Burma: profile
Young Buddhist monks walking for morning alms in Bagan
Pristine beaches, gleaming stupas, lost cities, serene inland lakes and hill tribe treks are just some of the reasons travellers have started to return to Burma since its tourism boycott was eased in 2010.
Facts about Burma
- Population: 60 million
- Area: 676,578 square kilometres/261,227 square miles
- Capital city of Burma: Naypyidaw
- Official language: Burmese
- State religion: Buddhism
- Head of state: Thein Sein (president)
- Time zone: GMT + 6hr 30min
- Currency: Kyat
- Country code: +95
- Emergency numbers: Police (199); Fire (191); Ambulance (192)
At the crossroads
The defining feature of Burma’s varied geography is the Ayeyarwaddy (Irrawaddy) River, whose silty, dun-coloured waters bisect the country from north to south, flowing for 2170km (1350 miles) from the Himalayas to the Andaman Sea. For many centuries, the ‘Irrawaddy’, as it was known in colonial times, served as the main trade artery connecting southwest China and India. Merchants, missionaries and invaders all travelled along it, and a succession of powerful, culturally sophisticated dynasties arose along its banks, focussed on the dry, sun-baked plains of the central Ayeyarwady Valley.
A rocky lowland splashed with expanses of vivid green rice paddy, this cultural crossroads was where Theravada Buddhism first took root in the region. Over time, the Buddha’s teachings intermingled with indigenous worship of nat (nature spirits), to create a distinctive form of the faith whose gilded pagodas and monasteries of red-robed monks remain central to local life. The arts, architecture, music and philosophy also flourished, fostered by feudal kings whose empires at their peak were the largest in Southeast Asia.
Burmese culture survived a century of British rule but fared less well in World War II and its aftermath, when the country was devastated by waves of furious fighting between the Allies and Japanese, and then by rival political and factions in a bloody civil war. Independence, granted in 1948, soon yielded to one of the harshest, most repressive and enduring military dictatorships of the modern era.
Life under the generals
Decades of civil strife and economic mismanagement by the ruling generals have taken their toll on Burma. Backed by drug money from the so-called ‘Golden Triangle’ opium belt in the north and east, as well as profits from the government-controlled trade in teak, rubies, jade and gold, Burma’s military elite have waged war against ethnic minorities on the country’s fringes. A quarter of the regime’s total budget is spent on arms – but only 1.5 percent on health care. The media is tightly controlled and dissent brutally suppressed, with political opponents routinely imprisoned without trial, tortured or used as forced labour.
With growth languishing below 3 percent, Burma is officially Southeast Asia’s poorest country. While its neighbours have modernised at dizzying speeds, life under army rule remains a slog for the poverty-stricken majority.
The picture, however, is not all bleak. In order to encourage the lifting of economic sanctions and stimulate foreign investment, the dictators have embarked on a transition to democratic government. Leader of the National League for Democracy party, Aung San Suu Kyi, was released from house arrest in November 2010, and immediately hit the campaign trail for the freest elections in the country’s history, held in April 2012.
A land apart
As a consequence of its long economic isolation, Burma today feels locked in a kind of time warp. Yangon may be sprouting skyscrapers, but the rest of the country still lives in dilapidated low-rise towns and villages made of mud brick and bamboo, deprived of reliable water and electricity supplies. Bullocks plough the paddy fields, horse-carts outnumber cars and wind-powered barges ply the rivers. The roads, railways, buses and ferries are in a decrepit state. ATMs are non-existent (you have to change foreign currency on the black market and carry your money in cash), and universal broadband and mobile phone coverage remain a distant dream.
From a foreign traveller’s point of view, however, this quirky, old-world atmosphere makes Burma a charismatic place to travel. Traditions of the past remain very much to the fore. Walking the streets of Mandalay in the early morning , you’ll see hundreds of red-robed monks queuing for alms, young women with fragrant thanakha paste smeared over their faces, elderly vegetable sellers puffing on over-sized cheroots, and all manner of exotic headgear, from conical straw hats to burgundy turbans. Longyis, beautifully patterned batik sarongs, are worn by nearly all women – and most men. Religious dance-dramas are still an integral part of temple festivals, or pwe, featuring performers in superbly exotic masks and silk costumes. The everyday odours can be just as strikingly unfamiliar, along with the wonderful flavours of Burmese cooking, with its pungent mix of spices, seafood sauces and coconut milk.
On the brink of change
Just how well this unique way of life will withstand the onslaught of modernity that’s waiting in the wings remains to be seen. But for the time being, despite its manifold problems, Burma is ripe for exploration, with more world-class monuments than you could possibly see on a 28-day tourist visa, a wealth of vibrant arts and crafts traditions and, not least, inhabitants whose resilience, gentleness and hospitable attitude to foreigners impress every visitor to the country.
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