It’s cold up in them hills! Pyin U Lwin, the former British Hill Station known as Maymyo, is located about 70 kilometers from Mandalay. Due to its elevated location, it’s cooler during the hot summer months and positively frigid in January – which is when I foolishly chose to make my visit. Actually, the weather was quite pleasant during the day. Once the sun came up and warmed things up a bit you could peel off a layer or two of the clothing you wore to bed. But at night the temperatures dipped down to near freezing and it was time for the extra blankets. Too damn cold for my tropical blood. Take me back to the swamp!
I stayed at the Dahlia Hotel (they pronounce it “Day-lee-uh”), which was located on the south side, not far from the golf course and the famous Botanical Gardens, but otherwise a bit isolated from the heart of the city. During the day I either rented a bike and rode around town, or took a pony cart to the center of town and then explored the area on foot.
I was walking around the colorful Shan Market one morning, having just wolfed down a bowl of spicy noodles, when an old woman – she looked to be in her eighties – approached and greeted me as if I were a long-lost friend. “Good morning! How are you?” she said, reaching out to shake my hand. “Happy New Year! Better late than never!” With that last rejoinder I almost burst out laughing. Who was this funny Burmese woman with impeccable English skills?
She said her name was Sheila and she had grown up here in Pyin U Lwin, although she still called it Maymyo. After talking for a few minutes, she slipped in a plea for some money. I didn’t mind. She certainly wasn’t your typical beggar, and I didn’t begrudge giving the poor old lady a bit of much-needed cash. After I forked over the money I thought that would be the end of our meeting. But Sheila had other ideas. She wanted to show me around the area and make sure I saw the nearby Chinese temple and the rest of the Shan Market.
But first a teashop stop. We walked across the busy main road (“Be careful,” she warned, as we waited for some trucks to pass, “these cars will knock you down and run away!”) and entered the small Circular Road Teashop. We both had cups of sweet hot tea and I munched on a tasty cinnamon roll. After we finished I was getting ready to pay the bill but Sheila peeled out some of the money I had given her earlier and she proudly paid the tab. Later, walking down the road, she stopped and bought me a bag of Shan desserts. You can’t say these people aren’t hospitable.
Walking back from the Chinese Temple – where there was a tasty-looking spread of food being offered to the spirits – Sheila advised me to watch my belongings while in town. “You have to be careful. If you leave your bag on the ground, they take it and run away.” On the subject of prices, she had this warning: “If you buy something for 300 kyat and give them a 1000 kyat note they will take your change and run away.” If what Sheila was saying was true, there were a lot of people in this town who were keen to do bad things and run away.
And maybe Sheila’s warnings weren’t so far-fetched: there truly was a weird vibe in this town. My Lonely Planet guidebook observed that in Pyin U Lwin “much of the town’s populace is decked out in various fatigues … but not everyone is military.” That assessment is pretty much spot on. There certainly ARE a lot of dudes walking around in army garb or wearing combat helmets. As I was getting on a motorbike to go back to my hotel, one guy in an army helmet saluted me. Must have been that Minnesota Twins cap I was wearing. I don’t doubt that Kirby Puckett is worshipped in these hills. But the most troubling aspect of the town’s military vibe (an Air Force Academy is located on the outskirts of the city) was all the children I saw playing with toy guns. Oodles and oodles of the damn things; both kids and guns. There were more kids playing with toy guns in Pyin U Lwin than in any other place I visited in Myanmar. Somebody bring these people more volleyballs and badminton rackets!
Downtown Pyin U Lwin is a bit dusty and rundown, but the surrounding area is quite scenic; mountains in the distance and stately old British-built homes dotting the landscape. The famous Candacraig Hotel (mentioned in one of Paul Theroux’s travel books) is one of several Colonial era mansions now functioning as hotels. Besides the sprawling Botanical Gardens (176 hectares), the biggest attractions in the area are a couple of waterfalls. But due to the cold weather I had no desire to go anywhere near water and passed on outings to those places.
