Pyin Oo Lwin (say that three times quickly!)

Pyin Oo Lwin (about 90 minutes from Mandalay, in the north of Myanmar) is a former English hill station, about 3,000 feet up, and on the main truck route to the Chinese border (major export to China this time of year? Watermelon. Huge trucks full of them in beds of straw). The Brits originally set Mandalay as the capital, and many moved it here in the summer months for the cooler mountain air (then called Maymyo, after Col. May of the 5th Bengal Infantry). Lots of 100-year-old English bungalows and large houses set amidst overgrown lots (the red roofed building is now a small hotel). Quite fascinating. The other oddity is the presence of lots of local horse drawn carriages. They look like pint-sized carriages you’d see the Queen in. All brightly painted. Not sure I’d fit in one. There is a large public garden, built largely by Turkish POW’s after WWI.

So, one huge problem on this trip has been the inability call home for the most of the time. International phone lines were cut when the UN special envoy to Myanmar was here just before I arrived. He’s been attempting to prevent further bloodshed and mediate between the ruling Junta and the outlawed opposition party, and it’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest most of the past 20 or so years. The lines were still cut when I got here, then the head general fell unconscious (he’s quite elderly now) and there were worries he’d die. Fearing unrest over a leadership transition and a potential power vacuum as others vie for the top seat, the international lines remained cut for most of the first part of my trip. Internet cafes also were down, including the one in my hotel in Pyin Oo Lwin.

Coffee on the front patio of my little hotel in Pyin Oo Lwin is interesting. The forest is alive with millions of buzzing buts and birdcalls. Monks file past in line, and horse drawn carts with bells go along the road. The roads are also home to homemade trucks that have two stroke tractor engines. You can hear them chugging along long before you see them. A few old English cars from the 30’s and 40’s. In the restaurant at the hotel there is a photo of a squad of Japanese soldiers posing. Remember, this was one of the countries they occupied. People still talk about how brutal they were. Apparently, after the war was over and the Japanese began the long walk home, locals around SE Asia made their life hell each step of the way. Long pent up rage and revenge.

Pyin Oo Lwin is known for growing coffee (all of it is exported and it’s hard to find good coffee locally) and strawberries. So, lots of strawberry jam at breakfast and lots and lots of roadside stands selling baskets (all in tiny hand woven baskets) of berries and berry wine.
Pyin Oo Lwin has been made famous by Kipling (who also wrote the “Road to Mandalay), George Orwell in his first book “Burma Days”, and Paul Theroux in “The Great Railway Bazaar”. Lots of Indians and Nepalese here, and descendents of former British Ghurkha soldiers. It gets down to about the low to mid 20’sC at night and everyone bundles up in heavy sweaters and winter coats.