Rising from the ashes
In November 2010, Burma stumbled blinking into the light, following 50 years under the rule of one of the world’s harshest military regimes. Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest for 16 years, placed a boycott on tourism in 1992, in defiance of the unelected military junta.
Since the boycott was lifted, Burma has marked itself indelibly into the psyche of international travellers. While it’s still no Thailand, the country has matured rapidly into the new southeast Asian hotspot and, three years since being the least-visited country in Asia (excluding North Korea), it’s now the gleaming pinnacle of adventure travel.
But what lessons have been learned? First, tourism needs to be responsible – upon lifting the boycott, Suu Kyi stated that trips to the country ‘should provide an insight into the cultural, political and social life of Burma’ – loosely translatable as avoiding mass tourism, the profits from which are still lining the pockets of the junta.
Second, it’s still not a free-for-all; pockets of rural Burma remain hotbeds of violence, both military and religious. There are cries of ethnic cleansing from the minority Rohingya Muslim community, who clash fearfully with the Rakhine Buddhists, and some areas, including Kachin State and the border with China – where the threat from armed ethnic groups is high – are considered no-go areas. In short, go with open eyes and tread lightly, and Burma’s cloak of mystique will undoubtedly lift.
Witness Bagan
Perhaps the most enigmatic image of Burma is one of misty valleys and dense jungle, studded by gleaming shrines (stupas) and overgrown temples. Throw into the mix orange-clad monks, prowling tigers and herds of blue-grey elephants, and it’s easy to see why Rudyard Kipling said, in Letters From The East (1898): ‘This is Burma and it is unlike any land you know about.’
Any trip to the country will involve a visit to the ancient capital of Bagan, the ‘Angkor Wat’ of Burma. This vast plain, scattered with more than 2,000 rose-coloured temples and pagodas, is an archaeological wonder and, if you catch it right, it can be (almost) all yours. Between now and February, visitors can expect hot, dry days and (due to the vast scale) few fellow tourists or hawkers.
Alternatively, a dawn balloon flight over the sacred site would be enough to melt even the most world-weary heart.
Take a tour
In a country with 25,000 hotel rooms and around 1.5million visitors a year, the fledgling tourism infrastructure is struggling to cope – lodgings are scarce, oversubscribed and notoriously hard to book. This was relieved temporarily by a surge in homestays but these were banned this year on the grounds that foreigners ‘do not properly follow customs, such as sleeping facing the east, and do not like the family using one spoon to eat from a single bowl’, according to U Htay Aung, minister for hotels and tourism.
The result is that all but the most intrepid of travellers will take a tour. The choice is profound but almost all will include the Burma classics – stupendous Bagan, the crumbling colonial city of Mandalay, dreamy Rangoon and its jaw-dropping Shwedagon Pagoda, volcanic Mount Popa and sleepy Lake Inle.
Wexas (www.wexas.com) has ten nights from £2,715 per person. Frui (www.frui.co.uk, 14 days, poa) has a similar itinerary aimed at photography enthusiasts, while KE Adventure (www.keadventure.co.uk, 14 days from £3,295) has one that also includes a trek into the Chin Hills, home to the ethnic Chin tribe, where women wear facial tattoos and tribal clothing.
For a slower pace, Orient Express’s Orcaella flotilla ship (www.orcaella.net, seven nights from £3,560) plies the legendary Irrawaddy River, George Orwell-style, stopping at multiple sites en route.
Chow down
Burmese food is fairly undiscovered but, in short, is something like a delightful fusion of Chinese and Thai. MiMi Aye (www.meemalee.com), Burmese food writer and author of Noodle! (Absolute Press, out next May), suggests seeking out the following.
‘Mohinga (lemongrass and catfish chowder), nan gyi thohk (chicken noodle salad) and kyar-san hin (smoky vermicelli soup) – all of which should be bursting with umami, citrus and herbs – plus fried street food (made to order): crisp prawn, tofu and dal fritters, delicious dipped in tamarind sauce; and char-grilled quail eggs, baby corn, okra, lotus root and oyster mushrooms. Try to track down lahpet, Burma’s favourite pickled tea leaf salad – unusual but addictive.’
Iron your cash
Money ‘laundering’ jokes aside, hard currency in Burma (for foreigners) is crisp, clean, ironed bills. ATMs are rare, bureaux de change a nightmare and most businesses won’t accept credit cards or crumpled notes. Take
a travel iron.
Getting there: China Southern (www.csair.com) has return flights from Heathrow to Rangoon from £602. www.myanmar-tourism.com
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