The Southeast Asia Travel Specialists Since 1999
Every part of Lake Inle; whether watching the golden sunrise creep over the mountain tops, visiting the stilt villages or exploring the astonishing floating gardens are obvious highlights of any Myanmar (Burma) tour so we’ll narrow our 2-day Lake programme down to what’s probably our favourite part – the morning visit to In Dein. The spectacular forest of ancient stupas, colourful…
The following are a few of our thoughts on the current situation with regards Burma (Myanmar) tourism. We wouldn’t claim in any way to understand the entire situation – and it is certainly more complicated than initial appearances – nor would we presume our opinions are necessarily the correct ones. Firstly, we categorically and unreservedly condemn the recent actions of…
Burmese ghosts, or nats as they are known locally, are spirits of people who died under tragic circumstances and who have remained earthbound so….what, in English, we would call ghosts. However, in Burma/Myanmar they take on a whole other significance and have shrines, statues, images, festivals dedicated to them. There’s even an ‘official’ list of the country’s 37 major recognised…
Mandalay Burma – a very evocative name but as with say Casablanca or Shangri La, (which is, of course, mythical but which the Chinese government has now seen fit to locate in northern Yunnan Province), the reality may not live up to the expectation and these days Burma’s 2nd largest city is busy, grubby and to many visitors, somewhat lacking…
Located in Burma’s western Shan State and famous for mountain scenery, floating gardens and the unusual rowing techniques of local fishermen Lake Inle is certainly one of Burma’s top tourist destinations. Either a very long drive from Mandalay or Bagan – or even longer from Rangoon – most visitors inevitably arrive by Heho Airport, an hour or so from the…
Burma When’s the best time to go? A frequently asked question but not an easily answered one and at the risk of doing some unapologetic fence-sitting we’d say every season has its pros and cons. Broadly speaking Burma’s climate falls into 3 general seasons: rainy, dry cool and dry hot, though of course in such a large and geographically varied…
Burma cottage industries – a few photos and descriptions from our Burma (Myanmar) tours. Guide: “Ok, next I’ll take you to visit some people who make rubber bands”. “Really?! And that’s interesting to see is it?” (It’s hot, the ‘roads’ are appalling and I’m carting around heavy camera gear.) Guide. “Yes – everybody likes it”. (Not convinced) “Errr ok then…
The Padaung people of Burma, more commonly known as the ‘Long-Neck Karen’, live in Kayah State in northeastern Burma and though the provincial capital Loikaw is now officially open for tourism it’s still very difficult to get to so your most likely contact with them would be at one of their lakeside souvenir stalls at Inle. The pros and cons…
The somewhat remote, Irrawaddy Delta town of Pathein is actually officially the 5th largest ‘city’ in Burma – which makes it slightly smaller than Moulmein (Mawlamyine) – yet even fewer tourists ever make it down to this super-friendly and fascinating river port than visit Mon State’s picturesque capital. Pathein is the Delta’s commercial hub and the riverside area and central…
Now portrait photography in Burma does amount to pretty much the same as taking people photographs anywhere else but with a few subtle differences so, here’s a brief run down. You have two basic strategies: either ask permission for a close-up shot or discreet shots with zooms. If you have a guide with you it’s easy to ask politely though hand…
No, would be our easy answer as with regards photographing local people in Burma! Increasingly in Burma’s tourist hotspots, you will see local people posing for photographs in return for money and to our minds, this is a habit that shouldn’t be encouraged. If you don’t want your photo taken then suffice to say so; we don’t feel it should…
Kipling famously described Burma as being ‘quite unlike any land you know about’ and the remote Shan State outpost of Kengtung is certainly quite unlike any Burmese town you’d know about. You’ll rarely hear Burmese spoken; few locals wear longyis, you won’t see many girls sporting thanaka paste, there’s little Burmese food and the usually ubiquitous Aung San Suu Kyi…
Selection of Marina’s Burma photos, who travelled on our recent off the beaten track South Burma tour, ‘Lookin’ Lazy at the Sea. Thanks a lot for the great pics, Marina! Taken, we believe, on the local boat between Moulmein, (Mawlamyine), and Bilu, (Ogre), Island. One of the Mon girls making the traditional Burmese bamboo hats on Bilu Island. See our…
Our earlier post covered Burma’s Mon State so we’ll take up our South Burma tour photos where we left off with the very scenic boat journey up the Thanlwin, or Salween, River from Moulmein, (Mawlamyine), to the Karen State capital of Hpa-An. Great boat, helpful skipper and wonderful landscapes made for an excellent trip not forgetting a memorable stop in…
A selection of photos of Mon and Karen States taken on our recently completed, and inaugural, South Burma tour. Doesn’t matter how much you research new tour itineraries, doing it with a group is always different and teething problems are generally par for the course though, in this case – if we do say so ourselves – all went surprisingly…
The second batch of photos taken by Wi on her recent 2-week Discover Burma tour includes some of her wonderful portraits of a few of the characters encountered en-route and, in case you missed the previous set of landscape photos, here’s the link. The Pa-O, like many people in Burma, are big fans of the betel nut but…
Here’s another selection of excellent Burma tour pictures from a recent Discover Burma tour taken by Wi for your perusal. Burma’s certainly a photographer’s paradise and as usual, Wi returned with literally thousands of images so after making a tricky selection we’ll split our favourites into landscape and portrait posts. So, without further waffle – a few of the landscapes……..
Another Asian cuisine that’s sadly little-known outside of the country so here’s a list of 10 Burmese dishes not to be missed on any Burma (Myanmar) tour. You’ll find all the fresh herbs of Thai cooking; lemongrass, ginger, galangal, coriander, chillies, the spices, pulses and bread of Indian food, distinct Chinese influences and plenty of unique local flavours which, combined,…
A selection of Burma rainy season photos. Just finished another great Burma tour but as usual internet possibilities are limited over there so with a fairly massive mail backlog to clear we’ll stick to a post with lots of pics and minimal text, (phew!) Rainy season travel meant a small group size though we’ve already highlighted the benefits of travelling…
Moulmein (Mawlamyine to use the modern name), was famously immortalised by Rudyard Kipling in the line, “By the old Moulmein pagoda lookin’ lazy at the sea….” Of course, the poem was actually called Mandalay, not Moulmein, and neither is the correct title the Road to Mandalay as many assume. Well, you can still sit by the old pagoda and look…