Gokteik viaduct

Completed in 1900 by the Pennsylvania and Maryland Bridge Construction Company for the British Burma Railways, the Gokteik Viaduct spans a limestone gorge in the Shan Hills at a height of approximately 102 metres, carrying the Mandalay-Lashio railway line. At the time of its construction it was one of the longest railway bridges in the world, and for much of the twentieth century it remained the second-highest railway trestle on Earth. Trains slow to a crawl when crossing the viaduct, and passengers lean from open windows to observe the gorge floor far below and the forested escarpment on either side.