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Pyin Oo LwinPyin Oo Lwin (Maymyo; p 250 ) is a one-off curiosity that makes for an easy escape from sweaty4 lowland Mandalay. As the former British-era summer capital, it retains a wide scattering of colonialbuildings big and small and a remarkable botanical garden that’s one of Southeast Asia’s mostmanicured. Today, local tourists and a new generation of elite fleeing the heat are treated to some ofprovincial Myanmar’s best cuisine and most imaginative hotels. And to give it all a photogenic twist,the local taxi service is by colourful horse and cart. National Kandawgyi Gardens, Pyin Oo LwinBERNARD NAPTHINE/LONELY PLANET IMAGES ©Mrauk U5While exploring the many temples, monasteries and ruined city walls of the former Rakhaingcapital of Mrauk U (Myohaung; p 279 ), you realise what an amazing place this sleepy townwas at its zenith in the 16th century. Giant structures such as the Dukkanthein Paya and KothaungPaya appear even more impressive amid the beguiling rural landscape of gently rounded hills andvegetable fields, through which the locals weave their way, aluminium water pots balanced on theirheads. Stay an extra day and travel by boat to the Chin villages (p 286 ) scattered along the LemroRiver. Pagoda in the hills, Mrauk UDENNIS WALTON/LONELY PLANET IMAGES ©