“The hotel has no guests at the moment”, the answer to our question sounds. That gives us a view of a lovely garden and a handful of hotel villas with dining tables and large beds. We are requested to pick any table, we like as there are no other guests in sight. The restaurant inside is just as massive. We are taken to one of the massive, luxurious hotels for lunch. With such an empty city, it almost feels as if people aren’t supposed to be outdoors and we have missed the memo. There are innumerable large, guest-free hotels in Naypyidaw, so if you need to be alone, go visit.īut while London has a population of almost nine million inhabitants, Naypyidaw does not even house one million people. Massive, luxurious hotels, a daunting building for the Parliament, a 20-lane highway and a replica of the famous Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon adorn the city.
At that time there barely was a city.īut the government really went all in with Naypyidaw and the high expectations are spelled out all over the city.
The location of Yangon was reportedly too exposed, and the capital was moved to Naypyidaw in 2005. Where is everyone?Īt more than four times the size of London, it’s no secret that the capital was meant to attract people. The view of Naypyidaw from one side of Uppātasanti Pagoda. And I have been to Canberra in Australia, which is basically just a cluster of embassies. We insist it’s worth the longer drive to us and are taken to the strangest capital, I have ever visited. He simply didn’t believe that we actually wanted to see a place that no one wanted to live in. This results in a 45-minute detour, because highway exits are scarce in Myanmar. Having rented a private car with a driver for a weekend, my travel companions and I are eager to visit the ghost town, we have read so much about.Īt first, our driver doesn’t even care to stop and simply drives right past the city, however. And it isn’t abandoned, because it was never inhabited in the first place. You have now arrived at the country’s new capital, Naypyidaw. If you drive about 5 hours directly north of Myanmar’s old capital Yangon, you will find a large city which appears abandoned.
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