Great article, very useful for “out of beaten” trail freaks.

” Just go to any old forum or website about travelling and you’ll come across a plentitude of questions, stories and reports concerning ‘getting off the beaten track’. But, at the end of the day however, most tourists/travellers do nothing of the sort. They are instead, found eating a banana pancake and watching a guesthouse DVD/Movie or walking around some backpacker ghetto studying their Lonely Planet like a missionary. While nearly every single backpacker ‘claims’ to be ‘getting off the beaten track’ the closest they get to such a thing are the same old haunts of Khao Sarn Road, Koh Samui and Krabi. A few of the so-called adventurous even make it up to the country’s north-east (Isarn), the least visited region of Thailand, but contrary to rumour you will still come across whole platoons of foreigners - mostly living there.

Our webmaster here, Mr Richard, has written loadsa blogs on his adopted province of Samut Prakarn, but as for me however, my almost one year of Thai blogs has seen me fail to write a single story about the place I live at, Suphanburi. Even Richard’s province of Samut Prakarn, though it is kinda off the beaten track it still attracts a lotta foreign tourists to the likes of The Ancient City and Crocodile Farm etc… As for Suphanburi, 99% of the tourists here are Thai and I can count on my fingers the number of backpackers I have spotted during my couple of years here. So, if you are really thinking about ‘getting off the beaten track’, then coming to a place like Suphanburi is doing just that. So, let me take the opportunity this week to give you a bitta insight into….. the province of…. Suphanburi.

The first thing you will notice when arriving in the province is the state of the roads. Unlike the rest of the country with badly paved 2 lane pot-holed cut-ups, Suphanburi prouds itself with state of the art 8 lane highways lined with meticulously planted shrubs and flowers with hardly a sign of garbage or garland vendor in sight. Then on top of that, these highways are home to a whole flurry of brand-new government buildings and schools built with a flavoursome Thai-style theme. The PM Thaksin just last year called Suphanburi ‘a model province’ and claimed it’s the country’s ‘most developed’ outside of Bangkok.

All the thanks can go to one man and a native of Suphanburi Town himself, a certain… Mr Banharn Silpa-archa, former PM of Thailand and still, til this day, one of the country’s most influential politicians. Thankfully, during his reign as PM he concentrated mostly on developing his home province and nearly every ‘new’ infrastructure in the province has a Banharn theme. There are something like seven brand new schools adequately named ‘Banharn-Jaemsai 1’, Banharn-Jaemsai 2’ (Jaemsai is his wife’s name). Then smack bang in the middle of town you can go up the 123 metre Banharn Tower, visit the Banharn Clocktower and if you are in town with your old granny and needing her to get safely across the road, there are hundreds of over-head walkways named ….. Banharn-Jaemsai bridge.

Poor old Mr. Banharn used to get a right old slamming by the foreign media during his time as PM who they claimed was spending 90% of the national budget on Suphanburi province alone. But one good note about Banharn and unknown to them - Banharn was and still is the only politician who came up with this ‘Farangs in Thailand ought to have rights’ ie.. he was the first to pass the idea that Farangs had the right to Thai citizenship, purchase small plots of land and spoke out against any two-tiering price system! Unlike the rest of the country, where the government dictates that foreigners have to pay ten times the price what a Thai pays, Banharn dictates that foreigners pay the Thai price! Kind old man, just visit any of the Banharn run tourist attractions in the province and you will see big signs reading ‘Thai people 30 Baht’, ‘Farang 30 Baht’. Once, when asked by the Thai media to why Farangs shouldn’t pay more, he replied ‘When I go to Farangland I don’t see the locals there charging us Thais ten times the price as the locals, so, I think it’s only fair!’

Just mention the name Suphanburi the next time you are in the country and besides just its politicians cropping to mind, the word ‘Singer’ is synonymous with Suphanburi. The province’s most famous singer of all time, just has to be Phumpuang Duangchan (Pheung). For you foreigners who haven’t the faintest knowledge about her, well.. she is nicknamed ‘The Queen of Luk Thung’ (Thai country music) and the next time you get fed up with seeing a myriad of sexy scad-looking dancers and singers bopping across your TV screen 24 hours a day, you have only one person to blame and that is.. Ms Phumphuang herself - she started the whole thing off. Funnily enough, Phumphuang wasn’t a Suphan native at all, but instead she was born in Isarn before moving here as a child. Unfortunately, Pheung wasn’t around for long and passed away at the tender age of 31. The temple which houses her remains is til this day a mecca for folks to go, make merit, and pray that they win the governemnt lottery! And i’m not joking! Besides just Phumphuang, the province has been the breeding ground for a whole host of Thai Country Music singers, no other province can beat Suphan in that aspect. Second to Phumpuang in terms of musical success has to be Suphan’s very own ‘Ad Carabao’ leading singer of Carabao, who are a kind of legend themselves these days in the League of ‘Songs for Life (Thai Folk Music)

