Myanmar

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webmeister: Jan 31, 2007; The answer is, mate, because I want to do you slowly. There has to be a bit of sport in this for all of us. In the psychological battle stakes, we are stripped down and ready to go. I want to see those ashen-faced performances; I want more of them. I want to be encouraged. I want to see you squirm.

You can still eat pretty well on that sort of budget, particularly if you eat the local food - western food is more expensive as you'd expect. Beer is very cheap - usually about 1500 kyat / $1.50 USD for a tall bottle of Myanmar beer.

Aung Sun Sui Kyi is an interesting one, as although she's very respected and so on, I think a lot of people are disappointed in her rule so far. From what locals told us, she hasn't done much to end the ethnic violence in the north and the east, and has just been a bit underwhelming in general. Though someone else mentioned that 8 of the 15 members in her Cabinet are military appointees and she has no control over them, so her hands are a bit tied still. Similar situation to Obama maybe.

# ? Dec 13, 2016 23:14

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# ? Apr 20, 2024 14:52

kenner116: May 15, 2009

TheImmigrant posted:

That's really sad - I'm a cat freak, and spent almost an entire day at that monastery in 2003.

Sounds like I wouldn't even recognize the country now. I got there the day after Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested in Mogok in mid-2003. I flew in with the English-language newspaper from Bangkok, which carried news of the arrest on its front page. For the next month in the country, most of the people had no idea she'd been arrested. There were no cell phones, no Internet, no ATMs. I carried my entire month's budget in US dollars, changing them to insanely cheap black-market kyat as necessary, after bribing the airport customs lady to avoid having to buy worthless Foreign Exchange Certificates.

What are expenses like now? I was eating and drinking well on a backpacker budget of $20-25 per day.

It was the about the same when I was there in September/October 2011. About 20 USD per day, $600 for four weeks of travel. Hung out at Jumping Cat Monastery and boated/biked around Inle Lake. No ATMs, carried 1000 dollars cash in a pencil case I bought in front of Bangkok Bank in Silom, exchanged USD for kyat in the jewelry/gold market in Yangon.

Internet cafes were very common, mostly playing Taylor Swift and other western pop songs inside. Monks went online while chewing betel nut and spitting the red juice into little plastic bags. Cell phones were very common.

# ? Dec 14, 2016 11:53

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

Thanks for the trip report webmeister, I'm keeping Myanmar on my list of places to visit.

Is Yangon the best place to visit first? I assume the freshly built capital is crappy?

# ? Dec 15, 2016 11:43

webmeister: Jan 31, 2007; The answer is, mate, because I want to do you slowly. There has to be a bit of sport in this for all of us. In the psychological battle stakes, we are stripped down and ready to go. I want to see those ashen-faced performances; I want more of them. I want to be encouraged. I want to see you squirm.

Pilsner posted:

Thanks for the trip report webmeister, I'm keeping Myanmar on my list of places to visit.

Is Yangon the best place to visit first? I assume the freshly built capital is crappy?

Yeah, Yangon is definitely the best place for getting in and out - I'm not even sure if international flights even go to other cities. The airport at Yangon is brand new and very shiny, comparable to most other airports in SEA though a good deal smaller.

Naypyidaw is still a punchline as far as I know. We didn't visit but there's nothing there by all accounts.

# ? Dec 16, 2016 01:03