See Myanmar from a luxury coach

IF YOU want to travel in a relaxed, spacious and economical mode, a journey by train is the best way of seeing Myanmar. If you are given a chance to travel along with almost all the amenities you enjoy at home, journey by train is all the more desirable. What were known as "White Coaches" were just such luxurious railway cars enjoyed by British raj on official travels during the colonial days.

Such luxuries have become available to all who could afford it since 1988. There are many places of interest that can be reached by rail. For a Yangon-Mandalay-Bagan trip you can take one of the many express trains to Mandalay. If you choose to travel in a luxury railcar, your coach will simply be hooked on for the journey. From Mandalay you can proceed to Bagan hitched to another train. Bagan is 183 miles south-west of Mandalay and it is known as the ‘city of four million pagodas’ and it is one of the richest archaeological sites in Asia.

Myanmars also used to travel to Mt Popa, an extinct volcano about 50 miles south of Bagan. It is known as the abode of the legendary Nats or spirit beings. Popa is known as the place where alchemists who had found a way to eternal life assembled. It was also the legendary trysting place of Mae Kuwun, a beautiful ogress who had fallen in love with the King Anawrahta’s flower gatherer Ko Byatta. Yangon-Tharzi-Shwe Nyaung is a very popular rail link. From Shwe Nyaung you can catch a bus which will take you to the coast of Inlay Lake.  The lake is dotted with artificial floating islands, formed by indigenous giant grass formations linked artificially by the lake dwellers to form a sort of foundation for villages. There is also a rail link from Yangon to Myitkyina in Kachin State. Travellers also used to travel due north to Myitkyina, 723 miles away and the capital city of Kachin State.

A Yangon to Kyaikhto trip is also one of the busiest short trips from Yangon. If your luxury rail car is hooked to Yangon-Mottama train you stop at Kyaikhto station. From the station you can take a bus or a taxi up to the Kinmon station at the Paung Laung hill, which itself is the southernmost foothill of the eastern Yoma mountain range.  From the Kinmon station you can either take one of the buses run by the Kyaikhtiyo Pagoda Board of Trustees or climb up the mountaintop on foot. The road leads up to the 3600ft-high mountaintops, where the Kyaikhtiyo Pagoda is situated, is full of breath-taking scenery with pure, unpolluted air to sooth your nerves. Because of higher demand, Myanma Railways have built four new BTE (Bogey Tourist Equipped) coaches, each of which are fitted with electric lighting, bathrooms and up 10 sleeping bunks. Now 12 luxury coaches are said to be available for tourists and locals alike. Railway fares may differ with the type of luxury coaches you hire or the length of journey you are going. There are seven different main railway lines that radiate out from Yangon and a further seven lines that begin and end in Mandalay.