The Rough Guide to Myanmar (Burma)

Joanna James, Gavin Thomas And Martin Zatko

Description

The Rough Guide to Myanmar (Burma) is the ultimate travel guide to this exciting, largely undiscovered country with clear maps and detailed coverage of all the best Burmese attractions. Discover Myanmar's highlights with stunning photography and information on everything from exploring the iconic temples of Bagan, boating across beautiful Inle Lake or trekking through remote Shan highland villages. Find detailed practical advice on what to see and do in Myanmar, relying on up-to-date descriptions of the best hotels, bars, shops and restaurants for all budgets. Explore every corner of this exciting country with easy-to-use maps to help make sure you don't miss the unmissable. Now available in PDF format.

Make the most of your holiday with The Rough Guide to Myanmar (Burma).

Informations

• Publié par: Apa Publications
• Date de parution: 02 février 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780241199916
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 28 Mo

Extrait

THE ROUGH GUIDE to
Myanmar (Burma)
EXPERT ADVICE • FULL COVERAGE • EASY TO USEINSIDE THIS BOOK
INTRODUCTION What to see, what not to miss, itineraries and more – everything
you need to get started
BASICS Pre-departure tips and practical information
THE GUIDE Comprehensive, in-depth guide to Myanmar, with regional highlights
and full-colour maps throughout
CONTEXTS Background on Myanmar’s history, ethnic groups, religions and
architecture, plus recommended books and a useful language section
Myanmar (Burma) chapters We’ve fl agged up our favourite
places – a perfectly sited hotel, an CHINA
N atmospheric café, a special
restaurant – throughout the guide
with the symbol★
INDIA
Myitkyina
7
Bhamo CHINA
Lashio
Shwebo Hsipaw
Monywa Pyin Oo Lwin
Mandalay
Nyaung U 6 Kengtung
PindayaMeiktilaMrauk U 5
Kalaw Nyaungshwe LAOS4
Sittwe
NAYPYITAW
Taungoo2
PyayBAY
OF Ngapali
BENGAL
Bago
1
Hpa-An
Pathein
Yangon Mawlamyine
3
THAILAND
1 Yangon and around
Dawei 2 The Delta and western Myanmar
3 BANGKOK
ANDAMAN 3 Southeastern Myanmar
MyeikSEA 4 Bagan and central Myanmar
Myeik
Archipelago 5 Inle Lake and the east
GULF OF 6 Mandalay and around0 200 THAILAND
kilometres 7 Northern Myanmar
Make the Most of Your Time on Earth at roughguides.com
This first edition published February 2015
BANGLADESHTHE ROUGH GUIDE TO
Myanmar (Burma)
written and researched by
Joanna James, Gavin Thomas and Martin Zatko
roughguides.comINTRODUCTION 3
Contents
INTRODUCTION 4
Where to go 6 Things not to miss 12
When to go 10Itineraries 20
BASICS 22
Getting there 23 Outdoor activities and sports 41
Getting around 26 Responsible travel 42
Accommodation 31 Culture and etiquette 44
Food and drink 33Shopping 46
Health 37 Travelling with children 47
The media 39 Travel essentials 47
Festivals and events 40
THE GUIDE 54
1 Yangon and around 54 5 Inle Lake and the east 224
2 The Delta and western Myanmar 94 6 Mandalay and around 258
3 Southeastern Myanmar 130 7 Northern Myanmar 290
4 Bagan and central Myanmar 168
CONTEXTS 328
History 329Books 363
Myanmar’s ethnic groups 351Language 366
Burmese Buddhism and traditional beliefs 355Glossary 371
Burmese architecture 359
SMALL PRINT & INDEX 373
OPPOSITE A MONK PRAYS AT KYAIKTIYO THE GOLDEN ROCK PREVIOUS PAGE BAGAN4 INTRODUCTION
Introduction to
Myanmar (Burma)
The largest but least-known nation in Southeast Asia, Myanmar is – to
borrow Churchill’s phrase – a riddle wrapped in a mystery. For half a
century, the country languished in self-imposed obscurity under the rule
of its despotic and enigmatic military rulers, little visited and even less
understood. All that is now changing, and with spectacular speed. Following
tentative recent economic and political reforms, the national landscape is
being transformed in ways unimaginable even a few years ago, and visitors
have begun flocking to Myanmar in unprecedented numbers. All of a
sudden, the country is now hot property.
Ironically, it’s precisely these decades of suffocating political isolation, combined with
economic stagnation, that have helped preserve (albeit at a terrible human cost) much of
Myanmar’s magically time-warped character into the twenty-first century. Te old Burma
immortalized by Kipling and Orwell is still very much in evidence today: this remains a
land of a thousand gilded pagodas, of ramshackle towns and rustic villages populated with
innumerable red-robed monks and locals dressed in flowing, sarong-like longyi, their faces
smeared in colourful swirls of traditional thanaka. It’s a place in which life still revolves
