iSurprise Insein Swimming Pool

Ramshackle swimming pool hidden in the railway yard

  • Myanmar Railways Locomotive Workshop, Thiri Street, Insein
  • Open daily 8am-6pm, closed Thursdays
The best time to come is Friday and Saturday when the water is cleanest.
— Naw Kyi Pyar San, railway factory worker



A community pool

A real find! The Thiri Road pool was built for the railway workers and their families but is now open to the general public. Water for the pool is sourced from underground and is wonderfully cold and refreshing on hot summer afternoons when this is a popular spot for local kids. “The best time to come is Friday and Saturday, when water is cleanest,” says Naw Kyi Pyar San, a worker from the railway factory.

Burma railways

Everywhere you look, you see evidence of this being a corporate complex, even the benches are branded ‘BR’: Burma Railways. The Burma Railways was and still is a huge emporium managing over 5,000 kilometres of rail network with more than 800 stations throughout the country.



The headquarters

The iconic former Burma Railway company headquarters in downtown Yangon are now being developed as a five-star luxury hotel, under the Peninsula chain.


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