RIDING ON THE CIRCLE LINE OF YANGON
One of the must-do things in Yangon is definetively to get on the famous Circle Line and run for few hours northbound of the city to observe its suburbs.
The train departs from Central Station in Yangon and returns there after three hours with a wide circle of about 46 km around the city. The ticket only costs 300kyats (less than 0,50€) and the train stops in 38 stations.
The train has no doors and the windows are wide open. It’s hot in the summer, and when the train stops even hotter. The train passes along City Universities, Monastery and military barracks. Runs through fields and floating gardens of neighboring villages, squeaking and hissing along the tracks of the most extreme poverty. But this Line has no “classes” and the whole society is equally seated on the old wooden planks along the rustic wagons.
Get off in the middle of nowhere and take a look around you. In the suburbs of Yangon you find students, universitary professors, farmers and beggers. Burmese people is very respectful and kind, but they recognize ill intentions…
This trip to the most popular reality of the Burmese city, gave me the chance to meet local people and feeling part of their life. I met monks, mother taking their kids to school. Vendors of all sorts taking their vegetables and goods to the markets downtown. I loved the journey, I enjoyed every minute of it!