Burma

[Hollis]

Just vaguely thinking about it... anyone been there.? How does it compare to India/Nepal in terms of 'travelling' around.

Also if someone wants to convince me why I shouldn't go there go ahead.

[purves grundy]

Compared to India / Nepal, you'll see very few travellers. It's much harder to travel around - there are plenty of places I'd love to visit from where foreigners are banned, and the roads and railways are diabolical - but very rewarding. Burma has the largest contiguous rainforest in SEA (they're flogging it off to the Chinese pretty quick though). The people are astonishingly friendly and you don't have to be on your guard against rip-offs. However, there's an official two-tier price structure for many things - $40 for you to go Mandalay on the train, 2000 kyats (about $1.80) for a local. The food is shit. Stunning beaches.

[dessiato]

One of the girls at work is Burmese, if the rest are like her.... She is so very beautiful, and tiny. I want to keep her as a spare...

[purves grundy]

Ah yes, you will also see the most beautiful women in the whole world.

[dessiato]

She has beautiful eyes, a sexy accent, the most perfect arse, and a walk that Marylin Monroe would have envied. She wears those low hung jeans that expose a perfect builders bum when she sits down.

How much does it cost to go to Burma?

[Hollis]

All very informative..

:D

[rubbershoes]

mrs shoes went there a few years ago.it's esay to sort out a visa when you're in thailand ( as she was) . I don't know about sorting it out here though.

very few europeans there as has been said. she was the only one in her hotel.

some amazing sites. something similar to angkor wat( though not quite as good) but with hardly anyone around.

very cheap when you're there. she had a guide with her all the time , but got on very well with her.

tell them you know wayne rooney and everyone will love you.

[Bob]

If you travel to the far far southern strip of the country on the east side I'm pretty sure the rebels still have bases there that would be interesting to visit - though you'd have to go across the border to get there...

[Bob]

Plus the long imprisoned opposition leader calls on people not to visit the country since it helps prop up a very nasty dictatorship:
here (http://www.rebound88.net/sp/eco/stour-boycott.html)

[Brainaddict]

Compared to India / Nepal, you'll see very few travellers. It's much harder to travel around - there are plenty of places I'd love to visit from where foreigners are banned, and the roads and railways are diabolical - but very rewarding. Burma has the largest contiguous rainforest in SEA (they're flogging it off to the Chinese pretty quick though). The people are astonishingly friendly and you don't have to be on your guard against rip-offs. However, there's an official two-tier price structure for many things - $40 for you to go Mandalay on the train, 2000 kyats (about $1.80) for a local. The food is shit. Stunning beaches.
I'd agree with all that. I did begin to find it hard work though in terms of the attention I was getting from people. I began to learn what it must be like to be a film star or something. Not that the attention is of a bad kind, just that its almost constant. You'll be sitting drinking tea, talking to another traveller, and you suddenly realise that everyone else at the tea stand is watching your every gesture and expression as though its the most fascinating thing in the world.

I also found it psychologically quite hard work knowing the political situation while I was there and seeing how desperate people were for change - that's not a reason not to go obviously, but it was so sad to have people with infinite faith in democracy asking me to write letters to Tony Blair to get him to come and help them, as though he'd accidentally forgotten about Burma and just needed to be reminded by a consciencious citizen.:(

[purves grundy]

Plus the long imprisoned opposition leader calls on people not to visit the country since it helps prop up a very nasty dictatorship:
here (http://www.rebound88.net/sp/eco/stour-boycott.html)
ASSK says this, but not all in her party agree.
I also found it psychologically quite hard work knowing the political situation while I was there and seeing how desperate people were for change - that's not a reason not to go obviously, but it was so sad to have people with infinite faith in democracy asking me to write letters to Tony Blair to get him to come and help them, as though he'd accidentally forgotten about Burma and just needed to be reminded by a consciencious citizen.
:( There's also a great affection for Bush in the country. The government recently started moving a bunch of ministries inland because they fear invasion by the US!!

