Four wheeled travel into the hills (Pyin Oo Lwin and beyond)

Sam navigating through
Kandawgi Gardens

There are many ways to travel around Myanmar cheaply. Sam and I have experienced several of these modes of  transport including train,  coach bus, mini-bus, motorcycle taxi and shared taxi. I suppose private chartered car or a simple plane ride would be optimal,  but I'm out of student loan money and don't get my first paycheck until July 31st. I just can't afford that kind of luxury.

Our eight hour bus-rides to and from Yangon to Ngwe Saung beach introduced me to certain Myanmar bus behaviors including  blaring Myanmar pop music and the accompanying videos over the main speakers.  This country also has a love affair with the rest stop which lasts 30 minutes to eat an entire meal. I think it's a nod to Buddhist views that if you get to live more than one life, why rush through this one. A 30 minute stop (or two or three) on an 8 hour bus ride won't hurt anyone...

Mini-bus rest-stop

Even during our 4 hour drive from Bagan to Mandalay, the minibus stopped at a fairly deserted restaurant for 30 minutes. Half of the passengers ate a traditional Myanmar meal, while most of the foreigners stared wistfully at their coca-cola cans with neon straws wondering if we would ever leave.  These long rest stops also serve the purpose of cooling down the engine and washing bugs and serious dust off the vehicle.

Minibus travel is less preferable to a regular coach bus, but better than the train. The minibus ride from Bagan to Mandalay was cramped and incredibly bumpy with tepid air conditioning. At first we drove along literal dirt roads and at one point we crossed a river on a shared bridge: a bridge with train tracks that cars use as well. Our driver was more aggressive than most Myanmar as he vigorously beeped his car horn at every motorcycle we passed. Outside of Yangon, Myanmar transport is dominated by motorbikes. Driving etiquette is orchestrated through horn honking. A car or truck will honk their horn a few times to let the motorbike know they are going to be passed. All mechanized vehicles honk at pedestrians to alert them of their presence. Mandalay, quite a large city, had almost no traffic lights or stop signs yet quite a lot of cars and motorbikes. A car would honk twice before turning  a corners and just continuously honk as it crossed an intersection. Apparently there is rule for this chaos: the driver is responsible for everything in front of them and with that should avoid collisions.

Sam and I stopped overnight in Mandalay where it was 108F to catch a bus to cooler parts of the country. We wandered the back streets of the city and walked by the razor wire covered fences of large houses and compounds in the neighborhood next to the royal palace. We observed the dominance of Chinese culture through language and food in a city that is considered a hub for Chinese commerce in Myanmar.

Inside an old colonial building

Though Mandalay was the royal capital during the Burmese monarchy, much of the city and palace was destroyed by Allied bombs while fighting the Japanese during World War 2. The last Burmese monarch, King Thibaw was deposed by the British and exiled to India.  The last royal white elephant, a symbol of the monarchy was unceremoniously dragged out of the palace. In an effort known as "Burmesifcation," a movement to promote the Burmese history over the history and culture of the other ethnic minorities, the military government built a replica of the royal palace and used forced labor to re-dig the surrounding moat.

Tennis court at the British Club, certainly has seen better days

We caught a shared taxi from Mandalay to Pyin Oo Lwin. We squeezed 4 people plus the driver into a decent sized sedan. This 2 hour taxi ride cost $7 each, and we made only two stops for gas and betel nut for the driver. Pyin Oo Lwin, called Maymyo (May  Town) by the British, was founded in 1887 as the summer capital and a respite from summer heat of Yangon. At an elevation of 3600 feet, the town is significantly cooler, the winding roads are shaded with  the red flowered  Royal Poinciana tree and pine trees. The town's former glory is preserved by the many colonial English houses, usually brick framed in teak wood. Some houses are dilapidated, others refurbished by wealthy military or Chinese  families.

We took a motorcycle ride to the Candicraig, former British Club. British officers from Mandalay who longed for the feel of their English home would regularly ride two hours along twisting mountain roads to drink gin and tonics and play pool at the Candicraig. After the Brits left, it was turned into a government run hotel for foreign visitors to Pyin Oo Lwin.  We met the caretaker of the Candicraig who told us the historical 7 room mansion was to be redone and expanded into a boutique hotel with  a pool. I agree with the former Colonial officers. Pyin Oo Lwin was a quiet, cool retreat from other parts of Myanmar and I most enjoyed motorcycle rides along the pine shaded winding country roads.

Side view of the Candicraig,
original doors

Pyin Oo Lwin is still home to the central military academy of the Myanmar army ( aka the Tatmadaw). The town is also the home of Kandawgi Gardens, a 430 acre botanical garden, founded by the British in 1915. Parts are maintained as a model of English gardens, the bulk is forest reserve to conserve and propagate many native species. Each tree genus has a large plot dedicated to the different species; the best example was the Bamboo orchard.

English part of Kandawgi Gardens

From Pyin Oo Lwin, we caught a $14, four hour shared taxi to Hsipaw, former capital of the Shan State. Our cab driver, a quintessential Buddhist driver had one foot on the accelerator and one foot in the afterlife. He zoomed through the Shan country roads. On his rearview mirror hung red and white pieces of fabric, Nat flags, symbolizing protection by traditional animist spirits.  Shan state is mountainous, good for growing tea, coffee, and a hair-raising cab ride. We had a 5 mile stretch of hairpin turns, as we descended and then ascended the area around the Goteik viaduct, an American made bridge that crosses a 350 foot gorge. These sometimes one lane, sharp angled  roads were crowded with taxis, motorcycles, huge trucks and buses with lots of honking in a dance of passing on the mountain.

Perplexed in the "Bambuseum"