Somchai improved enough to catch up with the Mandalay tour in the afternoon. Mandalay was the last capital of Burma before British occupation, and has traditionally been considered culturally the most Burmese city. There are four nearby cities that were previously Burmese capitals and are easily reached from Mandalay if you want ancient history, but Mandalay proper is only a couple centuries old. The center of the city is occupied by a vast royal complex, surrounded by a moat and high white walls, each side almost two miles long. Unfortunately the palace was completely burned down during fighting between the Japanese and British during World War II, so it's now a heavily protected square of nothing occupying the middle of the city. The government has been busy building fake stuff around the complex to give it a purpose, which I assume is open now, but when we visited it the whole area was used by soldiers to grow vegetables.