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The romantic East: Burma, Assam, & Kashmir - Khamkoo

The romantic East: Burma, Assam, & Kashmir - Khamkoo

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CHAPTER IX<br />

GOKTEIK<br />

<strong>The</strong> railway to Lashio <strong>The</strong> Gokteik gorge and viaduct <strong>The</strong><br />

natural bridge Maymyo <strong>The</strong> excursion to Moulmein.<br />

FROM Mandalay we went by way of Myohaung<br />

Junction, three miles south, to the famous Gokteik<br />

gorge<br />

and the viaduct over it.<br />

Immediately<br />

Sedaw, thirteen<br />

after<br />

miles from the junction, the line<br />

begins to ascend the precipitous mountain-side by<br />

a series of zig<br />

-<br />

zags. <strong>The</strong>re are four reversing<br />

stations<br />

between Sedaw and Maymyo, a distance<br />

of twenty-six miles, and on some of the gradients,<br />

which are as steep as 1 in 25, sand tracks are arranged<br />

so that a runaway train or carriage would be brought<br />

to a standstill in troughs of sand. <strong>The</strong> first station<br />

after Sedaw is Zibingyi, 1857 feet above the sea, and<br />

on the way up Mandalay<br />

hill can be seen on a clear<br />

day almost due west. After Zibingyi come<br />

79

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