Ditto what Craig said:

What always ticks me off about this debate is that there are human rights issues [ and let me add Dictatorships] in many countries that are ignored because western countries do business with them and do not discourage tourism in the same way.

Hi - I am on this thread while I am still composing the last bit of my report on Inle Lake and the last couple of days on Yangon.I'll post it soon..

Having been to Burma I think I have a bit of a viewpoint too and a lot of you are not going to like it!!

It is that yes, there is an argument for not visiting Burma because of the human rights issue but I would urge people to visit.

The reasons...there are other countries who don't care about the boycott placed on Burma by Aung San Suu Kyi and there are plenty of tourists from these countries visiting Burma. My view is that shouldn't the local population interact with a variety of tourists and a variety of ideas about such things as democracy etc?

In terms of investment etc again, there are countries and individuals that don't give a damn about the policies of a government's treatment of its people and they are investing in Burma - they just want to make more money ..need I say more?

Burma is stuck in a time warp - it is not going to change unless there is a stimulus for change among the people.

If you study revolutions around the world one of the critical factors is international influence and at the moment the international influence is a negative one.

The more that people learn about ideas and what life could be like the more they are going to galvanise/unite and demand change.

From Burma I went to Vietnam -yes, it also has a totalitarian regime but that country is "hopping" and its people are thriving. The difference...tourism.

This is probably too late, but I did a Pandaw cruise trip down the Mekong, and Pandaw operate along the Irriwaddy. I'm not a fan of groupo travel either, but the mekong trip was superb, and I understand the ones in Myanmar are even better. Being with a group was no problem, because I could still do my own thing when I felt so moved. www.pandaw.com

gloria -- thank you -- sorry it took me so long to get back and do that -- really appreciated your thoughts last year on thailand so am very grateful for this.

Check out the site of a company that looked after us extremely well: http://www.epg-travel.com/
Doug is the CEO, and can take you to all kinds of places. His staff are most welcoming.