The area around the hotel is probably the best preserved colonial district in Asia. The British annexed southern Burma in 1852. Central Burma, ruled from Mandalay, was the historical heartland of Burma, but that didn't fall to the British for another thirty years. In the meantime, the British established their capital at what was previously a relatively small trading port, Yangon (and also changed its name to Rangoon). They then went about building all sorts of hotels, department stores, banks and trading companies, creating the colonial quarter that's pretty much unchanged today. The area was quite decrepit after the socialists took power in the '60's, but many of the buildings have been restored in the last decade and put to various commercial uses.



As an aside, those crazy generals decided last year to move the capital, since they were afraid of a US invasion. They consulted an astrologer to choose an auspicious time for the move, which was decreed to be around 2 am, at which time everyone who worked for the government embarked on a new adventure. Unfortunately the new capital, somewhere in the mountains of central Burma, wasn't close to completion, missing things like electricity and roads.





(We were in Yangon for two full days but I can't remember which areas we covered on which days, so the Yangon section won't be exactly chronological, hope that's ok.)