Destination: Burma (Myanmar)

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Burma, Redrawn

I wonder if Burma’s generals are kicking themselves for allowing an unassuming Canadian cartoonist to live within their borders for 14 months. They should be. Guy Delisle’s terrific graphic memoir, Burma Chronicles, portrays the surrealism of life under the junta in a way few Western journalists have been able to conjure.

In his third illustrated travelogue, Delisle, who traveled to Burma in 2005 to accompany his aid worker wife, has fun at his own expense, drawing himself as a wide-eyed foreigner and stay-at-home dad who observes the quirks of Rangoon from behind a baby stroller. He opens a Time magazine to find articles mysteriously cut out by censors; struggles to make change in bills issued in denominations of 15, 45 and 90; and watches bemusedly as the government packs up and moves, virtually overnight, to a new capital city. 

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Rambo Goes To Burma: Worst Movie of 2008?

You remember the latest Rambo flick, right? Sylvester Stallone’s gory expose on the plight of Burma/Myanmar’s ethnic minorities? (Don’t worry, I had forgotten, too.) When it came out last year, the critics were less than wowed. Now, the movie looks to be in the running for Hollywood’s greatest indignity: a Golden Raspberry award for the worst of the worst in filmmaking.

According to a little bird at the MTV Movies blog (the list hasn’t been formally announced yet), ‘Rambo’ has landed Razzie nominations for Worst Picture; Worst Director (Sylvester Stallone); Worst Actor (Sylvester Stallone); Worst Career Achievement (Sylvester Stallone); Worst Prequel, Sequel, Remake or Rip-Off, and Worst On-Screen Couple (Sylvester Stallone and His Ego).

Hey, at least the folks in Yangon liked it.


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Tajikistan Photo by David Raterman

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What We Loved This Week: Christmas in Germany, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and More

German Christmas Market Photo by Terry Ward

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Visit Myanmar—That’s an Order

Visit Myanmar—That’s an Order Photo by Stephen Brookes

Travel to Myanmar has slowed to a trickle. But a decade ago, with great fanfare, the government launched a new tourism campaign. Stephen Brookes, then Rangoon bureau chief for Asia Times, remembers its bizarre launch ceremony.

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Travel Outfitters Assist in Burma Cyclone Relief

The government of Burma (Myanmar) has blocked legions of foreign aid workers from entering the country to help with cyclone relief efforts, but a couple of outside travel companies have been able to offer at least some assistance. Most notably, Colorado-based Asia Transpacific Journeys, with dozens of local staff members and three Westerners in the country, has been distributing thousands of water filters around Yangon, the Los Angeles Times reports. Their efforts raise an interesting issue related to the ongoing debate over the ethics of traveling to Burma.

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Death Toll Rises in Burma

We can’t let the day pass without noting the tragedy in Burma (Myanmar). According to some reports, as many as 10,000 22,500 100,000 people have died as a result of the cyclone that hit over the weekend. As if the Burmese people haven’t suffered enough already.

Related on World Hum:
* Under the Banyan Tree
* Big Brother in Burma
* Burma’s Ongoing Cycle of Despair

Updated: Wednesday, May 7, 6:20 p.m. ET


The Story Behind the Pulitzer Prize-Winning Burma Photo

Reuters photographer Adrees Latif won the breaking news photography Pulitzer Prize yesterday for his shot of a Japanese videographer killed during anti-government protests in Burma (Myanmar). Today, Reuters has Latif’s account of the how he got the shot. It’s riveting.

Related on World Hum:
* Busking Story Earns Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing
* Dispatch from Burma: Under the Banyan Tree


A Visit to Burma’s Odd New Capital

That would be Naypyidaw, which Robert Reid writes in Perceptive Travel, “is already joining the ranks of intentional cities that must look good on paper, but are just awful to live in.”

Related on World Hum:
* Dispatch: Under the Banyan Tree


‘Live for Nothing, Die for Something’

That’s the tagline for the latest Rambo movie, and according to Reuters, the people of Yangon are “going crazy” for it.

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Under the Banyan Tree

Under the Banyan Tree Photo by Adam Karlin.

The dictators call it Myanmar. For the first time since they crushed the Saffron Revolution, Adam Karlin traveled to the country he calls Burma -- and home.

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The Critics: ‘Rambo’ and the Plight of the Burmese People

A few months back I wrote about Sylvester Stallone’s latest addition to the “Rambo” series. Sly had wrapped up filming on the Thai-Burmese border right around the time that the military junta began cracking down on protesting monks, and he told the media that he wanted his new flick to help expose the cruelty of the ruling generals. “It would be a whitewashing not to show what’s over there,” he said at the time. “I think there is a story that needs to be told.”


In Burma, the Revolution Will Be…Text-Messaged?

Turns out that jailing all those protesters in Burma (Myanmar) last year may not have been the best way to keep them down, at least in the long term. “There seemed little chance of getting organized until more than 2,000 protesters, arrested and jammed into crowded jail cells, met one another and overcame their distrust,” reports the Los Angeles Times. “Now, most of them are on the streets again, carefully building a network for what they call a new revolution. Their digital tools are e-mail and text messages, which are more powerful than a megaphone, and cellphone cameras that are so common that thousands of people are potential journalists.” It sounds encouraging, but only time will tell, of course.

Related on World Hum:
* Can Your Panties Help Save Burma?
* The State of the Burma Travel Debate


The State of the Burma Travel Debate

It’s been three months since the military junta in Burma cracked down on protesting monks, and the debate about how travelers should respond still rages. In the January issue of Conde Nast Traveler, Susan Hack highlights the latest arguments about whether to go or not to go.

Related on World Hum:
* Invisible Burma
* Can Your Panties Help Save Burma?