Kipling's poem, Mandalay, depicts the city as the source of a British soldier's longing for exotic beauty after arriving back in dreary old England. Sadly, the city's urban sprawl has paved over much of that beauty over the past few decades.

We did manage to escape the urban bustle while riding on old rusty bicycles to U Bein and drinking inexplicably cheap Mandalay rum in a dive bar near our hotel.