Much a do with Moulmein / Mawlamyaing

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From Wikipedia: Today, Mawlamyaing is famous for its tropical fruits and for its cuisine as indicated in the popular Burmese expression, "Mandalay for the speaking, Yangon for the bragging, and Mawlamyine for the eating".

It is probably best known to English speakers through the opening lines of Rudyard Kipling's poem Mandalay:

"By the old Moulmein pagoda
Lookin' Eastward to the sea
There's a Burma girl a-settin'
and I know she thinks o' me".

Mawlamyaing is also the setting of George Orwell's famous 1936 memoir Shooting an Elephant. He served there as sub-divisional police officer. The essay opens with the striking words:

In Moulmein, in Lower Burma, I was hated by large numbers of people -- the only time in my life that I have been important enough for this to happen to me.
 

Comments

Rio said…
Dear Wee Cheng

I am Indonesian student of NUS , i have followed your journey and amazed. After read i decided to do backpack and overland from Malaysia-Cambodia-Vietnam and Thailand before fly back to Singapore. My next plan for summer holiday is i want to visit Myanmar-Laos-China and hopefully can across Tibet. I really like to ask you some question about it if u don't mind.

-Rio Indrawan-
9:17 AM
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