around the temple and the teahouse, and where the corporate chains and global brands that
have gobbled up many other parts of Asia remain notably conspicuous by their absence.
It’s also a uniquely diverse nation. Physically, Myanmar encompasses landscapes
ranging from the fertile plains of the majestic Ayeyarwady River to the jungle-covered
highlands of Shan State, and from the jagged, snowy Himalayan peaks bounding the
northern edge of the country down to the emerald confetti of tropical islands that dot
the Andaman Sea in the far south. Culturally, too, it’s a bewilderingly eclectic place,
sandwiched between Bangladesh, India, China and Tailand – all of which have exerted
their own distinctive influence on Burmese architecture, culture, cuisine and much more.
Myanmar’s position at one of Asia’s great cultural watersheds also accounts for its
extraordinary ethnic diversity, with well over a hundred minority peoples who
ABOVE A FISHERMAN ON INLE LAKE; NUNS’ SANDALS OUTSIDE A TEMPLEr
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(5881m)
PutaoDibrugarh N
BHUTAN
Nanyun
Guwahati Khamti CHINA
INDIA
Myitkyina
Indawgyi
Lake
Homalin
Hopin
Kunming
Imphal Naba
Shwegu Bhamo
Tamu KathaAizawl Kawlin Muse
NamhkanMawlaik
Kalewa
Namhsan
Kalay
Lashio
BANGLADESH Shwebo HsipawHakha Kyaukme
VIETNAM
Mingun Pyin Oo LwinMonywa
Mandalay
Mong LaMt Victoria
(3053m) Pakokku
Nyaung U Mt Popa Kengtung(1518m)Bagan Pindaya LoilemTaunggyi
Meiktila Thazi TachileikMrauk U Nyaungshwe
LAOSInleKalawMagwe Lake Mae
MinbuSittwe SaiAnn
LoikawNAYPYITAW
Taungoo
Pyay
HpasawngTaunggok
Thandwe
BAY OF
NgapaliBENG AL
Mt KyaiktiyoGwa VIENTIANEBago
KyaikhtoChaung Tha Hpa-AnThaton
Ngwe Saung YangonPathein Mae SotTwante MyawaddyMawlamyine
Thanbyuzayat
THAILAND
Ye
Kanchanaburi
Dawei
Htee Phu Nam
Kee BANGKOKRon
PalawMetres AND AMAN
SEA Myeik3000
2000 Myeik
Archipelago
GULF OF1000
Bokpyin THAIL AND
500
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A6 INTRODUCTION
(despite systematic government oppression) continue
FACT FILE to follow their traditional culture and beliefs, from the
According to the results of • long-necked ladies of the Padaung tribe to the warlike
a (controversial) census taken
Wa, whose fierce reputation remains to this day.in 2014, Myanmar has a
population of 51.4 million. For the visitor, it’s the images of old Burma – the
Yangon is the largest city
spectacular temples of Bagan; the great golden stupa
(5.2 million), followed by the
of Yangon’s Shwedagon Pagoda at sunset; traditional national capital Naypyitaw
(1.6 million) and Mandalay leg-rowed boats bobbing across Inle Lake – that provide
(1 million).
the touchstone of the Burmese experience. Te political
At 676,000 square • challenges faced by modern Myanmar, however,
kilometres, Myanmar is
continue to cloud the country’s future, despite recent slightly smaller than Turkey,
and slightly larger than reforms, while the fight for democracy and justice goes
France. on, symbolized by the unceasing defiance of Nobel
Buddhism is the main • laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and embodied by the many
religion (around 90 percent
thousands of nameless Burmese who have sacrificed
of the population), though
their liberty, and often their lives, in the battle for there are also sizeable
populations of Christians, freedom over the past five decades. Given their tragic
Muslims and Hindus.
recent past, what is perhaps likely to linger most in the
The country was formerly • memory is the sheer warmth of the Burmese people,
named Burma after its
starved of contact with the outside world for so many majority ethnic group – the
Bamar, who are thought to years, and who remain among the friendliest and most
represent around 68 percent welcoming in Asia. Visit now, before it all changes.
of the population. Other major
groups include the Shan
(9 percent), Kayin (7 percent),
Rakhine (4 percent) and Mon Where to go
(2 percent).
Tough no longer the capital, Yangon remains Three major linguistic •
families are represented Myanmar’s commercial heart and the core of its
in Myanmar: Sino-Tibetan spiritual life. Its glorious Shwedagon Pagoda is a
(which includes Burmese),
Myanmar must-see, while the downtown area is a Tai-Kadai (which includes
the Shan languages) and magnificent showpiece of colonial architecture, with
Austro-Asiatic tongues such streets full of memorably decaying Raj-era buildings.
as those of the Mon, Palaung
Whether you get lost in the city’s animated markets, and Wa tribes.
seek out beer and barbecue in Chinatown, visit Hindu
George Orwell lived •
temples or take an eye-opening ride on a