We flew from Singapore to Rangoon then to Bagan, Mandalay and Heho and then back to Rangoon as shown on the map. Burma lies east of the Indian Ocean, Bangladesh, and India. It is south of China and west of Thailand. It is slightly smaller than Texas. This page describes our trip; coordinates provides details about hotels, restaurants, etc. for both Burma and Cambodia.

The CIA Factbook notes: "1989 the military authorities in Burma have promoted the name Myanmar as a conventional name for their state; this decision was not approved by any sitting legislature in Burma, and the US Government did not adopt the name, which is a derivative of the Burmese short-form name Myanma Naingngandaw. The Lonely Planet notes: "Union of Myanmar (Burma became Myanmar in 1989 after the State Law and Order Restoration Council decided that the old name implied the dominance of Burmese culture; the Burmese are just one of the many ethnic groups in the country." When in the country, we said Myanmar(pronounced Mee-an-mar.

The Military

Burma is ruled by a military government. We have wanted to go for years but didn't want to do anything that would support the military regime. We kept putting it off and then our favorite travel agent scheduled her third trip to Burma and we decided the time had come. If you are wondering whether or not you should go, we think the Lonely Planet sums up the "should we go or shouldn't we" options very well.

The military government is not a topic for conversation anywhere. On the other hand, we have been in other countries governed by the military. Generally, we were surprised how little evidence of the military's presence we saw. Every golf course we saw, and we didn't go looking for golf courses, was next to a military post. And there are the occasional sign, common in every dictatorship. This one was across the street from the Palace in Mandalay. There were two, one in Burmese and this one in English.

Mandalay

Heho

Inle Lake

Our last stop in Burma was at Inle Lake. We took an afternoon boat ride on the lake and stopped at several "floating villages." One of our favorite stops was the Nga Phe Kyaung or "Jumping Cat Monastery." There were about 20 cats and they each jumped (most went through the hoop) and then got treats.

Late in the afternoon the boat took us to the Lake View Hotel.