A very interesting, but difficult travel to Myitkyina

We heard that Myitkyina (spoken Mejina) about 780KM in the north of Mandaly is now open to foreigners.  For a long time is was off-limit, since there were fighting between the government and the Kachin people, who wants to be independent. Not long ago the trains were escorted by military trains and no foreigerners were allowed to go.  Also it is a major hub for rubies, gold, jade and teak. Hence it was not allowed for foreigners to go there.

As Shelly likes those remote locations, we opted to take the train to this town. Shelly managed to get to berth ticket for each $45, dealing with the staff in limited English and not be able to read the local language and signs. But she made it:

The next morning we arrived at noon at the railway station, as our train was scheduled for 13:00. Unfortunately there was a delay and we had to come back at 18:30. So we did and were greeted by a lot of people, all waiting to embark the train: monks, peasants, women with trading goods, little kids, military, just everybody from the Myamar society. 

When finally at 19:00 the end of the train was slowly approaching the platform. A guy on the first coach was ringing a bell to warn the people and the animals, who were constantly crossing the tracks.

When it stopped all people and their goods got in, but not us. The Supervisor informed us, that this is a very slow train to Myitkyina and our train comes later. So I had the pleasure watching the experienced train staff fixing small problems with the latches and cables, while a mighty diesel locomotive was hooked up to the train. This train had Ordinary Class (only metal seats), but also first class seats (soft), but no berth coach. After this train left, our arrived in the same way and we found our coach. We shared the 4 bed cabin with 2 men, either upper class or business men. Around 20:15 our fast train started and we left Mandalay, watching the nice illuminated pagodas.

When we went to bed it was soon obvious that this train was NOT comparable with a European train. It was very, very bumpy and you could hear every single connection between the rails. Also the train was swinging from left to the right and sometimes we were scared, that the wagon will just loose the tracks…

Nevertheless I could sleep more or less well, while Shelly was pretty much up all night, listing us three men snore away. The next morning we were still making our way through intense jungle and passing little villages or stopping there, because we had to wait for the incoming train, as there was only ONE TRACK available. When we stopped at a village, many women came to the train, selling food for the train guests:

Finally we arrived pretty finished at 17:15 in Myitkyina the next day. That is an overall duration 12h+9h = 21h, average speed = 37km/h, not bad….When we arrived, immediately the immigration officer grabbed us and we had to write all information into an immigration book, pretty unusual. On the other site it was clear that this border town (very close to China), where for many years fighting was going on between the government and the Kashin people was NOT a normal tourist place.

Next morning we visited the very colorful market, where you can buy those nice things:

Strangely enough we really liked this town and had a lot of fun. We even got a very nice haircut for 2.5 Dollars, inclusive a very good hair massage….

We also met very nice people, like Anton (a French guy, who travels for more than one year) and Gottfried and Martin (both Apnea divers from Austria). With Anton we shared a car and drove around (only 25Km around the town allowed for foreigners), for example to Myithson, where the two rivers Malikhaand and Maykha are feeding the mighty Irrawady.

Shelly"s version:

My brilliant idea: Let’s go to Myitkyina, there won’t be any tourists. I also thought the biggest challenge would be buying the train ticket from a ticket agent at the train station who could barely speak English. Thank god he could write the schedule in English and I understood that the train with a sleeping berth leaves in two days at one o’clock.  We arrived early enough to catch our train.  The train station was filling up with masses of people sitting together on the ground eating and enjoying themselves.  When we found out that our train was delayed for six hours. I could see that this trip was pushing Frank’s patience to the limit.  We left our things with the supervisor’s office and fled to find something to eat in Mandaly.  Arriving back at six o’clock we noticed there were no other foreign travels except a Frenchman Antoine who was also waiting for the train but he was doing it the hard core way and chose to ride on the hard seat. He also informed us that his train was supposed to leave at four o’clock but was running late.  Antoine relaxed attitude helped Frank get over his German everything should be on time attitude. Antoine’s train left before ours and we arrived in Myitkyina before him.  Although I really enjoyed the train ride, I would not recommend it to most people. It took 21 hours for us to arrive there and Antoine’s train took 27 hours.  The sleeping berths were as basic as you get. You get a sheet, a pillow and a blanket.  They seemed clean but who knows when they were last wash.  The compartment was old and rusty.  Our companions from Rangoon were great.  They tried to give us a bit of insight to their country. Each town had venders who would either sell their food from outside the train windows or would jump on the trains at one station and then jump off at the next one.

 The food was freshly made.  I was proud that I had collected all my trash in a bag but then at one point our companions threw the bags outside. I was so shocked. No recycle here! He explained that if the food is on the ground we get visitors and just at that moment, I mouse slipped our suitcase and vanished down the hall. After hearing three snoring men all night, I decided to spend the daytime wondering around the train. The people were nice and I tried to teach some of them English.  They kept giving me things to eat and drink and they even offered me beetle nut which I refused when I looked at their rotting teeth decay.  It was quite a cultural experience and I could tell that many of them had never seen a western woman before.

Arriving in Myitkyina that next evening we had to go through immigration. The Immigration officer complimented Frank on having a beautiful wife. We later laughed about it but later on, after three marriage proposals and women touching my skin. I realized that I represented the ideal beauty with light colored skin and light colored hair which was something that they wanted to have. It was interesting that they did not see my age but only looked at these features. The television was full of whitening products.  It seems strange that in the west we are buying tanning products where here they are selling whitening products.  I decided to get my hair done after Frank had his done and got a 40 minute head massage included. What an experience! End the end I had six women around me helping the main hairdresser do her work. Talk about feeling like a super star.

 I decided to go to the cultural museum and it was very close to the military block that controls this town.  There was not a tourist in sight.  Inside the building it was dark but after 10 minutes I found an old man and his granddaughter who allowed me to look at the various exhibits. I noticed from the guest book I was the 152 visitor of this museum and it has been open since 1996.  Most of the comments from the guests were complains about the exhibits being to simply made but I think in this remote are it was extraordinary that they even had a museum on the different ethnic groups which are currently under attack from the government. I have to say this town was a very special experience for me. We were only 6 tourists in this town and I was the only woman.

  It gave me that feeling of being an explorer, that I could investigate them while they were investigating me.  I had wonderful moments there sitting with the fisher man’s family watching the sun rise to having all the ladies selling fruits and vegetables laughing at me while I tried the various strange fruits.

 Myitkyina is a town that will stay in my heart forever. We caught it at a moment before it will change and catch up with the rest of the country which is clearly on the move.