i am so disappointed that noone has a posting for burma recently....its a great place and more people should visit there...forget the regime and go spend western money there

rhkkmk, when were you there? We are pretty interested in going at the end of this year, but we have some concerns about photography. Did you have a film camera with you and if so, how many rolls of film?

i was there in november for 6 days...noone looked at my camera or my film....i don't see it as a problem....they seem quite lax at the airport and not concerned with anything more than getting their $300 us each in money exchange...for FEC's, whcih are quite usable....<BR><BR>we stayed at the inya lake hotel, formerly a rennaissance...out of town...the Kandawgyi Palace hotel is very nice in town as is the pansea hotel...we did not like traders hotel and the strand is just oo much, but good to eat lunch at and to visit...<BR><BR>L'Opera Restaurant is very good, just out of town toward the airport in a residential neighborhood...take a car and have him wait for you...lunch or dinner<BR><BR>if you have specific questions, e-mail me: [email protected] myanmar in your subject line or i will delete you without reading...<BR><BR>we have a great driver for you as well...

Thanks! Plans are uncertain but I will save this exchange off line and contact you privately if we do decide to go.

It is a tricky one this. On the one hand go and experience the place, the other opinion is that whilst the people are being so down-trodden with no rights or freedoms should we be putting money in the hands of their government. I visited the south, the people were charming and friendly, they speak good English, but very soon the 'officials' appear and they back away. Sad.

margoross, I agree with you that it is<BR> tricky. I weigh in my mind the money that goes to the government vs the money that goes to ordinary people. We have friends who were there some years ago, loved it, and are eager to return.

i hate to be crude but the little bit of money you spend is not going to make any difference...how about the interface you have with people and how you sharring with them gives them a different outlook than they can get in their country...these are not dumb people...they know what is going on...<BR>in the meantime if you do not go, you miss out on what is there now and may not be there in the future...<BR><BR>also there are other ways other than the western way????

Well, rhkkmk, if I follow your philosophy that the small amount of money we spend doesn't make any difference, then why would the limited contact we have with people during our visit make any difference? For that matter, why should I vote? My vote isn't going to make any difference either. But it's all part of the larger picture and I think it all DOES matter in the accumulation.<BR><BR>I do agree with you on seeing what is there now before tourism changes things dramatically. <BR><BR>I don't understand your last sentence about &quot;ways other than the western way&quot;. Do you mean ways of living or ways of traveling?

i wasn't going to answer you but i will for what it is worth: we in the west think we are &quot;right&quot;, always...now it is just possible that people in other places do things differently and perhaps it too is &quot;right&quot;.... maybe just maybe the way things are being done in myanmar is right for them at this stage---its possible??? don't have quite such a holy attitude...please.

If you are speaking of the way in which people live their lives, I could not agree with you more that there is NO &quot;right&quot; or &quot;wrong&quot;. There are instead individual cultures which differ greatly all over the world. Isn't that why we love to travel?<BR><BR>Personally, I have seen people living very differently from the way we live in the US, with much less material comfort, but that does not prevent them from enjoying their lives as much or more than &quot;westerners&quot;. So I do not happen to be one of those people who think the west is always &quot;right.&quot;<BR><BR>On the other hand, it's hard for me to accept that a government that is so repressive could ever be &quot;right for them at this stage.&quot; That line of thinking could be used to justify any government, no matter how brutal. (E.g., was the Third Reich &quot;right&quot; for Germany at that stage of their history? Was Pol Pot &quot;right&quot; for Cambodia at that stage?) <BR><BR>I am also confused by the mixed message you are giving. Your original post says &quot;forget the regime and go spend western money there&quot;. But later you say &quot;the little bit of money you spend is not going to make any difference.&quot;

this site is for fun not for psychology...marilyn enjoy your travelling....i'm off again tomorrow

I thought this was full of mixed messages also. One minute he's telling you to contact him for info and then he's telling you off, strange.I know very little about this country except that in Bangkok recently I had dinner with a family on holiday from there and they were so charming and friendly, a real delight, and I did learn quite a bit about the country. Whether enough to inspire me to go there though I still do not know.