Myanmar - The travelogues: what this is all about

I've only made a single visit to Myanmar, a trip which lasted nineteen days from April 29 to May 17, 2000. My itinerary followed a fairly traditional tourist route. Roughly, it was Yangon > Mandalay > Hsipaw > Mandalay > Inle Lake > Kalaw > Bagan > Yangon.

As a tourist on a first-time visit to Myanmar it wasn't possible to produce the in-depth profiles that I have done for Cambodia. Journalists aren't even allowed into the country. Had I overtly attempted any activity remotely journalistic in nature I'd have stood a better than even chance of finding myself on the first plane out of the country sans film, notes, and who knows what else. I couldn't go anywhere I wanted, I couldn't talk to anybody I wanted, and I certainly couldn't photograph anything I wanted. To truly dig beneath the surface of Myanmar requires trusted contacts and multiple visits. I have not the former nor have I done the latter. I was in no position to try anything bold.

Had I admitted on my visa application that I am a published writer/photographer I consider it highly unlikely I would have even been issued a tourist visa. Never mind that the one travel article I subsequently wrote on Myanmar was favorable towards the country (as a tourist destination). But still, I spent nineteen days with my eyes and ears open, and while I won't pretend to be any kind of authority on Myanmar, I have at least been there.

As a result, the following section qualifies as little more than traveler babblelogue. It's simply my observations and impressions from nineteen days in the "Golden Land" seen through my own personal filters. Opinions are many and I expect other travelers who have been to Myanmar will find cause to disagree with some of my comments.

Supporting the text are numerous photographs (or perhaps the text supports the photographs - sometimes it's hard to say which is which). For this traveler, people are most often the highlight of any trip and as such, on these pages is a generous amount of images of some of the people I met along the way.