Amin, rules as much by superstition as by reason, employing astrologers to help him reach policy decisions. The Naypyidaw project has consequently proceeded according to astrological charts, with the start of the move by civil servants timed for the auspicious hour of exactly 6.37am on November 6, 2005.

When that went smoothly, and the soothsayers chose the number 11 as a lucky one, a second convoy of 1,100 army trucks carrying 11 army battalions and the staff and equipment of 11 government ministries left Rangoon for the new capital at 11am, November 11, 2005.

The unhappy staff found a dusty building site, with half-completed apartment buildings and shipping containers being used for offices. There were poorly-stocked retail outlets and virtually no leisure facilities.

Even Than Shwe's own wife, who

Than Shwe rules as much by superstition as by reason, employing astrologers to reach decisions

loves to shop in Singapore, was reliably reported to have complained bitterly, and the couple's three daughters refused point-blank to move to Naypyidaw (left).

Pressed by other senior military officers, some of whom were said to face divorce proceedings because of the move, Than Shwe ordered a luxury compound to be built at a former British colonial hill station near Mandalay, 150 miles north. A golf course was among the first amenities to be completed.

Foreign embassies faced with having to move to Pyinmana are being offered large plots of land and other assistance, but the US State Department has indicated its embassy will remain in Rangoon, and its stand is likely to be followed by other Western countries - leaving Naypyidaw more isolated than ever. But that, of course, was the generals' intention from the start.