Back to the country of monks: beyond the pictures

My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

MYANMAR | Friday, 5 July 2013 | Views [337]

Nuns standing apart look questioningly at the bustle around the hand-operated Ferris wheel. Emblematic of the mutations, youth adopt a new dress style conveyed by TV (satellite dishes are allowed since 2011). Jeans are replacing the traditional longyi. Karaoke clips are now performed by western dressed actors with modern house and ATV. After decades of oppression, population discovers the consumer society and parents don't want their kids to be deprived as they have been.

Intense life around the Golden Rock, one of the holiest places for the Theravada Buddhism. Till recently, westerners had to leave the top of the hill before sunset if they hadn't booked into one of the three government’s hotels.

The drawback of the tourism rush is the inadequate accommodation capacity in Burma and the massive arrival of cash that has raised prices up to 10 in 18 months for activities related to tourism. As a side effect, locals may have difficulties to access these services.

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This monk looking for his way in a Bagan temple is like Burmese population trying to find its path towards democracy and modernity in the maze of its history. Cut from the global progress since the 1962 putsch, two generations have only known dictatorship.

However, despite minorities repression we have encouraging signs: larger freedom of speech, release of Aung San Suu Kyi and hundreds of political prisoners... A step backward is unlikely now that the population can see the rest of the world.

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Back to the country of monks: beyond the pictures

My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

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