On the Train to Mandalay

After a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast, I set off in the rain for the 900 meter trek to the railway station to board the train that would take me over the Gokteik Viaduct, the main reason for my diversion up north. I arrived at the station at 8.15am to find Yngvil and Frederick there. We had a happy reunion sharing our experiences post-Nyaung Shwe. We then waited for the ticket office to start selling tickets. The guy selling tickets to foreigners was at his station, and he would take queries, but he would not issue our tickets until 8.40am.

8.40am arrived, and all nine foreigners lined up with our passports to purchase our tickets. One official carefully recorded our passport information, while the other issued tickets. Upper Class tickets to Mandalay cost under US$3! He assigned all of us seats on the right side of the train, which is reputedly the side with the better views on the southbound journey. The passengers going to Pyin U Lwin were sent to one coach while the three of us heading to Mandalay were sent to a different coach. I was separated from my Norwegian friends.

The train pulled in to the station as scheduled, and I boarded my Upper Class seat. Sounds fancy, doesn't it? Well, not really. The coach wasn't air conditioned, the seats had cloth covers and they reclined slightly, and the entire coach was quite dirty. I saw a rodent scampering through the cabin. Ordinary Class consisted of wooden seats and no assigned seating.

The train left on schedule at 9.40am. It lurched sideways a lot. The vegetation on either side of the tracks weren't trimmed, so tree branches whacked me through the open windows. Leaves sheared off from the trees filled the cabin with a pleasant aroma. I learned very quickly not to put any part of my body out the window. As the train lurched violently sideways, I recalled something I read online about these trains being Chinese made and that they weren't the same gauge as the British-built tracks. The absurdity of what I was about to do hit home. Here I was, sitting in a Chinese-made boneshaker of a rust bucket, chugging along on a British-built railway track with a different gauge, on my way to cross a 117 year old viaduct spanning 102 meters above a river gorge. What could possibly go wrong? Oh, and did I mention I am afraid of heights? Too late now, I am committed. I could, of course, do a runner at one of the stops en route...

The train went through some very pretty countryside and lush farmlands. It rained on and off all day, heavily at times. A little over three hours into the journey, Gokteik Viaduct came into view. The train went through a series of tunnels (the only tunnels on this trip), and then slowed to a crawl as we creaked our way across the viaduct. It was high up. My heart was pounding. My hands were clammy. But, wow, what an experience. I've posted a video below.

Once the adrenaline rush was over, I settled in for the long haul to Mandalay. The rest of the trip was rainy and uneventful. At Pyin U Lwin, the train stopped for 40 minutes. It was wet and I knew I made the right decision to not stop there for a night. Around 6pm, with three hours to go, Mandalay appeared in the distance. I felt a brief glimmer of hope that this ride would end sooner than scheduled. After all, it couldn't possibly take three hours to cover that distance, could it? Well, as it turned out, we were at a much higher elevation, and the train had some switchbacks to go down. This involved covering a length of track, stopping, switching to a different track, reversing down that track, stopping, switching to a new track, going forward on that track... and over and over.

The train rolled into a deserted Mandalay Railway Station on schedule at 9.15pm. I declined all offers for a ride as it was a nice and cool evening and Mandalay City Hotel was less than a kilometer away. I couldn't resist going back there. As I strolled into the hotel, the receptionist's face brightened up momentarily when she saw me walk through the door, then she deadpanned: "you're too late to check in". I feigned indignation and turned around to walk back out the door. We both laughed, and she welcomed me back. I love it when service industry staff are comfortable enough with me to tease me.

After checking in, I headed out to the Indian street food stall at the corner for some roti and curry. That hit the spot.

Link to full video is here: https://youtu.be/FFKO5pahKWU

I authored an Atlas Obscura entry on the Gokteik Viaduct: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/gokteik-via…

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