So, what is there to do in Suphanburi? Well, since the provincial town is run by Mr.Banharn, if it is groovy naughty night-life you’re after then just do not come here! Banharn has made Suphanburi, the only provincial town in Thailand free of ‘lady-of-the-night’ activity and after he originally became PM he closed down all the ‘rub-a-dub’ massage parlours etc…. Of course, I witness with my own eyes a bit of activity around but it’s very ‘hush-hush’ as the forces in power here, unlike the rest of the country, are in the habit of enforcing the law! Rather ironic though, in that it was Banharn that brought the popular, yet infamous businessman/politician Mr Chuwit (The former…Massage Parlour Tycoon) into his very own.. Chart Thai Party!

Believe it or not, Suphanburi is older than both Sukhothai and Ayutthaya and was the major meeting point for battles between the Thais and Burmese as the province kinda lies half way between Ayutthaya and Burma. The province’s major attraction is Don Chedi and each year there is a funky ten-day festival held every January to celebrate King Naresuan’s victory over the Burmese King which led to the Burmese being booted out of the country. Definetly, in my opinion, one Thailand’s most impressive festivals. Then, we have Beung Chawak, straight out of Banharn’s book. It’s a huge articial dam/lake thingy, that’s just been turned into a wildlife sanctuary, with a great aquarium, crocodile shows and home to flocks of rare birds. Pretty good value for money at something like 30 baht all in!

Then in the middle of town we have the wonderfully named Banharn Tower surrounded by one of the country’s cleanest and tidiest public parks which plays host to a swimming pool/funpark etc…. again great value for money at – 10baht! Then, 20km out of town, is Suphan’s one and only ‘Buffalo Village’ that prides itself on the ‘preservation of the buffalo’ and even puts on ‘Buffalo shows’. Sadly though, as this place is privately owned, foreigners are charged the Farang price.

So, if you are interested in coming to Suphan, the province is just a hundred odd km from Bangkok and it takes about an hour and a half to get here by bus or passenger van (75 mins). There is even the groovy Suphanburi – Bangkok Noi train that goes once a day, travels at a maximum speed of 31km/hr and takes something like 3 and a half hours to reach it’s destination. But well worth the ride, if you are wishing to…’ Get off the beaten track!’”

from Thai Blogs

Next few days on Myanmar Mike will be fully dedicated to the land of Siam, Thailand. So I thought it might be a good time to publish some sort of declaration or disclaimer if you want. I’ll bring out sex related articles, no doubt, but I have different approach from the most bloggers. So how different is my approach? You gonna understand if you keep reading, I give you’re my word, my honest myanmarmike’s word.

Sex, sex, the Thai famous sex industry is glimmering, blinking neon on the dark streets of Patpong and Nana. Bangkok, Pataya, Phuket, consequently sweet words for every sex tourist ear. Now listen carefully to the prophecy of blogging madman, I pretty sure that in couple of year’s prostitution in Thailand will be in exact state shown on the following picture:

A prostitution “reuducation center” at a former brothel in Beijing, 1949.

Following the Communist Party of China’s victory in 1949, local government authorities were charged with the task of eliminating prostitution. One month after the Communist takeover of Beijing on February 3, 1949, the new municipal government under Ye Jianying announced a policy to control the city’s many brothels. On November 21, all 224 of Beijing’s establishments were shut down; 1286 prostitutes and 434 owners, procurers, and pimps were arrested in the space of 12 hours by an estimated 2400 cadres. Not surprisingly, the Beijing campaign has been much celebrated in historical accounts. Due to the enormity of social issues that had to be addressed, and the limited budgets and human resources of local governments, most cities adopted the slower approach of first controlling and then prohibiting brothel-prostitution.This method was used in Tianjin, Shanghai and Wuhan. Typically it involved a system of governmental administration which controlled brothel activities and discouraged male patrons. The combined effect of such measures was to gradually reduce the number of brothels in each city until the point where a “Beijing-style” closure of the remaining brothels was deemed feasible and reeducation could begin. Reeducation programs were undertaken on the largest scale in Shanghai, where the number of sex workers had grown to 100,000 following the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Akha is one of the Hill Tribes in Thailand/Myanmar region. “Akha” originated in Mon Tong Guay Joaw and Mon Ton, Yunnan China. They roam to Chiang Dung, Burma. Several families moved further into Laos and Northern Thailand.

