We're Back! From Myanmar/Burma!

As some of you may have heard, Evan and I are back from our travels. Our location of choice? Myanmar.

Q: What made you guys decide to go to Myanmar?

A: Well, a number of people we knew had been, and all of them loved it, and stated that they had felt very safe there. Also, it's a country so few people go to, that we knew it would be an amazing and not too touristy experience. So many places in Asia have the tourist route mapped so well it's hard to ever get off it. That's not to say that we didn't follow the tourist route in Myanmar, we did, but there are so few tourists on it that we could go for days without speaking to someone not from Myanmar.

Q: And isn't it also called Burma? What's up with that?

A: Burma is the old name, Myanmar is the new name. However, you may remember Mr W Bush calling it Burma; that's because his government refused to recognize the name change and the 'State Peace and Development Council,' the military junta running the country. I would imagine that Obama has similar negative feelings about the junta; I don't know about his policy on the name of the country. Burma is the name the English gave the country while they were so generously colonizing it. The name before they arrived? Myanmar. So it's both old and new, and for this reason locals in talking to us mostly said Myanmar, but sometimes said Burma. No one seems too bothered about which name to call the country as long as you pick one of the two. The people, the food, and the language are all still regularly referred to as Burmese.

Q: Isn't it dangerous to go as a tourist to a police state?

A: In general, I would say yes. But both the government and the people really welcome tourists because they need the dollars coming into the economy. Evan and I tried to make sure that most of our money went where we wanted it to: the wonderful, amazingly friendly people, but some of it definitely ended up in government hands. Anyway, we hardly ever saw anyone who was from the government. When we did, we moved on quickly and had no problems. And the population as a whole is mostly Buddhist, very nice, and trustworthy when it comes to your money. All travellers have to bring in all the money they will need for their entire trip with them into the country, as there are no ATMs, and very few places where you can use a credit card (and most of those are government owned, yick!). Burmese people probably know that every tourist they see walking down the street has hundreds of dollars of cash on them, in a country where the GDP per capita is about $3 a day, but Evan and I never felt like anyone wanted to steal from us, or hurt us in any way.

Q: You keep mentioning dollars, but you live in Thailand, and Myanmar must have its own currency, so why?

A: While I believe you could enter the country with mostly Thai baht or other currency and still be able to change it, it's much easier to bring American dollars. An American dollar is worth about 1,000 kyat (pronounced like the English word 'jot'), although I think the exchange rate fluctuates a lot, and you can't ever exchange at a real exchange office, only on the street. The government does have a few exchanges open mostly at airports around the country, but will give you a rate of about 450 kyat for $1, effectively stealing half your money. So to exchange money, you have to exchange at your hotel, which will give a lower rate, or you have to go to a market and just ask a bunch of people and pick the highest rate. Often when you find someone who will change for you at a good rate they still can't do it themselves. You give them the 50 or 100 dollar bill (the bigger the bill, the better the exchange rate - and it better be clean and free of tears, or no one will want to accept it), they walk away with it, and then come back with your kyat. So many times we did this, knowing they could just not come back with our money, but they always did. Burmese people are very trustworthy. They might try to scam you a little, charge you a higher price on something than you should pay, but they would never steal from you. Another thing to know about dollars in Myanmar is that not everyone accepts kyat. The government does not accept any kyat from foreigners, only US dollars. If you must pay in kyat, you are charged 1000 extra, essentially paying a dollar more for the same thing. And remember, this is the same government that gives you an exchange rate of 450:1. They get you coming and going if you're not careful.

Q: Whew! That sounds complicated.

A: Yeah, it is. You should definitely do some research before going to Myanmar.

Q: So would you recommend it?

A: Absolutely! We had a fantastic time, and with the right preparation, anyone else can too. But you have to know that it won't be super easy, there will be 4 am bus rides and very bad roads and in the hot season it is very hot.

Okay, enough faux Q and A, we will post a more detailed description of our trip to Myanmar soon, with some pictures, and we also are overdue for a Songkran and More Islands post. We'll try to get all those up this week.

I'll leave you with some links on Myanmar. You can read what Lonely Planet says about it here, and some recent news here, here and here.