Golden pagodas Bagan Myanmar’s rural mountains
Stilt houses on Inle Lake
Burma or Myanmar? Burma is the historical name of the nation and the one used by dissidents who oppose its military junta. Myanmar is the name given to Burma by the violent military-led coup of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) that took power in this Buddhist country in 1988. When the National League for Democracy (NLD) won free elections in 1990, the SLORC led by General Saw Maung ignored the results and jailed nonviolent NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, making the golden-spired Southeast Asian paradise an anathema for foreign tourists. In 2007 protesting monks were
met with violence that was broadcast around the world, Kyi is still under house arrest, and the United States has instilled stiff sanctions on Myanmar. But because much of it is closed to foreign tourists, it remains one of the few mysterious destinations in Southeast Asia. While Vietnam and Thailand have become flooded with Americans and beach resorts, Myanmar remains unsullied. Despite the violence of its dictatorship, it is a Buddhist nation, filled with warm, friendly people—excited to see tourists—and some of the most stunning landscapes and architecture on the planet.
Adventures
Mic Looby, Michael Clark, and Joe Cummings (Lonely Planet, 2005). In Letters from Burma by Aung San Suu Kyi (Penguin, 1998), Burmese dissident and 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner Kyi writes intelligent and impassioned letters from her prison cell.
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treks to and from its rugged shore. One of the best outfits heads from the stilt houses of the lake toward the hills and the rice paddies of the countryside to Nyuang Shwe, which has its own golden pagoda and gigantic Buddha.
Tours
Pacific Discovery runs a 15-day trip in Burma that includes Inle Lake and strives for responsible tourism that profits local businesses. Another option is to volunteer for an organization like Thirst Aid, which is working to provide Myanmar with clean drinking water and sustainable industry using ceramic water filters. (www.thirst-aid.org; www.pacificdiscovery.org)
Required reading
Lonely Planet: Myanmar (Burma) by Steven Martin,
and other tourist services (and all foreign operations) are partially owned by the government, so if you support them you are giving money to the dictatorship; try to choose local operators.
Safety concerns
Foreigners usually travel to Myanmar only with package trips, and they are closely monitored. Oddly, the brutal dictatorship of Myanmar makes the country fairly safe for visitors (some Americans even feel that in a strange way it’s one of the safest places they have ever visited) though deadly for native Burmese who have something to say about the way their country is run. Recent demonstrations have been met with violence. Many hotels, restaurants,
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Because travel in Myanmar is so closely monitored, it is more or less impossible to simply explore the wilds of the jungle nation. But that does’nt mean it’s void of adventure. The site here is the 320-foot-high golden Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon which, according to legend, King Okkalapa built 2,500 years ago to enshrine eight hairs of the Buddha. It’s a site that many Burmese wait their whole lives to see. Likewise the sprawling ruins of the ancient city of Bagan look like they came straight out of a Rudyard Kipling book and rival the more famous ruins of Angor Wat in Cambodia. For true adventure head to Inle Lake in the mountains, where the Intha people paddle their fishing canoes with their feet and live in bamboo stilt houses. Many tour groups offer
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