Sidebar

It seems like I need to take a moment to talk about the recent political history of Myanmar.

There are many people who refuse to travel to Myanmar because of the human rights abuses by the government. The abuses are horrid and shocking. I was reminded of the struggle for democracy watching The Lady this weekend – the story of Aung San Suu Kyi.

There are still many awful things that happen. I watched Al Jazeera reports when I was up-country, about Buddhists attacking a Muslim community. Certain ethnic groups face severe discrimination. Inconvenient things like restricted websites are the norm – Yahoo and Hotmail are blocked, but Facebook and Gmail are not.

I’m no expert, but it sounds like things are better, even from five years ago. Sanctions are being lifted. But I’m sure it will be a slow, painful transition.

I thought a lot about these things, but decided visiting the country before it was changed by Western influence was important to me. There aren’t many places left on the earth where globalization isn’t happening, it’s even coming to Myanmar. I heard a report when I got home that Starbucks was considering expanding to Myanmar. Really? C’mon.

So, I took a lot of care in how I decided to travel. I used the advice of my trusty Lonely Planet guidebook which suggested the following:

• Travel on your own. Paying overseas tourism companies means your dollars are not staying with the people who need it. Go local.
• Stay at independent hotels. Research and pay attention to who owns the airline or souvenir shop. Good guidebooks like Lonely Planet and Insight Guides have actually put a good amount of research into this subject.
• Leave your tourist dollars with the local people.

It’s a country experiencing a lot of change and a lot of attention from the rest of the world right now- I’m so thankful I saw it when I did. The people were beautiful and kind. The landscapes and villages were amazing. I can’t tell you if you should go, but I wanted to share a few things to think about if you do.