Dec 27th, Bangkok Airport, Olli

Time for the last post of Myanmar. Yesterday I still had to time to see the home of Aung San Suu Kyi (or actually just the wall surrounding it) where she was kept in house arrest for 15 years. Suu Kyi is the face of the opposition trying desperately to fight against the cruel government to improve the life of normal people. Even though there were elections last year and the military regime doesn't officially exist anymore, it didn't really change anything. The same people who were running the military regime the past decades got elected also to the parliament. What a coincidence. Maybe next time there will be even an honest vote counting also? The last time that happened was 1989 just before Suu Kyi was sent to her first house arrest. At the moment all the money basically goes to the few people in the government and the rest of the people stay very poor.

But despite being poor, the myanmarish (I have no idea how to spell that!) people are very friendly and nice people. They seem to trust you and you can trust them. For example my friend forgot his shoes in a shop where we visited on the way to Inle Lake and was worried if he can ever have them back again, when suddenly the next morning the shop owner just appears to our hostel door and brings back the shoes! And the shop was quite far away and we didn't even buy anything from there. Another good example is the time we got invited to the wedding rehearsal. Some say you shouldn't go to Myanmar because then you just bring more money and support to the government. I strongly disagree. It's quite easy to notice how you can support the normal people. Avoid using any trains, big and fancy hotels, certain Flight Companies etc. Basicly all the buses, small budget guest houses and alike are private, so the money goes directly to the people. Visiting and donating some money to monasteries is also good. Also avoiding big tourist offices and using the services of private people helps. Also all the locals with whom I talked to were happy that foreigners visit Myanmar and were very eager to tell about their lives and were also interested of the world outside Myanmar.

Safety was also not an issue at all, felt very safe all the time. Of course it might have been different for example during the elections. One thing I didn't like though was the dirtyness everywhere. People just throw things away when they don't need it anymore. One weird thing was the local habit of chewing some red stuff in your mouth all the time, and then spitting huge red spits to the streets. Really a nasty habit. Even though our guide explained us what it was, I was at the moment too weak to think and my English wasn't quite good enough to totally understand it. But something like tobacco and nut oil.. or something. As you probably know by now, my food experiences were not the best. I can't even look or smell at the local food right now. I'm a bit worried, because the food in the rest of the South-East Asia is not that different. Hopefully different enough? But to be honest with you, even if I didn't got the food poisoning, I don't think I would've liked the food in here too much.

So was Myanmar worth visiting? Absolutely!