"The Road to Burma" a Burma Travel Page by Gage17

I am well aware that it's called Myanmar now, but I think "Burma" sounds so much more romantic and exotic, so please forgive me. At first, I was lured to Burma by the tales of Kipling and Orwell, and later I found the political situation there of interest.

It is the people of Burma that were the greatest highlight of my trip there. Never have I experienced such authentic and friendly encounters with a population. There was a genuine curiosity about foreigners, and it was so easy (and delightful) to interact with the Burmese. Even now, a year later, I am nearly moved to tears when I think of the kindesses I received from those I met along my way. In my opinion, the most beautiful people in the world.

Admittingly, I was nervous during my flight from Bangkok, not fully knowing what to expect once I landed in Yangon. It was difficult to get proper and current information on the visa and money situations, but as things do, everything worked out. I'm unsure what to put on the tips pages since surely things have changed there since my visit. One thing I would recommend is to do your homework! That of course goes for anywhere you travel, but in the case of Burma - know before you go!

And do go... before I went, I read all sorts of pro's and con's on visiting Myanmar. Basically, it all went back and forth as to whether or not a foreign tourist traveling there was secondhandedly supporting the corrupt governement. Again, things have shifted a bit since I was there, and by all means do your research, but I'd say GO while there are still only a handful of independent backpackers crawling around (albeit amongst the contemporary French and German package tour hords). It is truly a spectacular country with so much more to see than you could imagine. I only gave myself eight days there, and so I chose to stick to the main tourist sites, but I would definitely return and max out my visa or get an extension because the people are so inviting that you want to be around that type of energy as you travel across their land.