The Akha lifestyle is based on their agricultural system, which means they work extremely hard in the fields, spending more time there than with their families. Some Akha converted from Animism to Impaled Nazarene’s famous religious brand but still they praise ghosts and perform pagan ceremonies.

The swing ceremony embarks on with a day of fasting, followed on the second day by the erection of a gargantuan swing comprised of four recently cut trees planted into the ground at the highest point in the village and yoked together at the top. Definitely, one of the most incredible highlights at the swing ceremony is watching the high-wire act of two barefoot Akha men 10 meters up in the trees tethering them together.

Akha settlements are generally big, with 30 or more households comprising of numerous clans. Akha villages are often situated on the peak of the mountain in an effort to stay away from the sicknesses associated with the moister close to the waterway. An Akha tale: Akha was the eldest in the family unit and followed their younger siblings into the new territory. The Akha let the younger siblings, Lisu, Lafvu and other Hill Tribes select where they desired to reside, naturally selecting lower lands. The Akha, the eldest, gave up their pick for their siblings and ended up living on the peak of the mountains. The most imperative leader in an Akha village is the Spiritual Chiefs (Djew maa and Djew ya), as the life of Akha orbit around their families, further privileged villages including the Traditional Village Chief chosen by the village elders, and the female Spiritual Leader…

The Akha residence is a strange bamboo establishment, roofed with cogon grass. The house is built on stilts and the living section is divided for both sexes respectfully. .The lovely Akha fairy tale is about demigod called “Apermiyeh” - the word Aper translating to “ancestor” or “God”. Akha believe that Apermiyeh created the first human. I believe the first human was created by Loki. Loki and Apermiyeh is one entity. Myanmar Mike was created by more vicious god. I telling you for sure.

I digged this article in Burma Library mail list archives. The item is little bit outdated but still pretty practical, enjoy. Well, it’s time to moving on, one extra Burmese day and I going to progress in the south direction. Hey, if someone reading this stuff, please let me know, otherwise it doesn’t make sense. I need a feedback, so please write comment or start a thread in forum.

Rangoon

Personally, I didn’t like Rangoon very much. It could be a pretty place though.
The streets are very wide, the houses amazingly spacious and there are lots of
things to see. Unfortunately, it’s very run down and quite dirty. Most people I
met left Rangoon a soon as as they could. Actually, it is possible to leave
Rangoon on the day of arrival. There are three trains to Mandalay in the evening
(the last one leaves at 19:30) and you can buy tickets at the station. They are
30 FEC’s (36 FEC’s on the Special Express which leaves around six o’clock) and
the reclining seats are really quite comfortable. The problem with this option
is that you’ll have to find a way of reconfirming your flight out of Rangoon at
a later stage. (They don’t have any computers at the airline offices…)
Places to stay: Hotel-rates all over Burma are quite outrageous. Since you’re
required to pay in dollars (or FEC’s) it works out at about 20 times the rate
for the locals. And what you get for it is often quite a joke. This is
particularly so in Rangoon. The YMCA is a stinking pit and best avoided. The
same holds true for the Garden hotel. Fortunately, there are now many
government-approved private guesthouses around. They’re generally much better
value. I can recommend the Zar Chi Win guesthouse (No. 59, 37th Street, 1st
floor). Singles are 15 FEC and doubles 30 FEC. All you get is a (very) small
cubicle hardly large enough for the bed. But the place is clean, air-conditioned
and centrally located.
Blackmarket: Rangoon is the best place for changing money. The rate is at
least 100 Kyat to the dollar. When I arrived it was around 120 - 125 but
apparently it has gone down slightly in the past couple of weeks. The whole
thing is very openly conducted. I have no idea how dangerous it really is but I
haven’t met a single traveller who got into problems. Neither did I meet anybody
who got cheated, by the way. The whisky/cigarettes deal described in all the
guidebooks still works, but will fetch only about 80 Kyat to the dollar. Since
the government stopped checking on your foreign currency it’s probably not worth
carrying the stuff into the country anymore.
Continue reading ‘Myanmar traveler writes at 90s.’

