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Pyin U Lwin is pleasantly cool during the hot season because of its 1070 meter altitude. The British used to come here to get away from the heat of Mandalay during their occupation of the country.
This is the Golden Dreams Hotel where I stayed for 4 $US.
Here is the Buddhist monastery near the central municipal market. The strong British presence here has left a concentration of Christian, Hindu and Muslim minorities not found elsewhere in Myanmar.
The Muslims served by this mosque are the descendants of people who migrated here from British India more than 50 years ago but they are nevertheless now called Pakistani.
These one horse carriages that look like miniature stagecoaches are not only for tourists, they are the regular mode of transport that everyone uses.
The large municipal market extends for several blocks south, to the left of this street in the center of town. There is also a smaller market called the Shan market about two km northeast of here.
Markets are good place to take pictures of people. The next four pictures show Burman ladies, some of them shy to show their teeth when they laugh.
I made a nuisance of myself by asking everybody their nationality. If my notes are correct, this lady and the four that follow are Shan. It would have been much easier to identify if they had kept the custom of wearing distinctive costumes.
The Muslims at least were easy to identify by their beards. They were all very friendly with me, perhaps because I was also sporting a beard.
The one on the left below was born here and his ancestors were here before the creation of Pakistan but he nonetheless identified himself as Pakistani.
This young man running a souvenir shop was Hindu, as were the two ladies below easily identified by their bindi mark on the forehead.
The souvenir shops all over Myanmar all sell the usual Burmese handicrafts, lacquer ware and textiles, but puppets are the specialty of Pyin U Lwin. This shopkeeper of Nepali ancestry had hundreds of them.
It is interesting to note how the important Nepali community here, has maintained its customs and religion in spite of its isolation from its historical origin. The Nepali religion is a curious blend of Hinduism, Lamaism and animist beliefs. The two Nepali women below wear a blue-green bindi instead of a red one.
Finally, two ageless veterans of WW II, an ex nationalist Chinese soldier on the left and a very British looking Nepali on the right.
