Issue link: https://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25044
" '.::fs of � .....,.."""- . This is the last Southeast Asian country where nearly aU men and women stitl wear traditional dress. Even in Rangoon and Mandalay, the country's largest cities, the Burmese glide along in longyis, a sarong wrap, alighting on pedicab rickshaws or ox carts, modes of transportation that still vastly outnumber the Made-in Japan motorcycles that clog most Southeast Asian streets. Nearly 100 distinct ethnic groups and languages coexist in Burma, from dark skinned Burmans-the majority population originating from eastern India-to the Sino-featured hilltribes of the north. Within its borders, Burma feels worlds apart from the rest of the world. While neighboring countries hum with industry, a cell phone in every T-shirt breast pocket, Burma is one of the least technologically developed countries in the world. Most Southeast Asian nations have milked the tourist cash cow to the point of oversaturation. Burma (f.·I"' . -rt-d , .... A bL, ,,) '�.(f- ".,.) f.--ut.A.. '*:" 6 ......"... Je..u-. e.-<.. I- (t. ... q( .... -4 .... . rt.4..r �rlJ.r�.o'" 'F5<-orz. C. S __ ... *'j/t�� '() ..... ... ) ..... "51- f"l(. ,.... ........ ) e.f-t.."":� '-t.-.I"' '''' ...... ''' :() )t.,,-v:c.C?.' ;� f\.L Sl,.""" sf .... {-e.. . \,./.J'o tL,..., "'--A c)... :(ke...,. ""-r� � .. f1-- � .... f �.", l.f '- S�c-L. f",c.LA, f" <-.rk . • 19,, (;v;v r;,.., -(-+. Ii ii-. .,_ f�'l. c.-h S" ... c.L. .... � ' ...... .... ct<. C.�l{r .... - . .... l.ov'! . A journey here tracks the course of history. Travelers become living cameras. The eyes of the world. Eyes open in the dark. Events we can record. Yet, the numbers menace. How many have been imprisoned? One, at least, still lives in a state of virtual house arrest. Burma's best-documented human rights violation was . swells with magic and mystery, an anachronism in its own time. The floating markets on remote Inle Lake teem with fiat-bot tomed canoes. Brass temple chimes and bundles of green-leaf che root cigars outnumber T-shirts and made-for-tourisni weavings. The giddy laughter of Shee Wan, my translator on In Ie Lake, still cheers me. And the balletic dance of the Intha tribesmen, who row canoes with their legs, still astounds. I remember all this and more. The smirks of sassy children waving a welcome. The leathery faces of farmers dappled with sun filtering through pointy bamboo hats. The deftness of Myint Than, whose face was swathed in perfect swirls of thanaka, the aromatic ochre-colored paste that is both make-up and sunscreen for Burmese women. And graceful young Zani, the proud Rangoon stu dent who yearned for the university to reopen. With long, elegant fingers clasping her pencil, she penned her French verbs, reciting them aloud. For a spiritual journey, Burma satisfies like no other. Whitewashed stup 5. sprinkle t e landsc tio m n a serpentine, Sing e-tl e m-e, tl)ev pause at· each . hOLlse . to receive SCO�P$ wooden bowls. These are the reasons to visit Burma. arli bSa�efootl ��rr,Y.-�f..g",� lJlg m�al. mSlled of stejimiog rice m their bur awn to beg or toel m rn We $tr �� a.� H § � d e like con � c- the house a"rrest of 1991 Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist, Aung San Suu Kyi. A brilliant, beautiful and much loved figure, Suu Kyi is the daughter of Burma's first leader after British independence. At 32, her father was assassi nated in the first of Burma�s many military coups. Today Suu Kyi, dubbed "The Lady," follows his lead. Footsteps into martyrdom. Placed under house arrest in 1989, she remained there until July 1995. When her National League for Democracy (NLD) party won Burma's 1990 election by a landslide, SLORC refused to cede power and spent the summer imprisoning NLD members. International pressure, coupled with an eagerness for their tourism program to succeed, forced SLORC to release Suu Kyi. She immediately began rallying supporters of the NLD, holding weekly speeches from the compound of her home on Rangoon's University Avenue. Students launched human rights protests. SLORC closed the universities and arrested over 2,000 people. After repeated attacks on Suu Kyi by members of the SLORC-sponsored Union Solidarity Development Organization, the government restricted her movement once again, this time under the guise of pro tecting her. Her street barricaded, independent journalists barred from speaking to her, she remains silenced to this day. Soldiers redirect traffic away from University Avenue where the twitching driver of my taxi shrinks down in his seat. I ache to inch closer. Does the Lady still advocate a tourism boycott? I want to tell her what I have seen. And what I will do when I return. "The Lady, no visitors," the dri ver chatters nervously, suggesting a visit to Rangoon's Gem Museum where the world's largest sapphire is on display. Indeed the lion's share of Burma's foreign exchange derives not from tourism but from jewels and timber. And in coming years, it will be gas. Burma is pushing hard to com-