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!

2016

I knew this Christmas break was going to be one of my hardest ever.  I found the last few weeks in Dhaka extremely stressful; a little due to the job but mainly dealing with my emotions with Stella's birthday and the upcoming break.
My choices were to be with family and friends or to travel alone.  I chose the second.

Lao was demanding to travel in alone.  The local people are lovely.  Humble and unassuming.  But where I was travelling, in the south, English is not well spoken.  At times it was difficult to order a meal at restaurant.  Once I had to walk through the kitchen pointing at the food available so I could get something.  Even my imitation of a chicken did not get any understanding but did cause immense hilarity.  No English menu and absolutely none spoken.  I love those challenges of travel.  But it made communicating difficult.

There is also little infrastructure for travel.  I enjoy watching sport but there was no opportunity for doing this.  It is one of the few places I have been where people don't gather around in a bar to watch a football match.  This is one of the social events that I have often enjoyed when travelling.  But in the parts of Lao I was in it did not exist.  Where I was travelling is very much on the back packer trail.  But there were not a lot of them.  Surprisingly there were very few people from English speaking countries.  Most were French, Swiss and German.  I did not meet one other solo traveler - again a surprise.  I find in Thailand and now in Cambodia it is very easy to meet other single travelers but in Lao everyone seems to travel as a couple or in small groups.

So Lao was a challenge.  Enjoyable and humbling.  My decision to travel alone would mean that I would not need to worry about how my emotions would effect others.  I could be with myself and enjoy whatever that may bring.  It was a decision I made based on a positive view of my future.  A post on Facebook (you know those usually inane links) about 6 months back, was a catalyst for this 'selfish' positiveness. Here is the post.  I have these 5 things written down and read them often.  It has become a bit of a mantra.

Arriving overland into Cambodia was unusual.  The $30 visa 'increases' to $40 at this border.  Five dollars extra to the visa officer, $2 to get your exit stamp from Lao, $2 for a health check and $1 to get your passport carried through immigration.  The bus journey was long with few breaks.  The one meal stop in the 12 hour journey was at a dirty roadside stall.  The food had been sitting around all day.  I did have some chicken soup as it was 7 hours since breakfast.  Bad decision.  I rarely get sick travelling but this chicken soup was not the best.  So my last two days of 2015 were spent with many visits to the toilet.

In Cambodia it has been great to spend time with two wonderful colleagues from Dhaka.  We saw New Year in at Sharkys bar.  This is a very famous place in Cambodia.  Been around for ever and it is my second time there.  It is actually a bit of a dive.  Drunk, over weight expats being gross is not a good look.  But the music was good, the beer cheap and the company great.

As I write this it is now New Years Day.  I said to someone that 2016 could not be as bad as 2015. In some ways it was a remarkable year.  I went to Australia, New Zealand, England, Italy, Spain, France, Turkey, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and of course Bangladesh.  An epic year of travel. I met wonderful new friends (except for Jonathon).  I have a great place to work.

But it has been a challenge.  So I reflect forward to 2016 with much hope.  I am in the process of making my goals for the year as I always do.  One thing I do know is that it will not be like 2015!

Bangkok to Pakse

There are many ways to get from Thailand to Laos.  The quickest is by plane and the next fastest is by bus.  The slowest is by train.  So it is train for me.  My desire is to travel to Pakse the second biggest city in Lao and the entrance to the south.  A place where few travel.

The overnight sleeper train to Ubon Ratchathani leaves Bangkok at 8.30pm.  It is a long train with several sleeper classes and non-sleeper classes.  My class was second class sleeper which is an air-conditioned class with a sleeper bed.

My ticket said car 10, seat 15.  The first car was 16, the next 15, then 14, then 13 and the next was labelled car 10.  So after finding car 10, I moved into seat 15.  However I was told after a few minutes that it was in fact car 12 even though it had 10 on the outside board. 

Well where was car 10?  Well they had forgot to connect it and were getting it attached now.  It was 10 minutes to leaving time.  So a few bumps (as the car was connected) later, car 10 was attached and the wonderful conductor carried my bag to car 10 and showed me to my seat.  And the train left only two minutes late.

I then got a visit from the rail police.  Since the military government there are many more police and military at visible places.  So being one of the few Farang on the train, I was visited by the railway police and given a list of ‘Suggestions’.  I was also required to assure this rather officious man that I understood the suggestions.

The food lady arrived with a much nicer demeanour and I ordered option ‘F’.














I got very friendly service so there was no need to ring the number for ‘ungently’ service. 

The wonderful conductor came and made up my bed and then the option ‘F’ arrived.

The food was wonderful.  Chicken, pork, shrimp, squid lightly boiled on a salad base.  With a wonderful spicy, salty, lime sauce.  I was always avoid that rule about not eating salad.  Thai salads are so fresh and tasty.

Unfortunately the new military government has banned alcohol on trains.  It used to be wonderful to have a Singha with your dinner.

Then it was bed time.  I find sleeping on trains wonderful as they rock you to sleep and surprisingly quiet.  Everyone sleeps and there is very little talk.

A visit to the toilet is interesting.  The toilet goes straight onto the rails.  Reminder to self ‘Never walk under a railway overbridge in Thailand.’  Just in case someone is relieving themselves at that time.

Ubon with taxi driver approaching

In the morning coffee arrives and the train arrives at Ubon Rathchathani right on time at 7.30am.  Of course being the only Farang disembarking, I am immediately approached regarding if I need a taxi.  No need to search for one here. 

I decide to go straight to the border as the price quoted is exactly what is suggested on the internet.  I am dropped at Chong Mek immigration centre and pointed on the way.  No dramas and I walk in to Lao.

Again approached by a taxi driver who leads through Lao immigration and for the sum of $US30 and a myriad of forms I have my Lao visa. 

And then it is 30 minutes to Pakse and arrive at 10 am for coffee. 

A very pleasant way to travel, no dramas, no queues, no security checks.  Just pleasant friendly people (except for the railway policeman) and no hassles.  Beats plane travel any day.