Final thoughts on Myanmar (Burma)

  Tachileik/Mae Sai, Myanmar
Friday, November 4, 2005

First visitors don't know what to expect from this place, and I, probably like most others, was surprised that my expectations were so far off the mark. I won't waffle on but here is what I found good, and what I found downright bad about the place.

The Good

Temples: Despite sarcastic comments throughout the journal about the number of stupas around the place, this is temple country and the locals venerate their places of worship wherever you go. Even in very remote places, you will always see a gleaming stupa and attached shrine atop some hill or in another prominent place. This is due to the Buddhist belief that you can buy your way out of sin by contributing to the building or maintenance of places of worship. There must have been a lot of sinners here, because an absolute deluge of religious monuments have been built, and most of them are well maintained.

Although you get 'templed out', especially due to the aggressive hawkers that seem to perversely proliferate around famous sites, these temples are the heart and soul of this nation so it is impossible to write them off. You know you're in Myanmar when you see one and I'll be very surprised if any upcoming Asian nation can match this appealing obsession.

The people and their attitude: almost in spite of their government and its counterproductive policies, most Burmese people are happy, friendly to foreigners and make the best of their situation where possible. As mentioned previously, capitalism and growth drives the economy, with no more or less benefit or problem evident from that fact than in other democratic and capitalistic developing nations. The people's will and attitude is a major reason for the relative success of the country despite all of its obstacles and woes.

Burmese massage: far more tender, relaxing and ultimately beneficial than techniques from neighbouring countries, it has to be tried to be believed. At less than $US3 per hour it can be tried and enjoyed many a time!

The Bad

Transport: due to the lack of importance and hence investment attached to domestic infrastructure, land based transportation is appalling. Anywhere. Period. Unless something is done about it, it will remain a major obstacle to tourism in the future - even to major sites like Bagan and Inle.

Money: the difficulty in obtaining cash to spend within the country (no ATMs, credit card facilities or use of traveller's cheques is available) which means you better bring enough cash or you could be stuck in a really hard place. This means $US or Baht (Yangon and border towns, expect a bad rate) and possible Yuan on the Chinese border.

The Ugly

Spitting: a really bad habit that these people will have to lose is their love of spitting. Everywhere and at any time. And I don't just mean a discrete loogie behind a tree or something - this is full-blown, high-decibel extraction of phlegm from the lungs upward and in the most overt and frankly disgusting way possible. It's like there's a competition to make the longest and most revolting noise and everyone is invited to compete - men, women, old ladies, four year olds, pets etc etc. It happens elsewhere but the Burmese have made it into a grotesque art form. When you hear it from the kitchen in a restaurant a few times it not only irritates but really concerns. Still, as a visitr you have to live with it. You've been warned!

Great Brands of the World

Enough of all that - Myanmar is a fascinating example of impact branding in action. As explained in another entry, many global brands are allowed no more than a marketing presence here and must be imported to be available to the Burmese market. This significantly increases the cost of said imports, protecting a host of imitator local brands that have been developed by government enterprises (probably privatised now) to meet with the State's economic goals (as listed in the Yangon entry).

The best example is in the soft drink market, with Star (Cola), Crusher (Orange) and Quench (Lemonade) the home brands. Palatable, readily available in every corner of the Union (for between 25 and 50% of the cost of an imported drink) and often looking remarkably like western counterparts (the Star Cola brand looks remarkably like a Pepsi logo, which might just explain Pepsi's absence in the market altogether).



I just like the brute force of the Crusher name. Brutal. Maybe there's some subtle message coming from the regime...

Other notable examples include the cigarette brands - most are imaginatively named after glamorous locations like London, Paris, Vegas or Euro. Vegas features young, successful or fit westerners with a token Asian or two thrown in. I'm not being racist - see for yourself.



Some brands don't make any effort to imitate, they just blatantly hijack it. I am sure an ugly, bright yellow vehicle I took one day was definitely not a Jeep but there it was, stencilled in all its glory.



I suppose that even the all powerful multinationals have no real say or redress for brand theft here. The government just does what it wants, when it wants.