Myanmar !

SHIMLA

A short note on Myanmar, one of India's easily forgotten neighbours; but a wonderful tourist destination in its own right :

A land of mystique and adventure, Myanmar was called the "Suvarna Bhumi", meaning the Golden Earth; in olden days! The description still holds true, as this land is blessed with plenty of natural resources.

The total area of Myanmar is approx.6,76,000 sq. kms. and it shares borders with India, Thailand, China, Lao and Bangladesh. The coastline on the West measures approx. 2830 km. and boasts of some good beaches, including the famous Chaungtha and Ngapali.

The main centres of tourist interest are:

1. Yangon - Capital and city beautiful. Adorned by wide, tree-lined avenues, gardens, lakes and of course pagodas. The famous Shwedagon Pagoda is a sight to behold!

2. Mandalay - Situated in the heart of Myanmar and its second largest city. Chief attraction is the Mandalay Palace.

3. Kalaw and Inle Lake - The mountainous region of North-East Myanmar is one of great natural beauty and beckons travellers throughout the year.

4. Bagan - The land of temples and a great archaeological site.

5. Kyaiktiyo - The holy "rock pagoda" which sits strong without any apparent support!

6. Beaches - Principal beach resort is Ngapali on the West coast, offering good accomodation facilities.

Myanmar offers plenty of good and reasonably priced food and drink at the plethora of restaurants dotting its cities and the cuisine comprises Myanmar, Thai, Chinese, European, Korean, Japanese and Indian. Rice, sea-food and pork are extremely popular with the locals, who are generally simple and peaceful folk.

Principal Festival is "Thingyan", or the Water Festival, celebrated over four days and culminating in the Myanmar New Year, every April. A great event, certainly not to be missed by those planning a visit then !

Direct access from India :
1.Bi-weekly Indian Airlines flight from Kolkata to Yangon.

2.Tri-weekly Myanma International Airways flight from New Delhi to Yangon.

Border crossing is illegal and should not be attempted.

Visiting Myanmar will certainly provide value for money for the tourist and an economic boost to the locals!!

__________________
Whoever said money can't buy happiness didn't know where to shop !

Travelingbhat

I completely second, third and fourth Shimla's opinion. I went to Myanmar for the first time in October and have been feeling pretty sad and depressed in rainy, cold Seattle. My husband and I did a biking trip through Myanmar (burma) for 2 weeks and I cant tell you how amazing it was. There were so many things that reminded me of India but at the same time such a distinctly different culture. It is Asia and the warmth, friendliness of the people is addictive and hard to be apart from. Especially coming back to things like elections, water heater leaks, 45 degree F weather, cold rain, yadda yadda yadda.

I will post a follow up email /link to pictures that I sent to some friends shortly.

radz

THANKS Shimla,for sharing ,from Myanmar .I addede my MUST see list .

__________________
My Photo gallery

monkgonemad

pm was recently sacked. move 3 steps back. nld and suu kyi have even less possibilities of taking back the govt. i think the 'golden age' to visit the country was the mid 90s. myanmar has to bring its people into the modern world. it refuses to do so. sad, it is a fantastic place.

__________________
400 Photos of Asia (excluding Philippines)
http://photobucket.com/monkgonemad

SHIMLA

Welcome anytime, radz !!

seventies'hippy

I went to Burma as it was then in 72 had a 7day stopover visa which was the longest you could get then, I was enroute from Kathmandu to Bangkok,
stayed at the ymca in rangoon, don't remember there being any other places to stay, It was a very isolated country in those days, no readable english anywhere, just a little spoken amongst the younger people.
I remember lots of table tennis being played, large cigars being smoked & of course the huge Shwedagon Pagoda,
Thanks for the memory jogs SHIMLA

Travelingbhat

A lot of countries have baggage. I am not supporting the Junta but in my opinion negating a country and shunning away from them because of the govt gives less to the people who really need it. Travel fundamentally makes you connect with people you interact with (sometimes good sometimes bad) Once you have a good relationship with someone it’s harder to dislike or be prejudiced or go far as hate them. I am not saying any of this to you directly monkgonemad just in general because I realize you think it’s a fantastic place. If we think of ourselves as global citizens I think it’s partly our responsibility to bring up Myanmar to our govt to increase visibility to the situation there. There are a lot of private companies that are trying to run a business like hotels, tour companies, souvenir sellers, restaurants that can benefit from travelers. If we increase their profits even if it’s heavily taxed or regulated they are still ahead of the game. Also I am not naive to think that just because I used a private tour company that didn’t use govt facilities doesn’t mean that I haven’t somehow helped the govt. Its all about mitigating risk vs benefit. I think my presence in Myanmar opened my eyes to a world I never really knew before and I have extolled its pros and cons to 150 of my friends and basically anyone I talk to. This won’t change the ruling party or release Aung Sun Suu Kyi from house arrest but maybe these people who know something about Myanmar might pay attention? If more people who care about Myanmar have power, money or time they might do something about it? Just a thought. The Lonely Planet on Myanmar has a whole section on should you go or not that’s good reading. This online news journal has good information on current events in Myanmar – http://www.irrawaddy.org

I didn’t realize how serious I am sounding till now. On a lighter note, I might not have achieved world peace but at least someone I know now knows that Malaysia is not the same country as Myanmar and that there are two countries in SE Asia starting with the letter M! one slightly less ignorant American! Woohoo.

