18/03/2014

Made it to Mandalay at 4:20 in the morn, a 10 hr ride. We jumped in the back of a pick up truck which are the taxis in Burma and told the geezer to take us to Yoe yoe lay guesthouse, a recommendation of the Israeli dude. All the street names are just numbers so it was real easy to find. An awesome air conned dorm at $10. We awoke to a killer breakfast of fresh fruit, toast, noodles, coffee and juice. Yes sir! Me and Jonas explored the town, and Jannik kicked back as he felt ill. Went to train station to buy tickets but we couldn't until the next day. Went for food with a Dutch couple and talked about languages.

19/03/2014

Rented some bikes for $1 a day and went on a bike ride to a really long teek wooden bridge. First we went to the palace but weren't allowed in. To get to the bridge we cycled for EVER and eventually found it. En route we must have seen around a million water melons all pilled up, there are so many shops all selling them. Bumped into the Dutch couple at the bridge, and we crossed the other side together and took it all in as the sun began to set. Also bumped into the Isreali girl from the first guesthouse too. We chilled next to the bridge and all the local kids played with us, and we then watched some locals play volleyball, before cycling back. It again went on forever, and by this time it was so dark. So it was bright car lights, noise, fumes and dust all the way back. At one point I honestly just felt like giving up. Hats off to the Tour De France people, even if they are all on the juice, my god I couldn't do it!! Had shower at the guesthouse and felt better, went for dinner with the Dutch again.

20/03/2014

Settled bill. Stockpiled pancakes at breaky. Walked to train station which took 40 mins in the ridiculous heat. The train was late by one hour. We found our seat, a $10 ordinary class ticket on what can only be described as a wooden park bench of 90 degrees. This was a trip of a lifetime I will never forget, I will honestly take this thing to the grave! A mammoth 24 and a hour slog all the way up to Myitkyina. The train bounced like a ball, and we were literally flung out or seats, ultimate kangaroo petrol, up and down. The local kids also like to sling water balloons threw the windows as the train goes past, so loads of people got wet and screamed. Thought it was some type of crazy acid attack at first! Got a right shock! The train slow filled up until the point where every single square cm of floor space was taken up. There was people and s*** a strewn everywhere in some f***ed up game of human jigsaw. To get to the toilet you had to stand on the seat handles and hold onto the side racks and navigate your way along. All of which during the train shaking like a pendulum. It was sheer carnage! At one point I was adamant we were going to derail. It shook that much bags flew off the side racks, and there was that split moment when you just pause…. And hope. Despite all this it was so funny with the Germans, and I also finished my book The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. During the night we took rotations to sleep on the floor, all mangled together with the locals. I will never forget this! Haha the s***ter was also the worst of the trip as well, the groggiest dirtiest toilet known to man. It was complete flooded so you couldn't even enter it, so you had to stand outside and aim for the pot. Trainspotting eat your heart out.