It's Burma Time!

It's finally time for me to visit one of the countries I've been anticipating the most: Burma!

Like many of its Southeast Asian neighbors, Burma has had a turbulent past to say the least. Within the last 100 years alone it's been a British colony, became an independent republic, went through a military coup d'etat, had its named changed (in 1989 it was officially named the Republic of the Union of Myanmar), experienced countless conflicts and opened its doors to tourists. Through it all, Burma is considered to have made strides towards becoming more democratic and has improved foreign relations with many other countries.

From what I've heard and read, tourism is still very much a developing sector in Burma. During my travels I've spoken with several people who've been there but in many ways I still feel like I don't really know what to expect, especially given the recent unrest. The locals sound like they are extremely friendly though, so I'm looking forward to that aspect.

Power cuts in the country are apparently quite common and WIFI sounds like it's still somewhat of a rarity so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to blog over the next month. I'll do my best, but rest assured I'll be jotting things down as I go and will be posting when I'm back in a place with more reliable internet.

Like Japan and Malaysia, going to Burma wasn't part of my original travel plans. To be honest it's a country that I would rather not visit solo, due to the unrest and lack of tourist infrastructure, but the travelers I've met kept giving it such rave reviews that I thought I better seize the opportunity and go. Wish me luck!