Trip to Myanmar (Burma) 2005

Trip to Myanmar (Burma) March 2005

A "must see" country where time has stood still but changing very fast. Myanmar is a Military Dictatorship, but the usual complaints about the country were not apparent to me. The people seemed well fed and contented, though not many consumer goods are available. They have the art of socializing and afternoons and evenings are spent sitting outside and drinking tea, beer and conversation. People do complain, but in which country dont they complain? Karaoke seems to have taken root, and may change social life. Most men still where lungi (sarong) and all Burmans, men and women alike chew betel. Betel chewing among the Kachins appears to be less. There are plethora of temples and many are still being built. However did not see that many schools. My thoughts would be go easy on the temple building and build more schools.

Visted, Yangon, Inle Lake area and Bagan with its acres of Buddhist temples.

Getting about and Communicating

Its very safe to get about (at least the places I visted), one of the safest countries I have seen. There are many places in the US and Sri Lanka late at night, where I dont feel comfortable and have to be wary. Did not get that feeling in Myanmar. In tourist areas there is a tendency to overcharge (the goverment also has a policy of charging higher for tourists), but if you know the prices and insist its fine. There almost no signs in English and even numerals are in Burmese. However as tourists are not allowed to rent cars or drive around it is not a hassle. It does become a problem if you have asked a taxi driver to take you to some location and he has has not understood where you wanted to go. The taxi driver will drop you somewhere and you will have no idea if that was the location you wanted to get to in the first place.

Very few people speak English, except the people at tourist guesthouses. When I say dont speak, I mean that they dont know even basic words like stop, go, house etc. In Sri Lanka, when we say someone does not speak English, means they cant construct a sentence. Also many interchange the "s" sound with "thr". At one small eating had some heated words about a meal which the waiter said was "three hundred", when he really meant "six hundred". Writing the numbers down however cleared up the confusion, and the pronounciation issue dawned on me. If you say "Sri Lanka" no one knows what you are talking about, however most people have heard of "Three Lanka" and think its part of India and Buddhagaya. However, I was still able to communicate with signs and expressions.

More pictures at Picasa: Burma Album 1 Burma Album 2