South-east Asia

Myanmar and ethics

Myanmar is ruled by a cruel military junta. For an ordinary traveller this causes no actual danger and, because of its strict rules, Myanmar is one of the more safe nations in its region. But the junta is also in the top ten of the world’s atrocities, so don’t throw your budget willingly to the opressors.

In the early 1990s the nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who is now under house arrest, recommended all foreigners avoid the country, so the generals wouldn’t profit from tourism to fund their oppressive ways. Because of this you can still see boycotts against traveling to Myanmar. But Madventures thinks like most of the opposition leaders of the country today: you can travel to Myanmar, but do it responsibly. This means avoiding all government businesses (hotels, restaurants, airlines etc.) The junta craves for tourists willing to be isolated in luxury holiday villages! Instead, use your money at the grassroots level where it reaches the common citizen.

The most important thing is to make your decision about traveling to Myanmar by yourself. Weigh the pros and cons, think and decide, then spread the knowledge, so others can make their choices.
 

Cheroot

In the Myanmar countryside the traveller can’t escape the sight of huge blunts - especially on the lips of the senior citizens. This is not the so-called wacky tobacco that is in question but the traditional Burmese cigar, the cheroot (dried and ground tobacco wrapped in tobacco or corn leaf). Dried and grated sprigs of palm tree are sometimes used as spice. Leaves are also used as filters to keep the fillings from entering the smoker’s lung. The smoke is actually surprisingly smooth.

Cheroots are sold all over Myanmar and every province has their own factories and favourite brands. They even introduced the menthol cheroot recently in Yangon. But the best cheroots can still be found at the countryside, where especially the older ladies are professed rollers (and smokers) of these gigantic joints.

The most enormous cigars need half a coconut as an ashtray, kept under the cigar at all times unless you want to set yourself on fire! Madventures recommends: join some locals and learn how to roll your own the Burmese way! And a cheroot makes an excellent souvenir for all the aficionados back home!

Three Seasons Hotel

In Yangon, and Myanmar in general, it’s only sensible to avoid hotels owned by government or those close to the government. It is easy, because all the more expensive top end accommodations belong to the junta, when cheaper, privately owned ones are listed in good guides such as Lonely Planet.

An excellent place to stay in Yangon is the Three Seasons Hotel on 52nd street. The location is good and the prices are low. But the best feature is the very nice family, skilled in languages, who run this inn under the supervision of Mrs Ma Hla Hla. They can fix tickets out of town; rooms are clean; there's a good breakfast and so on.

In Myanmar, Madventures’ basic principle is emphasised. When you choose lodging, a restaurant or a shop, always support the local enterprises instead of large (and often multinational) franchises and corporations. This way the contribution margin stays at the private sector, to the common people instead of foreign investors. And if you pay money to the government in Myanmar, you are in fact supporting a criminal regime.

So choose private – luckily it has been possible in Myanmar for more than a few years now!

Hotel address:
No. 83/85, 52nd Street, Pazundaung Township, Yangon
Phone: +95-1-293304
Mail: phyuaung@mptmail.net.mm