Overnight in Maymyo (Pyin U Lwin), 2009

This is the third part of our 2009 Burmese Odyssey. To read more about our 2009 bash which includes many non-steam items, please see Rob and Yuehong in the Golden Land 2009.

We arrived in Maymyo in the late afternoon from Lashio. It would have been a delightful stopover even if the train on to Mandalay arrived there at a more civilised hour than 22.40. We enjoyed a very pleasant morning wandering around the town which has some wonderfully preserved colonial era buildings and has a significant population of Indians and Gurkhas from the British army times - Burma's Defence College is situated here.

The most photographed landmark is the Purcell Clock Tower, behind is the main mosque:

Walking down for breakfast we passed the former Cantonese Association building with an Indian style building next door:

Tea, toast and beans - Burmese style - with samosas to follow:

This is perhaps the town's most famous classic building, it's a hotel but way beyond our budget...

Immortalised in Paul Theroux's book "The Great Railway Bazaar" where I confess I first read about Gokteik viaduct, Candacraig is an amazing survivor of a long gone era where single expatriate men had to be 'protected' from the unhealthy effect of fraternising with local women who were all assumed to be of a dubious and predatory nature.

The building was open wide, the only person we saw as we walked around was a gardener. Given that the number of tourists in Burma during our visit was tiny, I doubt it sees many guests these days.

To appreciate the full glory of Candacraig, we tiptoed around the tennis court. Afterwards, we quietly took our leave.

Ambling back to town we photographed anything which took our fancy:

The Roman Catholic Church is a magnificent example of British Victorian brick architecture, back home it would probably have been torn down 40 years ago:

But you don't have to look too far for reminders that this is a Buddhist country:

We packed up, walked to the clock tower and took an almost empty pick-up down to Mandalay, front seats cost us Ky 2000 each, if we had sat inside at the back it would have been a more modest Ky 1500. It's a pleasant enough run down on an excellent but quiet road. Stopping for a snack en route, the 40 miles took just over 2 hours, we were warned that Yuehong might have a problem with the immigration department check point on the way as Chinese citizens are said not to be allowed through this way, in the event she put on her sun glasses, I waved at the officers and they didn't even ask to see our passports. We were dropped off in town at a spot which turned out to be just a few hundred yards from our rendezvous with our guide friend, Han Win Aung. It was almost time to stop enjoying ourselves and get on with some serious stationary steam engine gricing in the rice mills, starting next day in Shwebo.