The Lonely Capital

Timo Jaworr ventures through Naypyitaw

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Since the fall of Bagan to Mongol invasions in the late 1200s, Myanmar has relocated its capital city at least 14 times.

Before the British made Yangon the country’s preeminent city in 1886, the capitals were always in the interior.

For hundreds of years, the central dry zone was at the heart of Bamar culture and the location for the home of its royal rulers.

So when thousands of civil servants were trucked a few hundred miles north from Yangon to the secret site of Naypyitaw on the lower edge of the dry zone in late 2005, they likely understood the symbolism.

The new capital Naypyitaw, or “Abode of Kings,” was about going back to the future.

But almost 10 years later, the job feels unfinished in a city still situated uneasily in time and space.

Sitting on former farmland devoid of historical landmarks, the city lacks a sense of tangible connection to the past.

Monumental new buildings, manicured parks and zoned areas connected by vast roads empty of traffic suggest a future that still has not arrived.

There are modern hotels, shopping malls, golf courses, parks and resorts. The internet works well. The air is fresh, the environment green.

Some call it peaceful. Others find it lonely. The throngs of people that are the lifeblood of other Asian towns are nowhere to be seen.

Our photographer wanders from here to there, looking for clues to the city’s elusive heart.

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