Day 12 Thazi to Kalaw

I awoke c. 04:30, there was some chanting!! Our carriage awaited us at 07:15. However, there was a moment of panic as all the doors in the guest house were locked !! A packed breakfast was left for us and no one was about. I rang the reception bell more in hope than expectation! The owner appeared, opened the door and wished us an enjoyable trip. 

Outside was a pony and trap which would take us to the station. 

The driver loaded our bags, drove us to the station, showed us the ticket office (we had to show our passports to purchase the tickets K1,850 pp €1.30 for c.6 hour journey), loaded the bags onto the train and showed us our seats - again such service. 

 

The platform was abuzz with people both passengers and vendors. One could even have breakfast on the platform if one dared!!

The train is filthy!! I don’t think it has been cleaned or maintained in any way since purchase - everything including the ceiling fans are covered in layers of dirt and dust. As for the toilets - atrocious! Once one departed the main tourist areas, standards drop exponentially. People appeared poorer and not as well dressed. The train reminds me of the Tazara, which we took in Africa.  We’re now rocking along at about 20 miles an hour. The German girls are sitting in front of us and there are a few more locals in this carriage. Most passengers travel in Ordinary Class -  on hard seats! Our seats are quite comfortable.

We travel through the plains for a time. The farmers are working in the field. The land is very intensively cultivated.  Eventually, we climb into the mountains, 

Passing through tunnel after tunnel. 

Passing station after station

picking up and dropping off passengers 

The vendors come on board selling their wares They don’t trouble us!

Lunch is being prepared on the platform for passengers 

We continue to climb. As we approach Kalaw - the tree planted hills are replaced by intensive agriculture 

with a farmer ploughing with an ox and plough

and another manually irrigating the land. 

After a very scenic six hours journey, we arrived in Ka law 

The air is fresher at this altitude. It has a Himalayan atmosphere with a temperature to match.  It is a town built by the British civil servants to escape the heat of the plains. The town’s population is composed of a significant number of Nepalese Gurkhas and Indians whose ancestors built the roads and railways here during the colonial period. 

We had booked: 

an old colonial hotel dating back to 1903. The Strand Hotel (1901) in Yangon is the oldest in the country. Kalaw Hotel is the second oldest. 

The interior is splendid 

We had a walk near the hotel - seeking out a church where an Italian priest spent from 1931, a year or two after his ordination until he died here in 2,000!   We saw a Christian Brothers premised and the nearby St. Agnes’s convent - vestiges of former times, I’d venture!  

We returned to the hotel to dinner. We imbibed a cocktail in the bar. 

A  Manchester couple who set up the hotel in 1903.  Similar to all hotels we have frequented to date, there were few guests. The dining room is named after the founders of this establishment - the Sissons, 

We dined there. There were only eleven other diners. The food was delicious. I had

Danu Chicken Tea Leaf Curry and CC had Aromatic Chicken from the Shan Hills - the latter area is where our Italian chef in Yangon sources his ingredients from.( Remember him?).  Both were delicious. 

CC craved a semolina pudding - a throw back from his childhood!! 

However, the local version was very different (as a child I never enjoyed semolina, rice or any other of those traditional puddings). It was composed of a semolina cake, topped by a fantastic shortbread cup filled with fresh fruit. - delicious. 

We retired.