Myanmar carves up border with China, Thailand, India, Bangladesh and Lao, border-crossing are permitted with China and Thailand at present.

There are a couple of border check points between Myanmar and Thailand but Tachilek and Measia are the only active points. No more than a dreadfully squat bridge of three minutes walks situated between the two border towns. Past bridge crossing, travelers may proceed by few hours drive to Kyaing Tong, the hill tribes astonishing corner. The flight is also a possibility. The times are: about a hour to Inle Lake and two hours to Yangon or by direct flight which might be not available so you may take the transit one and it will take gory five hours to go.

Even though it’s a miniature border township, Tachilek is exceptionally urbanized due to the border trade traffic. There are few reasonably good hotels for comfort lovers so it is possible for worried ones to put your feet up safely and comfortably in Tachilek.

Average backpacker accommodations range from U$3 to U$10, and all include an eggs/bread/coffee breakfast.

Visas can be obtained at the border check point for $5. Don’t’ forget to bring exact five dollar banknote and make sure to take the new one therefore used and grubby banknote could be refused by border stuff.

More on Tachilek later on Myanmar Mike. Don’t forget to check the updated forum.

Today, Myanmar, located in the heart of the “Golden Triangle,” is the main opium producer in Southeast Asia. A bitter, yellowish-brown, strongly addictive narcotic drug prepared from the dried juice of unripe pods of the opium poppy is a Golden Triangle urban legend, romanticized by many modern artists.

“There were opium dens where one could buy oblivion, dens of horror where the memory of old sins could be destroyed by the madness of sins that were new” (196). Or so, at any rate, asserts the histrionic narrator of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891). The opium den episode in Wilde’s novel is in many ways typical of a genre that flourished in late Victorian novels, tales, and periodicals–a genre that provides a glimpse, if not of the dens themselves, of the strategies used to represent the opium den.

Opium and its various constituents exert effects upon the body ranging from analgesia, or insensitivity to pain, to narcosis, or depressed physiological activity leading to stupor. Opium users describe experiencing a feeling of calm and well-being. Opium addicts in otherwise good physical and mental health whose drug needs are met are thought to experience no debilitating physiological effects from their addiction, although there is some evidence that immune function is compromised. However, their preoccupation with the drug and its acquisition can lead to malnutrition and general poor self-care and an increased risk of disease.

The Myanmar Mike opium saga just began. Wait and see.
For today something special from last decay.

SLORC is ignoring or supporting new opium cultivation in Northern Chin hills
and Nagaland land. It was repeatedly mentioned by foreign medias and
international narcotic agencies. It is also confirmed by local people. A
police officer, joining No.8 police station, Mandalay, on transfer from
Northern chill division in 1991 assured me - that the whole of Northern Chin
Hills are beautifully covered with opium flowers in season. VOA & BBC
insisted existence of Heroin labs, “always” close to a SLORC army battalion
base - in border areas close to India. Later news tell of other new
cultivations being started in Southern Chin Hills. There are also
possibilities of new cultivations in Putao Area and other northernmost part
of Burma. Gen. Khin Nyunt makes assurances publicly again that there will be
no more opium cultivation in coming few years in and around golden
triangle. He is absolutely right - because the opium cultivation will be
shifted from golden triangle to Western and Northern high lands of Burma.
However, opium produced in Chin areas are “Watery” liquid and refuses into
a solid mass, and it is evidently of low quality to bring high price in the
market, The watery opium is blotted with a gauge, when collected and it is
marketed as such. the quality of those Chin Hill products are yet to
ascertained.

More heroin labs are expected to be established in border areas close to
India, because the supply of Acetic Anhydride, a major chemical used to
purify heroin into best marketable quality 8 Di- hydroxy morphine) is easily
available from India, with no additional transport charges. Nagaland and
Assam on the other hand are now already being used as transit areas and a
“new golden triangle” is surly expected to be established west of Chindwin
River in a few decades. For this, India might have anticipated it and before
the trouble has escalated to an international problem, it tries to stop this
by making agreements to take bilateral anti-narcotic measures in early 1994.
However, India`s “unilateral” efforts to stop this narcotic business is very
much doubtful to success.

