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Slow Train to Kalaw, 2009, |
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This is the twelfth part of our 2009 Burmese Odyssey. Click here for Part 1 or Part 2 of the Slow Train account. To read more about our 2009 bash which includes many non-steam items, please see Rob and Yuehong in the Golden Land 2009, Part 1. By now the climb is almost complete, we are well over 1000 metres above sea level and much of the hillside has been cleared, this is the view looking back from one last large horseshoe before the tunnels near the summit: For photography, the sun is already very high and the train makes one last stop for us on the descent to Kalaw where some shunting is done: Here everything is drier and the people and their costumes seem different, we have entered Shan State proper. The Pa-O lady is selling sticky rice cooked in bamboo: Dried flowers and vegetables are on offer This lady had enough dried chilis for sale to satisfy even Yuehong for a year: The train winds downhill for a few more miles, journey's end for us is Kalaw, I have no wish to continue to the tourist trap that Inle Lake already was on my visit 10 years ago. We expected the train to take just over 6 hours, in fact it has taken just over 7 hours; the bus takes half as long, but you would be mad to take it. It's simply been another great Burmese train journey. The best word for Kalaw station is 'twee', the town is cleaner than the average (not difficult) and the air fresh and clear after the dusty plains. There's not a great deal to do; I recall that long ago Ilfracombe in the West of England used to promote itself as being a great place for honeymooners. Perhaps Kalaw could do the same, in other words it's just the place to spend a couple of days getting ready for some heavy and serious rice mill bashing. Or dreaming what this amazing line was like in steam days. This is Rob Kingsford-Smith's picture taken from the cab of a GB Garratt on an engineers' train between the two zig-zags on 13th January 1972, it's from our CD-ROM Tiger Steam.:
You can read more about Kalaw on another page. If you enjoyed this account of train travel in Burma, you will also enjoy other journeys we have made recently:
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Rob and Yuehong Dickinson
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