[Brainaddict]

Plus the long imprisoned opposition leader calls on people not to visit the country since it helps prop up a very nasty dictatorship:
here (http://www.rebound88.net/sp/eco/stour-boycott.html)
I heard from people before I went that most of the Burmese population love to meet foreign tourists and when I got there it turned out to be true. It's all very well for ASSK with all her international friends to tell people to stay away, but the mass of the population feel so cut off from the world, so isolated and forgotten, that merely talking to someone from a Western country sometimes seems enough to give them a bit of hope. You can't imagine how much despair there is among ordinary people and how a sense of being in touch with the rest of the world can be so exciting for them. So I'm afraid that having been there I think ASSK is just plain wrong to ask people to stay away.
And if you want purely economic arguments:
(a) the junta is basically sustained by china, not by tourism
(b) there's a lot you can do to stop your money going to the govt, including changing your money on the black market.

[Brainaddict]

Just thought I'd add that package tours in Burma probably do give a lot of money to the govt and package tourists being what they are they probably don't interact with Burmese people that much. However I'd definitely encourage all independent travellers to go there.

[Schmeegal]

Nice enough, run down. didnt stay long enough to soak it up to be honest. Very friendly locals though, and the kids are not afraid to come and beg.

[Hollis]

I'm guess I'm just too old and lazy for this. I'll just have to extrapolate from India.

[BEARBOT]

i went to burma a few years back and liked it :D (as long as you are ok about capital cities run on intermitent generators.)..i was staying at a buddhist monestry for a few weeks after a few days in yangoon.

i dont think yangoon is all the great, hot and dirty..those little stools to sit on and drink tea on the street are nice and no one had a bad word for me, thats for sure..its a safe town with interesting markets(cheap sandalwood oil)but very third world capital, not special at all except for some temples and the fact that all the men are in national dress(sarongs) so yes it is quite un westernised in most respects...

i think the visa was only a month so i had a trip up to pagan/bagan temples yes it is a beautiful place a bit like ankor w/o the tourists...very cheap food and better tasting than yangoon and also cheap decent air con (it was 40 degrees) accomodation up there compared to the capital.

the food in undescribable...its not very nice sadly and you know i love basic chinese(like what u get in laos.. noodle soup/fried rice etc) and all oriental cuisines ;) so you know i tried to like it..still thin is in..and hey most of us need to lose a bit ;)

i also went to that coastal beachy town..ROUGH journey by bus(about the standard of ethiopia) stunning beaches very few travellers/tourists..the pick up trucks with benches will take you places.. just see where you end up. ;)

yes lots of places are off limits to foreigners/hard to reach but you know many hill tribes and their cultures/beautiful countryside it seems off the beaten track is the way to go

anyone been to mandalay? i was told by some other backpackers that there isnt much to see there just like yangoon

[purves grundy]

anyone been to mandalay? i was told by some other backpackers that there isnt much to see there just like yangoon
Mandalay itself is a nothing kinda city, chokingly hot and dusty for about half the year. It can be very rewarding to wander around near the river though, there's always something weird going on and there are a few deserted old colonial houses.
Around Mandalay, however, are some wonderful little places that are well worth seeing, such as the famous U Pein's Bridge, and the giant stupa base at Mingun. You can hire a bike in the centre and just cycle out of the city quite easily.

[Brainaddict]

Mandalay itself is a nothing kinda city, chokingly hot and dusty for about half the year. It can be very rewarding to wander around near the river though, there's always something weird going on and there are a few deserted old colonial houses.
Around Mandalay, however, are some wonderful little places that are well worth seeing, such as the famous U Pein's Bridge, and the giant stupa base at Mingun. You can hire a bike in the centre and just cycle out of the city quite easily.
have you been in the fort at mandalay? i didn't go in because it was allegedly rebuilt with slave labour, but I was sorry to miss it.

[purves grundy]

have you been in the fort at mandalay? i didn't go in because it was allegedly rebuilt with slave labour, but I was sorry to miss it.
I haven't been in, but my mate went there a few months ago and said there's nothing much to see inside, no original buildings left. :(

[chegrimandi]

have you been in the fort at mandalay? i didn't go in because it was allegedly rebuilt with slave labour, but I was sorry to miss it.

ooo those lofty principals must be HEavy maaaaaaannnn

[Dubversion]

hollis - Pie Eye's best mate, who'll be around this weekend including Brockwell Park - has just come back a fortnight or so ago, so try and chat to her. she loved it

[Brainaddict]

ooo those lofty principals must be HEavy maaaaaaannnn
:confused:
i don't know what I've done to earn your scorn, but whatever it was, I'm glad I did it.