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Cooling down in Pyin Oo Lwin

Kandawgyi National Gardens is a 437-acre park with a 70-acre lake, forestland and flowers galore. The park was originally built in 1915-1916 by a British forestry official, Mr. Charles Alex Rogers.Although only 70 kilometres from Mandalay, Pyin Oo Lwin is worlds away climate-wise, a refreshing antidote to the hot, dusty and hectic streets of Myanmar’s last royal capital. In that distance, the road between the two towns climbs from 74 to 1050 metres above sea level, winding through pine forests and past mountain vistas. This change in elevation, and the accompanying drop in temperature, accounts for much of the difference.

Pyin Oo Lwin can be nearly 8 degrees Celsius cooler than the plains below, the perfect climate for growing flowers, fruits and vegetables year-round. Combine this abundant plant growth with colonial-era buildings and a stunning mountain backdrop, and the result is one of the most uniquely picturesque towns in Myanmar.

Pyin Oo Lwin was originally a Shan Danu village, but in the late 19th century it was occupied by British colonial forces. In 1896 it became a hill station that served as a retreat for European civil servants stationed in Mandalay during the hottest months, from March through May. Many of these seasonal residents built Edwardian-style summer cottages, a good number of which are still standing on grassy plots around town despite the heavy damage sustained by the area during World War II.
My visit to Pyin Oo Lwin occurred last December, and although Mandalay is not at its hottest at that time of year, it was still a relief to drive up into the tree-shaded hills. We climbed for more than an hour, passing cargo-laden trucks making their way to the Chinese border at a snail’s pace. We stopped halfway to let the engine of our hired car cool down and to eat delicious Shan noodles at a roadside restaurant. When we had our fill we continued our ascent, and every few minutes it seemed like the temperature dropped one or two degrees Celsius. Then the road levelled and we found ourselves in Pyin Oo Lwin, a town that was, as advertised, sprouting with trees, flowers and vegetables.

It wasn’t hard to find a place to stay. We chose a reasonably priced guesthouse on the main road, but there are also pleasant mid-range hotels nestled on quiet backstreets. In early 2007 the accommodation options will expand with the opening of Hotel Pyin Oo Lwin, the town’s first four-star resort. The facility is expected to include a restaurant and a tram service for rides around town, as well as to and from the nearby airport currently under development.

In the meantime, the literary-minded might want to stop by Thiri Myaing Hotel, which was once Candacraig, where Paul Theroux stayed in the early 1970s, as recounted in his book The Great Railway Bazaar. For those with a taste for nocturnal horror, the government-run Nan Myaing Hotel is purported by locals to be haunted by restless spirits of the dead. 

We started our exploration of the downtown area on foot, taking our bearings from Purcell Tower, whose hourly chimes duplicate the 16 notes played by Big Ben in London. The main street is a mix of colonial-era buildings and graceless modern Chinese architecture, which, aside from guesthouses, also accommodate restaurants and teashops. Many of these are run by descendants of the thousands of Nepalis and Indians who moved to Pyin Oo Lwin during the colonial era.

Our immediate goal was to buy gifts unique to the area for friends back in Yangon. Our first stop was one of the numerous shops on the main road selling attractive hand-knit sweaters and hats to guard against the chilly nights. Maybe they weren’t the best purchase for people living in the steamy climate of lower Myanmar, but it’s the thought that counts. We also went to the central market to buy fruit jam, produced using strawberries grown in the hills around town. The fruits are also used to make a variety
of dried snacks, shockingly sweet wine and ice cream.

We sampled the homemade strawberry ice cream at Golden Triangle Café and Bakery, where we also drank cappuccino while
sitting in wicker chairs on the covered deck listening to Indian music from a teashop across the street. Golden Triangle is also a good place to buy another local product that was much appreciated by our friends back home: organic coffee made with locally grown beans. 

The shopping out of the way, it was time to do some sightseeing. We hired one of the local pony carts that, aside from the colourful paint job, looked like they had rolled straight out of America’s western frontier circa 1880. Our destination for the day
was Kandawgyi National Gardens, a 437-acre park with a 70-acre lake, forestland and flowers galore. The park was originally built in 1915-1916 by a British forestry official, Mr. Charles Alex Rogers. When it opened in 1917 it was about 170 acres in size, and has slowly expanded over the years to its current size.

We wandered the grounds, admiring the immaculately landscaped flowerbeds, exotic orchids, wide-open meadows and whispering pine forests. The lake featured an island with a small stupa that could be reached via a wooden bridge. Swans and ducks roamed freely among the tour groups and picnicking families. Overlooking it all was the 10-storey Nan Myint Tower, from the top of which the park looked like an impressionistic collection of colour splashes expertly arranged to maximise aesthetic effect.

Just outside of Kandawgyi National Gardens we saw another project under development, a “national landmark” park that when completed will contain miniature models of famous sights from all the states and divisions of Myanmar. Slated for inclusion were scaled-down versions of Shwedagon Pagoda (Yangon Division), Golden Rock (Mon State), Chaungtha Beach (Ayeyarwady Division), Shittaung Pagoda (Rakhine State), Hkakabo Razi Mountain (Kachin State) and Inle Lake (Shan State).

The next day we hired a car to range farther from town. The area around Pyin Oo Lwin is known for its natural beauty, which includes wooded hills and a number of waterfalls. We opted for the easily accessible Pwe Kauk Falls about 8 kilometres outside of town on the road to Lashio. It’s a popular area with the locals, offering shady picnic areas and inner tube rentals for those who want to get wet. We had a blast watching kids and adults alike float in the water, fully clothed, in the pool beneath the cascading water.

Our next stop was the spectacular Peik Chin Myaing Buddha cave complex. Outside, there were groups of visitors and pilgrims posing for photographs and splashing in the waterfall that issued from the cave mouth. Inside, the scene was a bit more serene, and very otherworldly. We had removed our shoes in deference to the sacredness of the site, and the water that flowed from hidden tunnels over our feet was icy cold. We were in a place that seemed far from the sun and indeed far from the earth as we knew it, as the dim lighting revealed subterranean pagodas and niches containing scenes from the Buddha’s life. We followed the mysterious cavern about one kilometre to the main shrine before retracing our steps back to the land of sun and sky.

On the way back to town we stopped at Maha Anhtoo Kantha Paya which, after the time we had just spent underground, seemed to shine so brightly in the sun that it made my eyes water to look at it. The pagoda has an odd story behind it: In April 1997, a truck passed through the area carrying three marble Buddha statues from Mandalay to their new home in China. Just past Pyin Oo Lwin, one of them fell from the truck and, despite many attempts, could not be reloaded due to its weight. What to do in such a situation? While the other two statues continued their journey to the border, the wayward image stayed where it was,
and a pagoda was built by locals to house it.

As I ambled around the hilltop pagoda, I thought maybe the story was not so strange after all. Surrounded by vistas of strawberry fields, feeling the cool air brush against my skin, I realised that I, like the statue, had no desire to be anywhere other than where I was at the moment.

Author by Michael Rasmussen(SweSone Yangon Inflight Magazine)

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