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© John Holstein

Looking south from Mandalay Hill. Inside the moat is the old palace, which the British kicked the king out of around the middle of the nineteenth century when they made Burma a colony. The commercial part of the city surrounds the palace on the east, south and west. Though the palace grounds are preserved, there is little to see inside; very few tourists visit.

Mandalay has little scenic charm; it seems to be commercially more active than Yangon. That may be due to the large Chinese population, which has grown since the re-opening of the Burma Road to China.

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