Letter from Burma-94 by Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize
laureate. The famous letter, well I still looking for the truth … still searching …

So another year has ended. Three hundred and sixty-five days which can
never be brought back again lie behind us. The beginning of a new year is
as much a time for rendering accounts as a time for hope. It is a time for
taking a hard look at the events of the past and for assessing what has been
gained and what has been lost. 1996 cannot be said to have been a happy
year for Burma. It was a period that saw much injustice and repression.
Fear was let loose among the populace to dissuade them from supporting the
democratic cause. At the same time, the economy started showing
unmistakable signs of malaise, giving the lie to claims of impressive growth
and progress.
Continue reading ‘Letter from Burma-94 /column by Aung San Suu Kyi’

This portrait is adorable, even if you not a giant modernism enthusiast and you gonna find some outlandish, non-canonical color realization – you just can’t disagree – great piece of art.

by Gerald Festus Kelly (1879 - 1972)

He attended Cambridge, where he met Aleister Crowley. Together they planned to publish a magazine, but they never did. Instead they build a close friendship, with Crowley joining Kelly in his Montparnasse studio. They met again in Scotland, where Crowley met Kelly’s sister Rose. He and Rose soon ran off together to Egypt. Kelly went on to become President of the Royal Academy of Art. A passage about him in Crowley’s Confessions is interesting:

“During the May term of 1898 I met another man who, in his own way, was interested in many of the same things as I was myself. His name was Gerald Festus Kelly. He is described in the telephone book as an artist; and the statement might have passed unchallenged indefinitely had not the Royal Academy recently elected him as an associate. He is hardly to be blamed for this disgrace. He struggled manfully. Even at the last moment, when he felt the thunderclouds about to break over his head, he made a last desperate coup to persuade the world that he was an artist by marrying a model. But the device deceived nobody. The evidence of his pictures was too glaring. The effort, moreover, completely exhausted his power of resistance; and he received the blow with Christian resignation. It saddens me more than I can say to think of that young life which opened with such brilliant promise, gradually sinking into the slough of respectability. Of course it is not as if he had been able to paint; but to me the calamity is almost as distressing as if that possibility had ever existed. For he completely hypnotized me into thinking that he had something in him. I took his determination to become an artist as evidence of some trace of capacity and I still hope that his years of unremitting devotion to a hopeless ambition will earn him the right to reincarnate with some sort of soul. ”

Crowley – South East Asia connection – will be a separate topic issue. Wait and see.

Ok, vanished for forum construction.

Hmmmm, interesting ….

“YANGON, Myanmar - Women in Myanmar not only have to watch out for pickpockets when they’re commuting, shopping or walking down the street, but also hair thieves, a weekly journal reported Sunday.

Long-haired women in crowded areas have fallen victim to surreptitious hair snippers who steal their hair to sell, the Burmese-language 24/7 news journal reported.

My long hair was cut while I was on my way back from the office. I found out only when I got back home,’ an unidentified female bus commuter was quoted as saying.

The woman said her friend’s tresses were cut while she was walking down the street and she only noticed when some remaining strands fell. Another woman’s hair was cut while she was shopping at a roadside store, the journal said.”

“The report said the price of hair has increased as demand for hair as an export or raw material rises. A viss (1.6 kilograms; 3.5 pounds) of hair is worth between 400,000 kyats (US$320; Ð235) and 500,000 kyats (US$400; Ð290), it said.”

Indian blogger wrote a fine article , great Indian mind.

Myanmar is good place for tourists. It is a pity that the negative images created by Western media are keeping many away. In December 2006 I visited Myanmar. I did not go for tourism but to see the land of my birth and childhood that I had to leave in a hurry in 1941 because of the impeding Japanese invasion.

Entry into Myanmar is easy. One can fly into Yangon (Rangoon) from Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Calcutta or Bangkok. Documentation for visa-on-arrival is available through Internet. Hotel rates are significantly lower if booked through Internet.

Immigration procedures at the airport at Yangon were smoother than in any country I have entered. Importunate porters do not surround you, and all cab drivers quote the same price. To one coming from Chennai this was a strange experience. Continue reading ‘Abraham Sukumar — Visit to Myanmar and thoughts of Indians in pre-war Burma’