2 Best Sights in Myanmar

This beautiful wooden house, on stilts in the middle of Inle Lake, was completed in 2008 but appears older, thanks to reclaimed wood from which 80% of it is built. It's a wonderfully multiuse space. Downstairs is a cat sanctuary, where pampered Burmese felines lounge about lazily. The cats are the result of a two-year breeding program, an effort to reintroduce them to their native Myanmar. Upstairs from the cats is a re-creation of a traditional bedroom with impressive dark wooden period furniture. Then there's the hotel and catering school, and the art gallery, which hosts quarterly exhibitions of local artists' work, and then Inthar Restaurant, which is excellent—mostly Chinese dishes, with coffee, tea, shakes, and desserts—and a lovely, peaceful space. The restaurant's vegetables come from the house's own organic farm; cooking classes are also offered.

Pyin U Lwin is 67½ km (42 miles) from Mandalay and, at an elevation of 3,500 feet, feels much cooler than the stifling town. After capturing Mandalay during the Third Anglo-Burmese War, the British set upon Pyin U Lwin (then known as Maymo or May Town) and made it their hill station, and it remained as such until the end of British rule in 1948. The town is still quite charming and is best enjoyed by bicycle or perched in a colonial-style horse-drawn carriage. Start off in the town center where you'll see the Purcell Clock Tower (1936) and redbrick All Saints' Church (1912). Mandalay is a desert compared with Pyin U Lwin, so soak up the green at the 435-acre National Kandawgyi Gardens, which were built in 1915 and in which can be found nearly 500 plant species. There's a lovely lake, a butterfly museum, an orchid garden, an aviary, and a swimming pool. The best place to see Pyin U Lwin's old colonial buildings is along roads Circular and Forest, which you can cycle or bump along in your horse cart. Buildings run the style gamut from Tudor to plantation, and both the Candacraig Hotel (once the British Club) and the former Croxton Hotel are worth an ogle. A private car to Pyin U Lwin should cost K30,000–K35,000; a shared taxi, which leaves from downtown Mandalay (27th and 83rd Streets) should cost K7,000 per person; the trip takes two hours. A more scenic, albeit bumpy, trip can be made by train, which leaves around 4 am and arrives just before 8 am; tickets are K5,000 for ordinary, K10,000 for first class, and K12,000 for upper class.