Time to go read some fav I heart India threads….

kiranlal

any how what i can do is visit myanmar and see what is happening there

so please let me know from wher ei can get visa and is it allowed to travel every where and how is the beaches
with love and regards kiran

SHIMLA

Do visit Myanmar, but strictly as a tourist; and not with the intention of finding out what is happening here!! This is none of our business!

You can apply for a tourist visa (validity 28 days) from the Myanmar Embassy at 3/50F, Nyaya Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi. Open Monday to Friday, visa application timings 09=00 to 12=00, visa collection timings 16=00 to 17=30 on the second day. Tel : 011-26889007.

There is now an on-line E-Visa application facility, but I'm afraid I do not
have the website address. Your approval is given on-line and you take a printout of the same and travel to Yangon. At Yangon airport your passport will be stamped with the actual visa, on producing the E-Visa.

The beaches are fine at this time of the year ! Foreigners are allowed to travel in most parts of the country; the exceptions being the insurgency affected areas of the North-East.

All the best !

tstan

It will be a great day indeed and we will all dance in the streets when overland travel from India to Myanmar and thence to Mae Hong Son and Chiang Rai is reinstated!

For the moment, we will have to content ourselves with flights between Calcutta or Bangkok and Yangon. For those of us with reasonable incomes, the extra $US400 or so is a small inconvenience for the architectural and natural delights, not to mention the delightful people all of which have been well outlined by Shimla.

Tourists are under a lot of pressure from the left side of the political spectrum to boycott Myanmar and I am put in mind of Greece from 1967 until 1974. I had a most memorable holiday there in 1973 and felt that the drachmae I spent for the most part went to local people. At no stage did I feel that my presence there in any way legitimised a distasteful regime.

IMers - especially newer members with more limited life experience - should refrain from goading our guru on Myanmar matters. He has to be very careful what he says since, as in Vietnam, all e-mails are subject to scutiny by the powers that be!

Shimla, I hope to get across to Myanmar with the Memsahib, probably in early December 2006 for a few weeks and return to Chiang Mai, since I am not a great fan of Bangkok, then go down the Mekong to Luang Prabang. I have made bookings on IRCTC (quite an effortless process!) through to Aurangabad for Orchha, Sanchi, Mandu and Ajanta along with Ellora- I decided to travel in a clockwise direction so as to avoid Rajasthan over Christmas and New Year because of the certainty of heavy rail and accommodation bookings. The Goa and Diu scene doesn't interest me a great deal and we will head back to Delhi and not Bangalore. Along with other Hindu people on IM, have a great Deepavali!

sbballer33

I hope this is the case. I don't believe in boycotts, they don't work and I loved visiting Burma and the people. However visit Burma with the full understanding of what is going on there and it is all of humanities business. That is one of the benefits of going there before I went it was an abstract thing same with China whose government I think is worse. Visiting the country makes it real. If it wasn't for China Burma wouldn't have there current leaders. Being an American I can't say too much about bad governments considering my own.

SHIMLA

Yes, tstan, I certainly have to be careful.

IMers - Enjoy this country as tourists; soak in the warmth of its people; get value for your money; and provide an economic boost to the locals. Why delve into things that do not concern us ?

December 2006 is too far away, why don't you make it in Dec. 2004???

Thanks for the Deepavali wishes; wish you the same !!

kiranlal

http://www.travelmyanmar.com/informationmauku.html

thank you very much for the help
where you went in burma and do you reccoment some thing to me to see or to take care
i am almost decided to to go there in december
the packages from the above website sounds good and it is not so expensive
about 70$ per day per pax

i am planing a two week visit one week in some beach and one week in some where else ,
thank you for your help
kiran

SHIMLA

Hello Kiran !

You should divide your two weeks as follows:

Yangon - 3 days
Ngapali beach - 4 days( including transit)
Bagan - 3 days
Inle Lake - 3 days
Back to Yangon for departure - last day .

Do not discuss local politics under any circumstances with anyone while you're in Myanmar. Other than this there is nothing to worry about.

Bryan

Yeah really fancy Myanmar ...
Strooled over the border in early 90s from Thailand ...so doesnt really count
Heard some amazing things about the place....Its very much on the must do list

__________________
Then let us pray that come it may
(As come it will for a' that),
That Sense and Worth o'er a' the earth,
Shall bear the gree an a' that.
For a' that, an a' that,
It's coming yet for a' that,
That man to man, the world, o'er
Shall brithers be for a' that.
- Burns