Burma post script

We really enjoyed Burma for what it was, but at same time, felt that there was so much more that it could be, both as a country and as a tourist destination.

Internally, the country is theoretically a democracy, but in fact the military retains a massive stronghold. Aung San Suu Kyi, aka The Lady, has proven she has the people's vote in the recent election, but as it stands, she cannot be leader due to a piece of government legislation that dictates the president cannot have a foreign spouse or children who have foreign citizenship (her deceased husband was British so her children have British nationality.)

In a recent vote, some softening occurred, but not nearly enough to stop the military from being able to veto her presidency. There is some hope after the outgoing president, Thein Sein, suggested he may support her leadership, but until something concrete changes, it seems that whilst the population would like to have The Lady in power, democracy doesn't extend quite that far.

And then there is the question of the minority groups in Myanmar. The most persecuted is the Rohinga Muslims, who are fleeing from the country in the most awful and dangerous ways, simply because they are not safe in their own homes. We were told accounts of horrific violence, with minor issues being escalated out of all proportion and resulting in terrible persecution and massacres of the Muslim population. And this by Buddhists, who surely we all would expect to be better than that.

But it is not just the Muslims that feel aggrieved. When the British were preparing to leave Burma General Aung San helped negotiate the Panglong Agreement with some of the minority ethnic groups, giving them rights to elements of self governance within the new federal system. However, with the assassination of General Aung San so soon after independence, this treaty was soon disregarded, leading to the formation of a multitude of rebel groups and ongoing tensions between them and the ruling party.

There has been a recent step forward in this, with a peace deal signed with some of the rebel groups, but it is only some, so tensions remain with the remainder, meaning any improvements are likely to be limited, and possibly shortlived.

I would love to see Myanmar become a truly democratic country, and resolve its internal conflicts, but sadly there seems long way to go before that will happen.

If and when it does, perhaps the country can improve its range of attractions for tourists too. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed our trip, but it really is a lot of temples and Buddhas, with a few visits to crafters workshops along the way. The museum in Yangon was good, but only covered history of the kingdom. It would be nice to have some places that could cover the time since then, dealing with the issue of the British Rule, the war,  independence, and the military coup, all the way up to now. There is a fascinating recent history here, but at present it cannot be properly told.

That isn't to say you shouldn't visit now. As long as you are happy to see a lot of temples and Buddhas, which you will, it is a great time because, although visitor numbers are increasing rapidly, the country has yet to have the full influx of tourists that will come in due course, so it is still a place that has a certain amount of innocence in its tourism, especially away from the main hubs. It will certainly change over the coming years, and I am glad to have seen it before that happens..

Dali, China - and the theme park experience of Chinese tourism

Our hostel

From Kunming we drove on to a place called Dali.  There are two Dalis, an old and a new one, both set around the edge of Lake Er Hai.  We were at the old one.  One of our fellow passengers had been here six years ago and said back then, the old town was run down, with few shops and few tourists, but lots of rubbish in the streets.

These days the town still has some old buildings, but there are newer buildings too.  The town has cleaned up its litter and has far more shops, bars and cafes catering to the new influx of tourists.  Most of the tourists are Chinese, but the westerners are coming too, so there are plenty of opportunities to eat and drink western style.  Most of the loos are still just the holes in the ground though.

The plan here was to go to see the cormorant fishing, where the locals use a cormorant to catch their fish by putting a ring around their necks, which allows them to eat the small fish, but not the larger ones.  Unfortunately we weren't able to go, but as it turns out, our fellow passengers that did go were a bit disappointed as rather than being able to spend time watching a group of genuine fishermen, what they saw was one fisher, almost certainly there just for the tourist groups, make a single catch.  Not really what any of us wanted.

Sadly, based on a couple of our own experiences and some comments from those who have been in China longer, it does feel a little like China is doing a lot of this.  They seem to take a genuine experience or sight, and make it into cleaned up tourist version.  So the cormorant fishing becomes just a display, and the Stone Forest gets paved pathways, manicured lawns and golf buggies.

Tea

This seems to be what the Chinese visitors want - a kind of theme park experience, where they can whizz around all the sights quickly and quite superficially.  We'd prefer to see the real thing and take a bit longer doing so.

Still, we did discover a liking for Lao dark beer.