Burma: An Introduction

In the West, the first thing that “Burma” generally brings to mind these days is a notoriously oppressed place.  For that reason, most people likely imagine it as an unstable place to visit, when in fact the parts of the country where visitors are allowed are no more unsafe than anywhere else in Asia.  Despite the infamous government, daily life goes on for the residents, who seemed largely excited to see foreign faces, and the government is happy to accept dollars from foreigners as long as they aren’t leading protests.

That said, the government can be a bit of a deterrent from visiting.  They’ve been in power since the 60’s and despite the fact that there were elections last fall, everything is “still same same,” as one person in the country described it.  He added that “90% of Myanmar people don’t like government, want ‘the lady’ to be president,” but seemed unhopeful that this would ever be a reality (“the lady” being Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung Sang Suu Kyi, who won the elections in 1988, but was put under house arrest).  It’s impossible to visit without some money going to the government, between visas, exit fees, and entry fees to tourist zones.  However, with a rise in tourism has come a rise in privately-owned guesthouses, so with responsible planning, you can maximize the amount of money going to local business owners.  This was what I decided to do.

Theravada Buddhism is the major religion in Myanmar.

Another debate surrounding the place is the name.  Myanmar or Burma?  In my research, it appears the jury is still out.  The new official name is Myanmar–some stick with Burma, and some say that Burma is an old colonial name that represents a minority of the population.  The locals that I met only called it Myanmar, which they also used as an adjective (“Myanmar food,” “Myanmar language,” “Myanmar people”), so that’s what I’ve begun to use most of the time.

Both men and women wear traditional longyi skirts.

The Myanmar people were by far the most memorable part of my trip.  I met so many friendly people, who were so full of smiles that it seemed incongruent with my previous image of the country.  Not to say that everyone is happy with their lives, but they seem to be good-natured despite the lack of freedoms.  So many people on the streets, especially the women and children, just waved and grinned when I walked by, or wanted to say a little something in English, not to ask for anything, but just to say hi.

Burmese is a fascinating-looking language.

One peculiarity about travel in Burma is that there are no ATMs in the country, and no credit card machines (supposedly all the foreign banks pulled out in the 1990s), so you have to bring in however much cash as you think you’ll need in perfectly crisp, unmarked, US dollars–anything less than perfect will be rejected.

A 200-kyat note, worse for wear.

In exchange for your pristine dollars you sometimes get tattered, taped-together, often-smelly kyat which look like they’ve been in circulation for decades.  Sometimes the small denominations are stapled together to make them easier to count.

The way to get to Burma is through Yangon (formerly Rangoon), the capital city, located near the south of the country.  I flew in from Bangkok, and less than two minutes after exiting the airport I stepped into one of Yangon’s many atrocious sidewalk potholes.  Welcome to Yangon.

Watch your step!