Arriving at Yangon's crummy airport was an experience it itself. The heat (no air-con, or it wasnt working), the immigration clearance at the VIP counter (just by virtue of having a foreign passport) and the crowd that gathered just to look at people coming out of the airplanes.
First experience of a cultural shock, compounded by the men in longyis gathered right outside the airport on the sandy carpark who crowded around you offering to change money and get you a taxi. The former i did at a bad rate - didn't know the rates for dollars to kyat (pronounced ch-yat) had just risen. Lost i reckon about 5 dollars. It did leave me a bad taste in the mouth, being hustled, and faced with the reality of travel in a foreign country. Admittedly i felt, then and throughout the ride into downtown Yangon, that was this what i had expected or wanted, as all first time backpackers do. Being warned by my driver against taking photographs of the guys in green longyi (traffic police), and generally anything that looks vaguely military/government did nothing to add to my enjoyment of the ride into Yangon. Doubts by then were really forming in my mind if i was misguided in embarking on this journy.
The doubts soon evaporated - the Burmese, really are the nicest people ever. I cannot even remember how many times people have offered their assistance willingly and with a smile, even though i was obviously the lost foreign tourist. Getting directions, being offered tea and meals at their own expense (which really moved me, given the hardship the Burmese people are facing), and even bringing me to their homes to meet their wives and children.
My main grievance is the insane and irritating camera fees - from 1 to 2 USD. They can spot you from a mile off when you whip out your camera, and then close in to sell you those small bookmark like tags to allow you to continue taking photos at major tourist sites.
After amassing so many of the annoying little tags, i became that wee bit wiser and started to spot those guys with their little tags and ubiquitous safari jackets coming and tuck that camera away in my pockets until they passed or went to hassle another traveller. Another thing was the high entrance fees - barring the Shwe Dagon, which i felt was really worth it at 5USD, the other places were really extortionate in their entrance fees. The worst of the lot was Bago (Pegu)'s mini Buddha World at 10 USD for a few, new Buddhist statues and temples. Did manage however, at Kyaiktyo (the Golden Rock) to avoid the 10 dollars, a fortune to the poor backpacker, by pretending to be a local with the aid of my Burmese guide, a Christian Kayin named Soe/Saw (transliteration), made easier no doubt by my Asian heritage.
What really gnaws at me is that all this insance ticketing money (expensive by most standards) is going to fund the military regime and line Senior General Than Shwe's pockets while the ordinary Burmese struggle to feed themselves and their families. Which will inevitably evoke the longstanding debate of Burma: to go or not to go.
I'd say go, main reason being that the government can survive in isolation - it has other sources of revenue (natural resource exploitation is one), while the people, if isolated, suffer much more than the government (which i presume is, and can be very happy to be left alone, especially now with mounting international pressure). Tourism can be another source of revenue to them, and helps raise awareness of their cause. Just DO NOT be a package tourist, then you really are bankrolling the junta and supporting its atrocities. As an independent traveller, staying in guesthouses and locally run hostels, definitely do not cross out Burma from your itinery. And from what i could tell after just one night in Yangon, it was beyond beautiful. It was magical.
First experience of a cultural shock, compounded by the men in longyis gathered right outside the airport on the sandy carpark who crowded around you offering to change money and get you a taxi. The former i did at a bad rate - didn't know the rates for dollars to kyat (pronounced ch-yat) had just risen. Lost i reckon about 5 dollars. It did leave me a bad taste in the mouth, being hustled, and faced with the reality of travel in a foreign country. Admittedly i felt, then and throughout the ride into downtown Yangon, that was this what i had expected or wanted, as all first time backpackers do. Being warned by my driver against taking photographs of the guys in green longyi (traffic police), and generally anything that looks vaguely military/government did nothing to add to my enjoyment of the ride into Yangon. Doubts by then were really forming in my mind if i was misguided in embarking on this journy.
The doubts soon evaporated - the Burmese, really are the nicest people ever. I cannot even remember how many times people have offered their assistance willingly and with a smile, even though i was obviously the lost foreign tourist. Getting directions, being offered tea and meals at their own expense (which really moved me, given the hardship the Burmese people are facing), and even bringing me to their homes to meet their wives and children.
My main grievance is the insane and irritating camera fees - from 1 to 2 USD. They can spot you from a mile off when you whip out your camera, and then close in to sell you those small bookmark like tags to allow you to continue taking photos at major tourist sites.
After amassing so many of the annoying little tags, i became that wee bit wiser and started to spot those guys with their little tags and ubiquitous safari jackets coming and tuck that camera away in my pockets until they passed or went to hassle another traveller. Another thing was the high entrance fees - barring the Shwe Dagon, which i felt was really worth it at 5USD, the other places were really extortionate in their entrance fees. The worst of the lot was Bago (Pegu)'s mini Buddha World at 10 USD for a few, new Buddhist statues and temples. Did manage however, at Kyaiktyo (the Golden Rock) to avoid the 10 dollars, a fortune to the poor backpacker, by pretending to be a local with the aid of my Burmese guide, a Christian Kayin named Soe/Saw (transliteration), made easier no doubt by my Asian heritage.
What really gnaws at me is that all this insance ticketing money (expensive by most standards) is going to fund the military regime and line Senior General Than Shwe's pockets while the ordinary Burmese struggle to feed themselves and their families. Which will inevitably evoke the longstanding debate of Burma: to go or not to go.
I'd say go, main reason being that the government can survive in isolation - it has other sources of revenue (natural resource exploitation is one), while the people, if isolated, suffer much more than the government (which i presume is, and can be very happy to be left alone, especially now with mounting international pressure). Tourism can be another source of revenue to them, and helps raise awareness of their cause. Just DO NOT be a package tourist, then you really are bankrolling the junta and supporting its atrocities. As an independent traveller, staying in guesthouses and locally run hostels, definitely do not cross out Burma from your itinery. And from what i could tell after just one night in Yangon, it was beyond beautiful. It was magical.
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