am living and working in Berlin, Germany. Thank you once more and God bless you.
Boy, that sounded so scary being trapped in the car.
It was definitely unusual. I'm so accustomed to being able to walk up and down the full length of any train I've been on. That's part of the fun and the appeal of traveling by train. You aren't stuck in your seat. You can get up and move around. This is the first time I was ever on a train where I couldn't actually leave my car and go to any other car. Of course, I could jump out at any platform when the train wasn't moving, but that's the only time. But it was a fun trip. A lot of new experiences. 🙂
You need to visit Mandalay and explore historic pagodas and monastic culture.
I'll be in Mandalay for two days after Bagan. That won't be enough time for me to see very much, but I'll get to see a little bit of the city.
Warmly welcome from Myanmar
One thing I've learned to accept about SE Asia is that you will often be misinformed. People would rather give you incorrect information than just say they don't know. I think they have good intentions and they truly feel it's rude to just say they don't know. I was in Cambodia for a month last October and it was really bad there. It got to the point where I just stopped asking questions, because I just assumed the answer was going to be incorrect anyway.
I know exactly what you mean. One thing I've tried to do is train myself to NOT ask Yes/No questions because everyone just says "Yes" automatically to everything. It makes me wonder how many foreign tourists are wandering around the world with totally incorrect information because everyone just says "Yes" to whatever they ask.
Instead of asking, "Does this train go to Bagan?" I'll try to ask "Where does this train go?"
I still get incorrect information to my where/what/when questions, but I seem to get slightly more accurate answers than with Yes/No questions. 😃
Did you get to eat any meal on your overnight train?
No, I didn't get to eat any meals. To be honest, I have no idea how that would have worked. There was some kind of dining car on the train. I walked past it on the way to my carriage, but I don't know if they served any food there. And even if they did, there wasn't any way to get there except by jumping out of the train at one of the brief stops and then running outside the train to the dining car and then jumping back in again.
And if I did that, I'd have to wait until the train stopped before I could go back to my own car. Who knows how long that would be? Could be hours.
It wasn't a problem for me, though. I brought my own food and water. And I tend not to eat full meals on long journeys anyway. I just have a snack, and I wait until I arrive somewhere to have a meal. But I do wonder how other people would handle this train trip. Most people eat regular meals and would want to eat something - especially on a journey that lasts 20 hours. Maybe you can order meals beforehand and have them brought to your car. But I have no idea how they would do that either.
@@PlanetDoug no wonder I could not find any snack challenges in this video.
Normally before train leave from station. A waiter from dinning cart come up and ask u to order dinner and breakfast ..
Dont know why no one come up to u .mayb low season and less people on train i guess 🌝
It could be because it was low season. Or maybe I was in the wrong car and no one knew I was in there. The only people I saw were the young women that were selling bottles of water and beer.
I'm still wondering how the food service would have worked though. Even if I had been able to order dinner and breakfast, how would they have brought it to the car? Or how would I get to the dining car? I'd have to climb along the outside like Spider Man.
🙂
Dude, come to India. I want to see your long vlogs about India.☺
I often think about going to India. My first trip overseas in my life was to India on a kind of cultural exchange program. That was when I was 19 or 20 years old. I spent nearly four months in India, and I couldn't stop talking about it for the next ten years. It was an intense experience for a young Canadian who had never been outside of Canada before. That was in 1982. It would be interesting to see how much India has changed since then.
@@PlanetDoug well It has largest number of mobile users with lots of cheap data. So you will gain subscribers as well.
The Cycling Canadian Wow 10 years of whinging and complaining....
@@user-cp3wc5yj3g I don't think of it that way at all. I just learned so many new things, had so many new experiences, and was exposed to so much and it was such an intense time that it took ten years to talk about it all and get it out of my system.
There were lots of young people in my exchange group that went to India from Canada, and I think we were all affected in the same way. We'd meet up years after the exchange program was over, and we were still talking about our time in India.
@@PlanetDoug All good, I was wondering if you're one of those who only travel to India to boost their subscriber numbers, and the moment they get what they want and return overseas start bad mouthing the place. There's a lot of so called vloggers who unfortunately do that sort of thing.
Thanks very much....I found Much better sleeper trains in Viet Nam (SaPali Express )
How The Train Journey ?
Interesting to watch your video.. and your vlog is very nice...Subscribed..
Thank you!
ohh shit 20hrs wow..
TRAIN SOUND ASMR
The sound could be overwhelming at times. As I think I mentioned in the video, it was MUCH louder in real life than how it sounded in the video. The microphone I was using was designed to focus on my voice and reduce ambient noise. So that Train ASMR was pretty dramatic. 🙂
@@PlanetDoug I know right. 😂 When I lived in Myanmar, I used to live in Kachin State so.. I used to take one of those trains to go to Mandalay which was the only option that time. There were cilvil wars going on there in Kachin State around that time (I think there still is) and sometimes the train had to pass through the battlefield. So there were not only the sound of the train but also the sound of the gunshots and other big booming. Oh man! This video brings all the memories back. 😭
Why not fly, air kbz tickets are super cheap and it takes only 1 hour 15 min after stop in Mandalay.
Michael Turner because he’s not in a rush and there’s something nice about ground travel. Also it’s not that cheap. There’s an airport in Bagan
Like Niel Wong said, I just wasn't in a hurry. I had lots of time, and I prefer to travel overland if I can as opposed to flying. When I planned that trip, I was actually more excited at the prospect of the train ride than seeing Bagan itself. I ended up really liking Bagan, but the train ride was something very special that I won't soon forget. 🙂
there's a weapon factory you passed away one station ago.
My own prison haha
Well, I had two wide-open doors, but they didn't go anywhere except the outside world. 🙂 I couldn't use them while the train was moving. So, I guess it was like a moving prison.