I love to travel by train – it’s a nice sedate way to see a country, see how the people live, and I was determined to see as much of Myanmar by train as I possibly could. As it turns out, I’m only able to take one train in Myanmar and have 3 internal flights.

The train system in Myanmar hasn’t progressed much since being rebuilt between 1948 and 1961 and is slow, uncomfortable and unreliable. The discomfort didn’t quell my desire to travel by rail, but the slowness and unreliability means it was going to take too long to get from A to B to C. Also, travelling during the Myanmar monsoon meant that chances of the railway lines being unpassable were increased. So I’m taking a train from Yangon to Mandalay but other than that I’ll be traveling by air and getting to compare airports in Yangon, Mandalay, Heho and Bagan.

Flights

I get to travel on a number of air lines: Qantas, Tiger Air Singapore, Air KBZ and Bangkok Airways.

• Wellington to Sydney
• Sydney to Singapore
• Singapore to Yangon
• Mandalay to Heho
• Heho to Bagan
• Bagan to Yangon
• Yangon to Chiang Mai
• Sukhothai to Bangkok
• Bangkok to Singapore
• Singapore to Melbourne
• Melbourne to Wellington

Trains 

• Yangon to Mandalay
• Chiang Mai to Uttaradit