A (long) train journey

I decide to take a train jorney from Yangon to Mandalay.  A distance of 630 km and a journey begining at 5 pm and ending at 8 am.
The first challenge is buying a ticket.  The ticket office is not well signposted with the sign needing a little polishing.

The building however looks servicable enough.





There is an impressive number of counters for one person - me!


 And a lot of not very useful signage.



However even with this number of counters I was in the wrong place and was sent to another counter.









The ticket was issued and was hand written.  There are no computer tickets. 9300 Kyat or US$6.82





Next day I arrived for my train and it was great to know that tourist are most welcome even if the tourist information office was tightly padlocked.















The train was long and was filled with people.

As this was an overnight journey I was travelling upperclass.  No airconditioning BUT overhead fans!

As well my own seat.  Though it needed to be two skinny Burmese to fit on these bench seats.  The train was full so it was not conducive to any sleep as my neighbour was a reasonably large Burmese man.

Dinner was perfect.  Sweet and sour chicken with too much rice.  A beer afterwards unfortunately a Chang which is not my favourite beer.







Outside rice paddy after rice paddy.

The night passed slowly with an electrical problem needing fixing and a few stops at unknown places.

Morning arrived with a nice sunrise and breakfast at 6am.  Omelet, toast and coffee.

Scenery was more interesting and there was more population.

An essential toilet instruction was noted and followed!



A few more station stops involved walking across the railway tracks.

Until finally Mandalay arrived!

 Fifteen hours of my life well spent?

Last weekend

After three years this weekend, (Friday and Saturday is the weekend here) is my last weekend in Dhaka.




I have come to love this place and its people. They are friendly and pleasant.  It is to me a very safe place and in three years I did get my bike stolen once but otherwise never experienced any concerns. This even though I have walked and cycled through much of Dhaka at all hours of the day and night.  




The dirt and grime, and the atrocious roads can get to you after a while.  

Buildings are being constructed everywhere with no safety checks.









Today there is a bit of work going on on the internet cabling. It is a miracle of technology that the internet works here.

But the people, they are always make me feel welcome when I go into their shop.  My favourite restaurant, Magpie, always makes me eat too much.

In my personal supermarket, I'm not even allowed to carry my bag or push my trolley.  

The fruit and vegetables are fresh as is the chicken.  The mangoes are especially nice and very cheap.

And the rickshaw ride home is fun that's if the traffic moves at all.

Bye Dhaka - Thank you!

Deceit

It is has been a very long time between blog posts.  Eighteen months in fact.

And a lot has moved on in that time.

In the last 18 months I have been able to live a very enjoyable life in Dhaka amid what at times is considerable turmoil.  The terrorist attack in Dhaka a year back changed life in Dhaka but I have still managed to walk everywhere and ride my bike all over this crazy town.  I have really got to enjoy this place.  I have visited amazingly wonderful areas where very few people go.  I will post some last thoughts soon.

But it has become time to move on, to China.  The reason for that move is very simple - but the results are huge.

So the story.

Many pages like this

As I have travelled through SE Asia many times over the last two years, I have made many friends with local people.  My passport has needed to be renewed because of all the Cambodian, Vietnam, Thai, and Lao visas and entry stamps.

In these travels I have met a wonderful Cambodian woman.  As our relationship has developed we made a decision to take a step further and she decided to come and live with me in Dhaka.  The school agreed and we made decisions regarding our future.  Her to pack up her life and me to develop further a relationship with her family.  We spent a lot of money and time doing this.

But then early April a bombshell.  We were told we could not get a visa.  Even though we were told earlier (on multiple occasions) the school would be able to get us a visa, suddenly without any discussion it just became - no visa.

I realise that visas are challenging to get in many countries and while upset that my partner could not come I was really angry at the process.  To me the process of the decision is more important than the decision.

Hence the title of this post.

My decision to leave was not only that my partner could not come to Dhaka but the fact I was told yes it would be ok for four months and then it was NO!  Nothing changed in those four months just that it was now NO!  No attempt was made to get a visa - just that it was NO!  Being told yes for four months and then NO without apparent reason makes one less likely to trust an organisation and certainly it is a place where I don't wish to work.  The school is falling into a pit of mistrust.  So even though it is sad to leave friends it is time to go!

So it is now off to China!