Scaramouchine walked the streets of Rangoon (Yangon) with George Orwell in mind. He had joined the colonial police force in Burma and for a time was stationed in Rangoon. The streets teemed with the ghosts of Burma’s colonial past, as if the British left and then, nothing changed, just slowly decayed. Scaramouchine found beautiful old Victorian, Edwardian structures in an advanced state of decline but still in use, despite odd electrical wiring arrangements, broken windows and flora sprouting from walls and roofs.

Ingenious electrical wiring

A tea shop

A municipal building. Even though it is in an advanced state of decay, with broken windows and plants growing in the top floors, the bottom floors are still in use.

Despite the dilapidated appearance, a building still in use.

Beautiful old building

. . . with a tree growing out of it.

Beautiful but decaying. Scaramouchine would love to restore into a boutique hotel

The Ibrahim Building

The Salvation Army building. In relatively good condition.