The "5 Ps" of Mandalay

Georges Orwell is better known for "1984" or for "The animal farm". But one of his early books, "Burmese days", written in 1934, also depicts daily life in a little town of Myanmar under British rule. Being born in India and having served as a British officer in Burma, he has good insight to give a vitriol and shocking recount of the European society at that time : selfishness, hypocrisy, outraging racism, and on the Burmese side : corruption, cruelty or simply blunt ignorance and naïveté... And for those who meant better and were trying to think "out of the box", you'll see what tragic destiny is left for them !

Even though the book seems to have been a bit forgotten (at least out of Myanmar), some travel blogs still remember his "5 Ps formula" to describe Mandalay : "pagodas, priests, porks, pariahs and prostitutes". As for myself, I would rather get rid of the last two to replace them by Puppets - I saw a nice marionettes show there, and Parcel - the one I was longing for. In it : a new e-reading device, and nice messages from friends & family...

Another letter could be S for surprise or M for misunderstanding (or another P, using a well-known French slang word !) : I was expecting the van to arrive in Mandalay at around 5 or 6 am... Comfortably settled for the night, next to the driver, I was all confused when dragged out of the vehicle at... 1 am : "Mandalay, Mandalay !". So my first encounter with the city was in the middle of the night, through an 8 km ride to reach a hostel... Fortunately, someone opened and accepted me for a very early check-in.

Otherwise, I quite disagree with Orwell's gloomy description of Mandalay. I found the city very pleasant with its low-buildings profile, the easy-to-ride grid street plan, numerous pagodas and craftsman shops, the moat-surrounded palace and a nice hill from where to watch the sunset...Read more