Current Travel in Myanmar

Wife and I planned a trip to Burma for about 3 weeks starting December 22, 2007.

We are now considering canceling as we expect tense locals, testy roadblocks/check points, some tourist sites closed or heavily gaurded, possible inability to follow itinerary. As well there is no internet contact with our Burma travel agency - or with anyone in Burma. This all assumes things don't get worse - again.

And yet we were in Egypt during the buildup and start of the first Gulf War and although virtually all the other toursists fled or cancelled, we had an excellant time - no problems.

Has anyone been travelling in burma since the recent disturbances started? Were you and other travellers able to have a relaxed vacation, go to the tourist sites and travel without hasstles, etc.?

We will be very interested and appreciative of your insights.

Duncan

During my stay in october, there was no significant military control visible.
Between InLe Lake and Bagan, the sleepers bus had one military checkpoint, not to far from Mandaly. But the military even haven't been on the bus and nobody has been asked to identify himself. (For ref. there were also 3 monks on the bus; nobody cared about there presence).
The one monastery we were not able to visit was the wooden monastery of Sanguin/Inwa, as there were discussions/negotiations going on between the military (one military jeep was in front of the monastery; so you cannot call this an invasion) and the monks. Alternatif was to wait a couple of hours.

We also went to the Sula pagoda and the Shweggadon pagoda in Yangon : this is where the manifestations and protests took place in september timeframe : no military presence visible. Lots of people, including tourists were present. Picture taking allowed without problem.

Conclusion : the visible part of the military is small. As tourist you are unlikely to encounter a lof of negatif effects from this. All people met, including locals, police and military were hepfull to us and friendly. You will be save travelling there. Local people will take care of you.
As there are very few tourists, transport means (planes, busses, boats) will fly/ride/... less frequently than what you see oin their official timetables.

It is a unique experience to go to Burma; it takes time to travel thru Burma; the local people needs tourists to earn money, to live and to tell their stories. Yes, part of the money will go to the militaries. As long as most of the money spent goes to the locals, I can live with that. The income for the junta is more from petrol, gems, (cocaine?) and rice trade, not so much from tourism.

Its perfectly fine, if you would read back and see the reports on the Myanmar TT, you would not have these questions.

Its no different from before the protest and crackdown, other than they really tourist to survive.

please please go
everything Hugo sa says is ccorrect
Just returned and plan to go again Feb