Myanmar's Profile
‘This is Burma’, wrote Kipling. ‘It is quite unlike any place you know about.’ How right he was, and more than a century later Myanmar remains a world apart. Contemplate 4000 sacred stupas scattered across the plains of Bagan. Stare in disbelief at the golden rock teetering impossibly on the edge of a chasm. Encounter men wearing skirt-like longyi, women smothered in thanaka (traditional make-up) and betel-chewing grannies with blood red juices dripping from their mouths – and that’s just the airport! Meet the multitalented monks who have taught their cats to jump. Ride a Wild West stagecoach past grand British mansions. Trade jokes about the rulers who move capitals on the whim of a fortune teller. Indeed, this is Burma.
Isolated and ostracised by the international community, the country is in the grip of tyrants. Most travellers avoid a visit, backing the boycott, but the long-suffering people are everything the regime is not. Gentle, humorous, engaging, considerate and inquisitive, they want to play a part in the world, and deserve a brighter future. Turn back the clock with a trip to this time-warped country where the adventure travel of old lives on. This is the authentic Asia with creaking buses, potholed roads, locals who greet you like long lost family and not a 7-Eleven in sight. Forget the internet for a moment and connect with a culture where holy men are more revered than rock stars and golden buddhas are bathed every day at first light – in Mandalay, the Mahamuni Paya houses a buddha re-covered in gold leaf daily. Drift down the Ayeyarwady in an old river steamer, stake out a slice of Ngapali Beach or Ngwe Saung on the blissful Bay of Bengal, trek through pine forests to minority villages around Kalaw – there are so many experiences awaiting in Myanmar that one trip is simply never enough. It’s a country that fuels your emotions, stimulates your senses and stays in your soul.
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Fast Facts about Myanmar/Burma
* ATMs None
* Number of refugees or displaced persons at least 500,000 before Cyclone Nargis
* Internet users 0.1% of the population
* Cost of a mobile phone SIM card $1000
* Government’s self-proclaimed slogan 'Everybody’s friend but nobody’s ally’
* Famous for jade, opium, Aung San Suu Kyi
* Languages Burmese, English
* Money US$1 = K6.45 = 1FEC
* Phrases min găla ba (hello), thwa-ba-oun-meh (goodbye), chè zù bèh (thanks)
* Population 47.4 million (officially)
* Population growth rate 0.8% (2008 estimate)
* Area 421,600 sq miles
Weather
The best time to visit Myanmar is between November and February. During these months it rains least (if at all in places) and it is not so hot. March to May brings intense heat. At this time, the daily temperatures in Yangon (Rangoon) often reach 40ºC (104ºF), while areas around Bagan and Mandalay go a few digits higher. The cool hill towns of Shan State offer relief from the heat, though. The southwest monsoon starts between mid-May and mid-June, bringing frequent rains that dunk the country through till October, peaking from July to September. The dry zone (between Mandalay and Pyay) gets the least rain, though roads anywhere (and particularly in the delta region) can become impassable. Rakhaing State bears the full force of the rains – often exceeding 195in (495cm) of rain annually.
History
Myanmar was ruled with an iron fist long before the current regime came to power. From the early 19th century until WWII, the insatiable machine that was the British Empire held sway over Burma. Before the British, there were the kings of old, who rose to power by eliminating rivals with claims to the throne. Tracing the conflicts back to the 9th century, we find the Himalayan Bamar people, who comprise two-thirds of the population, at war with the Tibetan Plateau’s Mon people. The fight went on for so long that by the time the Bamar came out on top, the two cultures had effectively merged.
The 11th-century Bamar king Anawrahta converted the land to Theravada Buddhism, and inaugurated what many consider to be its golden age. He used his war spoils to build the first temples at Bagan (Pagan). Stupa after stupa sprouted under successive kings, but the vast money and effort poured into their construction weakened the kingdom. Kublai Khan and his Mongol hordes swept through Bagan in 1287, hastening Myanmar’s decline into the dark ages.
