Pyin-Oo-Lwin - Maymyo
back to Mandalay
Pyin-Oo-Lwin is a really nice town, a former hillstation that's retained much of its colonial charm. It's easy to imagine George Orwell's characters from 'Burmese Days' sipping afternoon tea on the wooden verandas of the Victorian homes that still dot the small ring road.
I ride around exploring some of the wooden mansions, seeing most have been renovated by rich top brass and well-connected Chinese businessmen; I'm told the asking price for any of the few left neglected has leapt to half a million US bucks. Incredible. There are one or two still in a state of neglect and I manage to get inside one, its architectural features mostly intact.
It was called Maymyo by the Brits, who retreated here to escape the summer heat of Mandalay. The name means May Town, given by Colonel May when he was stationed here back in the 1880s.
The streets are still full of brightly painted horse-drawn carriages, like mini stagecoaches from a John Wayne flick, and it's hard to believe they're not some form of tacky tourist attraction, but a part of local culture.
In fact I don't see any tourists during the couple of days exploring the town and the Brits didn't call it a hillstation for nothing; there's a great descent on the way back to Mandalay after spending two evenings in a 25-dollar-a-night swish hotel.
It's mostly down from the town and my speed is decent for quite a few kilometres. It's also quiet, with mostly government vehicles on the road, which most people step aside for automatically.
The craziness of city traffic soon come, though. Mandalay isn't what you would call bicycle friendly.
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