Myanmar (Burma) Travel Guide
 Swedagon Pagoda in Yangon (Rangoon) |
Myanmar, or Burma as it was once known, presents both a unique opportunity and a challenge to the prospective visitor. The opportunity is the chance to see a country and culture still largely untouched by mass tourism. The challenge is whether or not to go to a place where the government has such a questionable human rights record. Setting aside for a moment whether or not it's "right" to go, let's discuss why you may want to go there in the first place.
Unlike its neighbors in Southeast Asia, Myanmar has yet to experience mass tourism. While there are tourists visiting the country, they mainly consists of couples and individual independent travelers. Currently, there are few, if any package group tours to Myanmar. This means that every place you go still retains a unique sense of place. There are no "could be anywhere" destinations such as you'll find in Thailand and Indonesia. In many respects, Myanmar is still very much a place where the past is still a real presence, rather than a sanitized and commercialized version of it.
Adding to the uniqueness is the fact that sanctions have kept almost all western brands out of the Myanmar. You won't find McDonalds, KFC, Starbucks or any other fast food chains, nor will you find most hotel brands. Everything is local in Myanmar.
The last, but certainly not least, reason to visit is the Burmese people. While news reports may have you expecting a starving downtrodden people, the reality is far different. While they're not exactly dancing in the streets, everywhere you go you will see people going about their business, with authority figures a rare sight.
To Go or Not To Go
We feel very strongly that whether or not to go to Myanmar is a decision that each person must make for themselves. There are many who argue that visiting Myanmar somehow legitimizes the military junta that runs the country. Until mid-2004 we very much agreed with this view, since up until then the government required arriving visitors to change US$200 for so-called "Foreign Exchange Certificates". The trouble was, once you left the airport, nobody wanted to deal in FEC's, they wanted Kyats or Dollars. So, in effect, you were making a $200 cash donation to the government on entry.
The FEC regime was completely dropped in 2004, and thus our own view on tourism to Myanmar has changed. We're now more on the side that argues that tourism helps to bring Myanmar out of its isolation, and that as the country becomes more reliant on the money that tourism brings in, the less likely the military is to do anything that might risk losing the tourist dollars.
A Brief History of Myanmar
Evidence of human occupation of the area now known as Myanmar goes back at least to 5000 BC. At around the third century BC, the Mon arrived and settled the Sittoung Valley on their way to establishing some of the earliest kingdoms in Thailand. The Bamar arrived from the China-Tibet border area in the ninth century AD and quickly established themselves as the dominant power in the region.
The Bamar established the first Burmese empire, founded in 1057 by Anawrahta. Later the same century, the "Golden Age" of Bagan begins the great era of pagoda building. In 1287 the Mongols invade Bagan, leading to the fall of the first Burmese empire. The second Burmese empire doesn't rise until the early 16th century, shortly after the Portuguese established a trade station at Martaban.
The British establish trade with Burma around 1635, along with the French and Dutch. In the first half of the 19th century, a series of wars with the British results in Britain controlling most of the Burmese coast. In 1886, Britain completes their occupation of all the Burmese territory. During World War II, the Japanese occupy Burma. After the war, in 1948, Burma regains independence.
A brief democratic period is ended by a military coup in 1962, establishing a socialist system. In September of 1988, mass student demonstrations lead to another coup and establishment of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), which has ruled Myanmar since. In 1989, the SLORC government introduced sweeping changes to replace colonial place names with words closer to the actual local usage. Thus, "Rangoon" became "Yangon" and the "Irrawaddy" River became the "Ayeyarwady." Throughout most of this online guide, we've used the new place names for most references.
