I've been stumbling over this name for days, its pronounced Pyinoowin, but my tongue wants to do something with that "l"
It is cooler!! - quite comfortable and quite an upgrade in places to stay. It feels like a three star place compared to the dump in Mandalay. The room includes a thermos of hot water, coffee packets and a plate of cookies!!
After sending a few grimy bits of clothing off for laundering, I made an attempt to follow the hotel map into town. The Royal Park View, is a bit out of the way in and area of former British hill station residences of the 19th century. It is not one of them, just in the same neighborhood.
It appears I wasn't the only one who couldn't read the map as I got completely different directions depending on who I asked ;-)
I was in search of nourishment and a bicycle. I found the first in a shop owned by a second generation Chinese man who'd been educated at the Mission School and spoke English well. His father left the Yunnan after the Japanese left Burma, to avoid the civil war going on in his native land. Pop settled here and now there are four generations.
Wonderful greasy noodles with maybe a whole tablespoon of finely cut up chicken.
Walking and asking about bicycles attracted the attention of a young shop keeper who raced up to help. She began telling me how to find a bike, and when I asked her to spell the name of the landmark shop she was referring to, she realized the sign was in Burmese not English!
I did find a bike and with a better map managed to make it back to the hotel for a bit of a siesta. The bike was a bit defective so I exchanged it later in the afternoon, after attempting to reach a supposedly good sunset viewing place. The pavement gave out and I found it more and more difficult to go up and down rocky bone shattering hills
with pedals that kept skipping.
This area is the training grounds for Burmese Army officers. I passed Signal Corps and Electronics schools and a 700 bed military hospital. I actually rode right into one of the compounds as I'd missed a turn to the monastery where I had been headed. They were very kind in aiming me in the right direction.
Am reading a book by the grandson of U Thant, UN Secretary General 20-40 years ago. "Where China Meets India" He writes about the civil war here following independence, and the militaries desire to have a united country. There are 50 some tribes, currently living under a cease fire agreement. The Generals idea to unify them was to bring them to Yangon, wine and dine them, show them what could be to their benefit by being a united country - one of the reasons for all the billboards advertising "stuff" Build roads to China, get more stuff coming in, improve education, clean water systems, infrastructure and get the tribes to buy in to seeing themselves as Myanmarians first and "x" tribe second. All this funded by jade, silver, gems, teak and heroin. The West stood on the outside with their sanctions because of the brutality with which the Generals implemented their plan, so China stepped in to help with the infrastructure, and now a pipeline to get Myanmar natural gas, and power from hydroelectric projects. No EPA reports will be conducted because the world bank isn't funding, China is, and they don't seems to care about the environment in their own country let alone Myanmar. (Pollution in Beijing a day or two ago was beyond recordable)
Its very unsettling to think that sanctions imposed by the west may not have been the wisest policy in the long run. Everything we do has unintended consequences..........
-On the road with Kathryn
Location:Pyin U Lwin
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