Myanmar

- Myanmar or Burma occupies a remote corner of South-east Asia.

Myanmar is hidden away in the folds of mountains which reach down like the fingers of a hand from the heights of the Himalayas to the sea, it has had leisure to develop a character and a personality of its own. Its best friends in this sense have been these mountains, which have protected it on the one hand from the aggression of Indian invaders, on the other from the enormous absorbing power of China.

Yet placed as it were between these vast millstones, it would be surprising had it escaped all traces of their contact. From India Myanmar has received the religion, which more than any other factor has molded the Myanmar - Myanmar people. From India there came to it the earliest impulse of civilization. The influence of China is less than from India, this also has something to do with Buddhism and the English colonial times. Today Myanmar tries to open up to the tourism age and offer a outstanding cultural environment in places as Bagan, Mandalay, Yangon, Mrauk U, the Myanmar Himalayas, the Myanmar Islands in the Andaman Sea and countless of other places. Wherever you go on your Myanmar travel travel trip you will see gorgeous pagodas and temples plus the great Myanmar People of about 130 different ethnic groups. Most of them are deep anchored in Buddhism.

On successive occasions Myanmar or Burma has been called upon to resist with all its power the military aggression of the Chinese ; on one notable occasion it received through them a blow from which its civilization has never recovered ; and from time to time it has gone some way towards accepting the suzerainty of China. But the influence of China has been social rather than political. The instinct of race has taught the two people their essential kinship, and if the Myanmar’s - Burman is proud of his quite mythical descent from the princes of India he is much more in his daily life in sympathy with the Chinaman.

But the mountains which have hitherto preserved the nationality of the Myanmar are no longer a protection. The sea has opened the flood­gates of invasion, and under the political supremacy of colonial England people from India started to invade Myanmar – Burma. Of these mountains which reach down like the fingers of a hand from the great arm of the Himalaya to make the country of Burma, the first are the Arakan or Rakhine Yoma, known to the main stock of the Myanmar - Myanmar as the Mountains of the West.

On one side of them there lies the sea (the Bay of Bengal) - on the other the Ayeyarwady or Irrawaddy river. The habitable land along their sea-swept threshold is known as Arakan or Rakhine the home of a great branch of the Myanmar’s. Just the right destination for a great Myanmar adventure travel trip. One of the very positive on travel in Myanmar is, the country is very safe, almost no criminality and no mad terrorists around.

Myanmar - Burma runs some 2000 km (1300 miles) north and south. In the west – east direction from the Naaf river on the Bangladesh border, to

the Mekong river the distance is about 900 km (570 miles). Snow-capped Hkakabo Razi (5885 meters or 19296 ft.), the highest peak in Myanmar and South  East Asia is up in the north of the Myanmar Himalayas. Many Myanmar river come down from this icy mountains. They didn't make a ski resort yet, but several Thai "investor" already had a look. The Myanmar Himalaya area is real beautiful and pure, unfortunately there are hordes of Chinese poachers coming to the area and cut all accessible trees, sooner or later Myanmar wont have any accessible forests left since in the whole north of the country extensive

Hkakabo Razi

Myanmar River

logging is under way to satisfy the Chinese and Indian market for quick cash. Since also in huge part of Myanmar all primary forest is gone, only scrap and bushes left, the next generation of Myanmar people will ask, where is the forest ? This Myanmar mountains are inhabited by Kachin people, Chin and further north west the Naga which are a sub tribe of the Chin.; more numerous, more warlike, more organized in the north, where the width of the mountains is greater, than in the south. East of them lies the valley of the Irrawaddy, the middle of Myanmar - Burma, the spacious cradle. This valley is shut in still further on the east by the Shan State highlands, which spread away in waves to the Salween or Thanlwin river. They provide a home for the Shan, they are closely related to the Thai people - had a long struggled with the Myanmar’s - Myanmar for the possession of the valley, but has ended by

Myanmar Naga

Chin Lady

holding the lesser heritage of the Shan plateau under the suzerainty of Myanmar - Burma. Beyond the Salween or Thanlwin river lies Thailand. The valley of the Ayeyarwady or Irrawaddy river narrow and confined in the north, opens out at Mandalay the former capital of  the last Myanmar kingdom, and widens as it reaches the sea. It culminates in one of the finest of deltas. South east of Mandalay is the valley of the Sittang or Sittoung river. Further south east on the border to Thailand are the low range of  Bago hills

Irrawaddy river

Mandalay river port

which separate the border from the Ayeyarwady or Irrawaddy valley. The Salween or Thanlwin river run along the Thailand Myanmar border finally pours its waters into the Andaman Sea under the golden spires of Moulmein - Mawlamyine. The Mergui or Myeik archipelago lies off the south west of Myanmar, and a thousand islands have a great tourist potential once the area is opened completely and developed. This last strip of coast is known as Tenasserim or Thanintharyi. It is thinly populated and it has never played any substantial part in the development of  Myanmar. The mountains reach down in a narrowing peninsula to Victoria Point - or Kawthaung , the southernmost limit of Myanmar - Burma. Victoria Point Immigration Kawthaung Kawthaung

Moulmein Mergui or Myeik read more Mergui or Myeik archipelago

- Myanmar Rivers

Ayeyarwady or Irrawaddy river read more One great river at the north west of the country is the Chindwin a tributary to the Irrawaddy remains to be mentioned. Coming down from the mountains that lie about the upper reaches of the

Chindwin River

Ayeyarwady or Irrawaddy, it flows through the Hukong valley and under the Chin territories through scenery of great beauty, till it enters the valley of the Ayeyarwady or Irrawaddy and adds its quota to the volume of that great river. The great Irrawaddy or Ayeyarwady river marshaled by hills and mountains makes scenery that is as stately as it is beautiful, as passionate as it is serene. The mountains visited by tropical rains sustain forests of primeval growth, in which herds of elephants, of wild cattle and deer, wander in comparative peace. For beach, beaches and leisure - pleasure on the seaside pls. check here.

in the delta of the Ayeyarwady or Irrawaddy, facing the sea. Yangon or Rangoon, like Kolkata or Calcutta, is the outcome of British rule. All the wealth and the economic power are there, the political power moved to Naypyidaw the new capital in central Myanmar. Yangon is dominated by the Shwedagon Pagoda, the heart of Buddhist of Myanmar and other parts of the world. Myanmar receives large amounts of Buddhist pilgrims from all over the world in particular, Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan and other. All of them are Buddhist devotees who pray at the Shwedagon Pagoda Platform. If you visit the Shwedagon do it after 3pm since only then is some shadow along the pagodas and temples. This shadow cools down the marble slabs, before this

Shwedagon Pagoda read more

shadow appears its almost impossible to walk on the pagoda platform because the heat burns the bare feet. - For the cultural oriented traveler  with a sense for ancient monuments, pagodas and temples, the journey leads to Bagan Myanmar one of the main tourist spots in the country. The ancient temple and pagoda city on the plains of the dry zone in central Myanmar is one of the most interesting places to visit on this globe, easily matching the pyramids of Egypt, pyramids of the Mayas and other monuments of great civilizations. Travel to Bagan is almost a must for every visitor of Myanmar you would miss a important opportunity if you wont do this trip.

Bagan Myanmar read more