BootsnAll Travel Community

I'd like to hear what your thoughts are on visiting Myanmar. I've read about both sides of the argument on boycotting Myanmar due military junta and its human rights abuses.

I respect people's desire to help by making a stand. On the other hand, I don't like being told where I should and shouldn't visit. Why should I boycott Myanmar because of its problems, yet choose to go to China, Indonesia, Thailand, India or nearly any other country in the world, each with its own abuses against its people?

I guess I lean more toward the side of those who believe you can make a bigger difference by choosing to go and see first hand what is going on and spreading the word. Plus you can work to make sure your dollars are being spent on the local people and not too government run tour companies.

What got me thinking about this is reading Rough Guides' "First Time Asia" book which covers all of Asia (besides Central Asia) with the exception of Myanmar out of respect for the boycott. I'd rather they told me what they think about the country rather than not tell me anything at all.

I only went to the border town next to Mae sot, Thailand for the day but it was tops. I spent most of the day with a family that owns a sarong shop. We had more laughs and giggles over me buying a sarong. I recommend going over to Burma and spending your money on the locals. Stay in a GH, take the local rickshaws and buy from the street vendors. I would love to go and explore the whole country some day. Very friendly people. Even the soldiers that guard the border.

I went to Burma in January and had a great time. The place is a stunningly beautiful country with very friendly people. To avoid lining the pockets of the military junta you need to make sure you dont stay in the government run guest houses (ask around) and also avoid flying on the state owned airline. Instead take public transport (or hire a local driver - very cheap and much more comfortable), eat at local places and buy local goods. Some goverment taxes you will be unable to avoid - the statutory FECs you need to buy at the start (though these can be instantly changed into dollars by certain people on the street), entrance fees to Bagan etc etc (make sure you pay this in FECs and not dollars so the junta doesnt get its hands on much needed foreign exchange) and the airport taxes. Standard rule is when paying for things when the money goes to the junta pay in FECS not dollars.

Read up on the following places - Yangon, Bagan, Mandalay, Inle Lake - all of them need to be visited plus there is plenty more. Its a big country (even though you are restricted in certain areas) so make sure you set aside some time.

If you need anymore info have a look at some of the other posts on this forum concerning Myanmar.

Tim

I appreciate the responses. However, I got so few it makes me wonder if people really do stay away because of the boycott or if they just don't look at the option of visiting Burma as much because of less information (again, partially because of the boycott.)

Two years ago, I stayed away - partly because of the boycott and partly because I was running out of money! If I'd had unlimited time and money, I think I probably would have ended up going, but I'm not sure.
It's a tough issue. I think Burma is different than many other countries, for a couple of reasons. one is that you are forced to support the regime through FECs. the other, most glaring one for me, is the use of slave labor. The regime is propped up by slave labor, which seems exceptionally abominable to me.
But does that necessarily mean you shouldn't go?
The good-will ambassador idea has a lot of merit. however, i wonder how many travelers are really serious about taking burma's plight back to their home countries. maybe this sounds cynical, but when i was in laos i met lots of travelers who didn't even know that laos is the most bombed country in the history of the world.
usually, this is fine.i myself am very often fairly ignorant of the complexities of politics and history of places I visit. However, it would seem if you are going to support such a repugnant regime, one that is actually worse today than it was two years ago, there needs to be some way to offset that support.
My friend went to Burma last year, and when he came back he held educational slideshows (to friends and a high school class) and wrote an article for the local paper. this seems like a manageable but effective way to make a difference.

I agree its a difficult decision to make whether to go or not. However i think by travelling to the country you are educating the people of that country as much as you are educating yourself.

One of my abiding memories of been in Burma is speaking to some villagers at a local market (through the use of my driver/intepretor) about what the rest of the world was like. You have to remember that a big proportion of the people have no access to outside media (internet, tv, newspapers) and there understanding of the world is very limited. They didnt know and couldnt understand how it was possible to have compulsory education for all children under a certain age. There experience was that if you had enough money then your children went to school and if not then they went to work for the family or at worst the government. By educting them by about the ways of the world then hopefully over time, tourism in its own small way will, educate the people to know that the current policies of the government is not how the rest of the world works and maybe, just maybe, increase opposition to these policies and the government. By keeping Burma apart from the rest of the civilised world then the people may never know any different.

My view, not right, not wrong - i think you have to decide for yourself and before. during and after do everything possible to ensure that you decision is justified. Going to Burma doesnt open you to criticism as long as it is done in the correct manner.

Well said. I am hopefully going to Myanmar later this month. I think my Lonely Planet guide book addressed the issue well, and I agree that by "opening up" a country to travel, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

Especially now that the FECs are no longer mandatory, my dollars will go to support local people, too, not just the oppressive military regime.

Travelers see what is going on there, report it to "the world" at large, and at the same time, are seen by the Burmese and show them what they have to strive for.

If Myanmar were completely closed to visitors, I feel it would be EASIER for the government to control their populace. In minute wasys, my visit is make it harder for them. Add up all those little effects by thousands of visitors, though, and maybe we're helping bring about change for the people of Myanmar.

worldwidemike

World Wide Mike
Check out my travel web page at: http://home.earthlink.net/~mikedemana/

Thanks for the input, Mike. When you say FEC's are no longer required, do you mean officially or in the sense that a "present" in the right hands let's you get by without purchasing them?

By the way, for anyone else interested in Burma, Sean McCarthy has been writing some top notch articles on the area for BootsnAll. You can find one of them under the travel articles section. It's some of the best writing I've seen on this site so far.

It's official, now. No longer do travelers have to exchange dollars for FECs...or at least according to their embassy here in the U.S. and a couple web sites I've visited.

The FEC thing was actually one of the reasons I looked around and lined up a "package tour." This one is a tour only in name, though. They basically just arranged my hotels, flights to Bagan and back, and airport transfers. Other than that, I'm completely on my own. Which is how I prefer it, actually. The package tour experience would drive me bonkers, I think.

worldwidemike

World Wide Mike
Check out my travel web page at: http://home.earthlink.net/~mikedemana/