"Burma - Myanmar Land of beautiful... " a Burma Travel Page by herzog63

Well.... I guess this is the start of my pages for Myanmar. VT still calls it Burma. But the name was changed a few years back to reflect Myanmar culture and to remove the British Era. As what was told by the few local people that I asked about it. I had always wanted to go to Burma back in the 80's when I was travelling alot in Asia but never made it. One of the reasons was that you where only allowed a 7 day visa and had to change quite a bit of money and it seemed quite expensive (to me) at the time as I didn't have lot's of money to throw around. But things have changed some...You are still required to change $200 per person into FEC's (Foreign Exchange Certificates) at the airport. Although I've heard you can get around this with small bribes if you want to. (UPDATE!!!!! I've just found out that in September of 2003 the mandatory $200 exchange was discontinued but of course this could change at any time) But unless you are only going stay for a very short time the bribe would not be worth it. More on this later...
My first impressions of Myanmar was in Yangon and I felt like I was in Northern India without the beggars that are so common there. Yangon is a city full of non-stop action. The first thing that I noticed was that all of the men wear a Longyi pronounced Long G. They seem quite practical as the country is quite hot!
The people that we met were some of the friendliest that I have ever met in my travels!
On our first night we went to the Shewedagon Paya for sunset. It was really beautiful. The top section of the Pagoda is Solid gold and the very top decorated part is full of diamonds,rubies and saphires.

Send Photo to a Friend

Monk at Shwedagon Paya

Friendly People

The people of Myanmar seemed for the most part pretty unspoiled and we had some great conversations with all walks of life. Except I didn't meet any Government officials.
Most people spoke very good English so it was very easy to get around. Alot of people seemed to enjoy taking their time to talk with us for a few minutes. Of course most conversations started out with "Where do you come from"? I always answered "Alaska" and most ..at least 70% new that it was the land of snow.

Send Photo to a Friend

Market In Inle Lake

Colorful Markets

Myanmar had some wonderful market areas. Similar to the ones that you can see all over Asia. I love just wandering through these markets and watching people barter and buy their daily cooking supplies and I also like sampling different local snacks. I don't always like them but I do enjoy giving them a try though. My son got mad me for eating locusts!! They were pretty tasty!