Be prepared....

As we head off into the wild unknown of Myanmar let me ask:

How much do you know about Myanmar: it's history, it's culture , it's current progress??

If the answer is very little, here's my tips on what to read ( by no means comprehensive but just might give you some ideas!)

Myanmar Times: is a weekly newspaper in English www.mmtimes.com
It's fascinating to see what makes news especially as the Censorship Board was supposed to close in July 2012.

For example: This week 2000 people who had been banned from entering the country were taken off the blacklist and can now travel freely to Myanmar, including Dauw Aung San Sui Kyi's sons, and John Yettaw who is the American who swam across the lake to her house in 2009. However 4000 remain on the list ( I wonder what they did??!!).

For those of you who have seen 'Dancing with Dictators' I have made contact with the Senior Editor who was in the documentary and will be catching up with him in Yangon. He and I shared a house together in our mid-20's in Bendigo which, needless to say, was a very long time ago.....


George Orwell was a police soldier in Myanmar in the 20's so any of his books including Animal Farm and 1984 have themes based on the military regime in place at that time. I am reading Burmese Days which he wrote whilst in Burma. Finding George Orwell in Burma is an interesting book written by an American woman who retraced his steps  in 2004 and is worth a read.

Little Daughter is the autobiography of Zoya Phan who is a Shan whose parents were resistance fighters. Her story outlines her idyllic childhood being disrupted by persecution and massacre by the Burmese Army, and her eventual life as a refugee. She studied overseas and is an international Burmese activist. Her story is similar to many thousands of stories across many of the minority groups in Burma.

I did enjoy a book of cartoons called Burma Chronicles by Guy Delisle. Guy is a cartoonist who lived in Burma with his young son and wife for a couple of years whilst she worked for Medecins Sans Frontieres. Very easy to read, but very telling about the challenges of everyday life in Burma.

I'm happy to lend any of these to anyone interested , even when we return.

Only 11 sleeps to go!!  ( And so many books to read!!)

your very excited correspondent

Dianne