Colonial history lessons from an old Anglo-Burmese hill station

Myanmar's former summer capital Maymyo is peaceful, for now, but conflict looms

There may be one or two fewer historic shophouses in Maymyo -- or Pyin Oo Lwin -- since the author last visited five years ago, but for the most part, the physical appearance of the central Myanmar town has changed little. (All photos by Jan Olson)

JAN OLSON

November 27, 2024 08:00 JST

As Myanmar's map of safe zones continues to shrink, the precarious position of the former British colonial hill station at Pyin Oo Lwin feels especially poignant.

This is a place I have come to know well through long visits, the last in 2019, before Myanmar's 2021 military takeover and the preceding COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, it was possible to take a train from Mandalay -- a winding four-hour ascent through leafy woodland that ended at a small redbrick station, high in the Shan Hills and many decades in the past.