Finally managed to extract ourselves from Hsipaw and took the train to Pyin Oo Lyin.
![People get ready, there's a train a-comin'...train to Pyin Oo Lyin](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG_6236-1024x768.jpg)
A fine day to be on the move. The fields are full of something yellow in bloom. It looks like canola.
![Something yellow -train to Pyin Oo Lwin](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG_6239-1024x768.jpg)
Had to go Ordinary Class, as the Upper Class was sold out. About the only difference: ordinary class has rigid seats as opposed to the upholstered luxury of Upper Class.
![In the cheap seats - train to Pyin Oo Lying](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG_6250-1024x768.jpg)
Oh, also it’s more crowded, because tickets are half the price of Upper Class. Both classes travel at the same glacial pace.
Pyin Oo Lyin is known for its colonial-era architecture. We didn’t see much of that, but our hotel was one good example.
![Hotel Nan Myaing - Pyin Oo Lwin](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG_6272-1024x768.jpg)
It was built in 1918-1922. All it needs is a brace of greyhounds gambolling in the foreground to look like something straight out of the Home Counties.
The years have not been kind, however. Now descended into a hotel that is within our budget, it still has a few traces of opulence, such as enormous rooms.
Maria tested out the Burmese beauty treatment: thanaka paste.
![Trying out a new app - Pyin Oo Lwin](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG_6277-1024x768.jpg)
The hotel provides free bicycles, probably because it’s some distance from the centre. We biked to the National Kandawgyi Botanical Gardens, a few kilometres from town.
![National Kandawgyi Botanical Gardens - Pyin Oo Lwin](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG_6295-1024x768.jpg)
A wildly popular place on the weekend. Families, young couples, overseas visitors – something for everyone.
You can get away from the crowds in the farther reaches of the park, like the Bamboo Forest.
![Bamboo curtain - Pyin Oo Lwin](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG_6291-1024x768.jpg)
I had to take a picture of this kiosk on the way back.
![Betel kiosk - Pyin Oo Lwin](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG_6298-1024x768.jpg)
Chewing betel is very popular in Burma, as in a few other Asian countries. You can usually tell by the splats of red gob everywhere. When I saw this betel outlet, I envisioned someone in a top hat and tails – maybe a walking stick, too – casually jettisoning a stream of scarlet goo onto the sidewalk with a satisfied air.