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| My point of focus for the upcoming trip to Burma October 2014 Google Maps Points of Interests on Myanmar |
I found the mostly updated news from Burma from these sources
Irrawaddy on Burma - news from South Asia, you can select Burma specifically as a country of focus.
Mizzima - news from Myanmar/Burma. There is also a Facebook page to follow their new. I am not sure who is behind this media, the mission is interesting though :"To be a leading independent media organisation on Myanmar, playing a vital role in building democracy & informing citizens." In a country of military junta the word "independence" is misinterpreted most commonly.
Bangkok Post (the worlds window on Thailand) has quite a good amount of news from the region, including Myanmar, although sometimes their news are contradicting news from the other sources.
For example the recent news about heavy fighting 5 KM from Mae Sut border crossing between Thailand and Myanmar is giving a very different sense of urgency.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/434611/new-fighting-in-karen-territory compare it with this
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/. Also some new heavy fighting burst out in Shan State http://www.irrawaddy.org/burma/heavy-fighting-shan-state-kills-17-govt-soldiers-rebels-claim.html.. HMMMM
You need to be sceptical reading all of them anyway.
My other source of knowledge include books on Myanmar (Letters from Burma, Crime and Punishment around the World 2010 and of course travel guides, my choice being Myanmar / Burma Insight Guides.
I can really feel the time pressure now. Excitement is mixing with anxiety and panic. The closer to my departure the more bad news I come across. I think I might have to adopt my idea for this trip to try and stay safe-ish.
I get a bit discouraged reading all the recent news and blog entries from people reporting on increasing crime on tourists, especially solo travellers and women. Not mentioning the murdering of two British tourists in a nearby Thailand by two Burmese (supposingly). Th two Burmese migrants accused of committing the killings on Koh Tao last month were tortured by Thai police during their interrogation (A Burmese lawyer says).
This is looping to the report on crime and law enforcement (or rather no law enforcement) stated in the book on World Crime and Punishment. If you read the chapter on Burma, which is available as a preview in Google Books, the picture isn't very encouraging. I will not mention to you the details, if you really want to know I suggest you go and read it yourself. I am not happy with what I have read at all. Then you can also research Internet and find more and more people complaining about safety in Burma, this one is very mild:
getting-robbed-in-yangon-myanmar. What is striking for me is the numerous indication of scam and mischief every step you take. This is not what I expected from Burma, can it really be this bad?
Also United Nations is reporting “The deep-seated inter-ethnic and inter-religious tensions that have re-emerged around the country have given rise to further violence, loss of life, displacement of populations and destruction of property (...)”.
I do not even want to into news regarding drug busting (i.e. police caught stealing 60 000 drug pills that were supposed to be secured as evidence, instead they attempted selling them for profit).
On the other hand Myanmar will make 2016 “Visit Myanmar Year” to boost tourism, it has been officially announced...HERE.
Changing the subject.
Do I carry all the cash on me or do I take some and then try to withdraw from local ATM?
This is all very tricky. Although it has been stated officially that MASTER CARD and VISA are operating in the country (MasterCard more recently) reports from travellers are somehow discouraging. In general there are a total of 25 private and four state-owned banks in Myanmar with 35 foreign bank representative offices stationed in the country (sourced from Aesan China Center). This is pretty good news. However when you look in details, tourists have problems with transactions not being processed (denied), transactions being processed but resulting in different amounts charged to their accounts, transaction caps being imposed resulting in paying excessive fees every time and banking machines not always being available (some are only within bank opening hours).
I found very useful information on TripAdvisor and MyWanderList blog
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| 8 Myanmar (Burma) Travel Myths.. |
I have also finally found a plausible explanation of the "pristine dollar bill need" in Myanmar. One of the forum commentators HERE provided a reasonable description of the situation: " The part about the reason why the the banks there won't accept damaged or marked on US dollars is because the government was concerned that Western countries could then track what was happening with the US dollars especially for arms purchases, narcotic purchases and shipments, etc. This was 30 years ago but the practice is now ingrained into the culture. It is true that the Burma banks wouldn't have been able to trade in their US cash reserves back to the US treasury for new bills or whatever but the banks in Burma would have had no problem sending shipments of these same greenbacks to banks in other ASEAN countries or China or Bangladesh for example for new bills minus a fee similar to what banks charge each other for these services."
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