shaking all over

Day two in Yangon & Bobo our guide took us on a tour of the city & markets, filling our heads with facts about Myanmar. On the street I noticed people buying leaves. Bobo explained this was a sort of stimulant that many people were hooked on. Of course we had to try some! It's a beetlenut dipped in various flavours & wrapped in a leaf. It tasted slightly liquorice- with leaf. It didn't do much for me & Bobo was clearly not a fan as it apparently causes mouth cancer. It went swiftly into the gutter. We wandered around the Indian quarter & the colonial area. As Myanmar has been a closed country over the years with no outside investment or influence, many of the original buildings remain but in a poor state although there are now plans to restore some. In someways it reminded us of Cuba- with architecture frozen in time. We learned about the student uprising in 1988 where many were killed & that the university in Yangon only  reopened 3 yrs ago with students being required to sign an agreement that they will not protest. Mobile phone shops are everywhere but again this is new - until a few years ago they were expensive &  totally unattainable- now a SIM card costs a few pence. The most bizarre thing is that all the cars are right hand drive but they drive on the right hand side of the road! Apparently the generals decided to change the law for no apparent reason & so most cars have a stick on the front left bumper to help them to see where they are driving. 

In the late afternoon we boarded the train to Mandalay. Bobo told us it would be a 10 hr journey. It was in fact nearly 15 hrs on the worst train we have ever been on. As we walked along the platform we passed the carriages with hard seats so were delighted when we stopped at a carriage which announced itself to be an ‘upper class sleeper’. Clearly we have a different understanding of what that means.. The cabin had 2 bunk beds & a metal shelf unit. The whole thing was filthy. I set about trying to clean the unit with hand gel & many many tissues. How I wished I had some bleach wipes & marigolds . There was a sheet on each of the beds & a pillow. Thankfully Mr L planned for just this type of occasion & ensured that we packed sleeping bag liners that keant no one part of us came into contact with anything. This train made the Trans Siberian seem like the orient express. Whilst we got settled in there was a continual stream of porters/hawkers opening our door offering us beer. We had decided to have a few days alcohol free so declined. After about the 15th time we locked the door only for one of the girls to swing round on the carriage door & poke her head through the window to ask if we wanted beer! 

As the train pulled off the sun was setting and once we were out of Yangon & the run down shanty towns we got our first glimpse of the countryside.  By 6.30pm it was pitch black so we settled down to read then to sleep. Wishful thinking. First, our carriage was right over the wheels so the noise was horrendous- even with earplugs in. Secondly the tracks are so uneven & badly maintained that the carriage shook so much our bodies jerked as if we were being bought back to life with defibrillator paddles. Continuously. I am not sure how but at some point we managed to sleep for An hour or so & from about 5 am we sat there waiting  to be back on terra firma. We were unsure if we had arrived in Mandalay due to the lack of signage, as we looked out the window the door swung open again & young faces appeared wanting  our plastic bottles. We exited the train & joined the crowds to who knew where when we were met by a welcome sight – a man holding a sign  – “welcome to Mandalay Mr & Mrs L”. We had made it.