Tourism in Myanmar
Floating down the Lemro river on my way to visit tattooed women in a Chin Village in very Western Myanmar, here are my thoughts.
‘I wonder where Myanmar is going tourismwise. It’s only been a few years open and already they’re ripping the money from our pockets and taking the piss out of foreigners. and the full moon party crowd of Thailand haven’t even arrived here to be rude and disrespectful yet.
Currently it’s only the amateur photography lot who are probably doing the most damage, shoving their lens in the face of locals people as they are in the middle of going about their daily life without even a please or thank you. That would piss me off if it was happening to me back home.
The type of traveller you tend to meet here is generally polite and minds the local customs, no belly tops and butty rider shorts in temples yet. But despite them being nice and respectful to the locals, which is great, you meet just too many who are still the shit, egotistical “I’m a more special and awesome traveller than you cos I’v been somewhere new and discovered this place no-ones ever seen even though I found it in the lonely planet” type.
You will not be the first and certainly not the last to discover Myanmar. You are not special for that, so get rid of your ego and just enjoy it for what it is and stop looking for something so different to everybody else. There is an absolute gringo trail already in Myanmar, you are most likely on it, just sit back and enjoy it.
