Beauty and fear in Burma
Bewitched by the beauty of its jungles and temples – but horrified by its brutal refugee crisis. No wonder BBC globetrotter Simon Reeve is in a...
BURMA has been at the top of my travel wish-list for years. I’ve made more than 100 programmes for the BBC, visiting at least 120 countries in the process, but I was beginning to fear that getting to Burma might never happen.
Then, last summer an opportunity arose to finally visit the country and make a two-part documentary. But no sooner had we planned our four-week trip than the Rohingya crisis erupted.
In an appalling exodus, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people started to flee their homes in the northern Rakhine province following an offensive by Burma’s military, and sought refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh.
The United Nations described the offensive as a ‘textbook example of ethnic cleansing’. In response, Burma’s military said it was fighting Rohingya militants and denied targeting civilians.
So should we cancel our trip? No. Believing that it was more important than ever to report what was actually happening in the country, we decided to press ahead with our plans.
I’d always felt that Burma was an exotic, slightly mysterious country.
Burma is also a country that really matters. It has huge natural resources but it has been largely cut off from the outside world for a long time.
Things had started to change but it’s now very unclear which direction the country will take next.
We started our trip in the south, in the former colonial capital of Mawlamyine.
It’s a beautiful city, with lots of dilapidated old buildings, but that was really just the beginning of the adventure.
From there I hopped on a train on the Burmese Railway, which was quite a treat. It was not luxurious by any means – we sat on hard benches rather than sumptuous seats – but it was really memorable as a result.
We took the train to the biggest city, Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon.
I also wanted to get into the east of Burma, to an area populated by the Shan people, but we couldn’t head there from within Burma itself because it is deemed a military front line.
A conflict is going on there – the longest-running civil war on Earth – so we headed into Thailand and were then smuggled back across the border. At one point we had to dash through the jungle at night to evade army patrols. It was all pretty bizarre.
By far the most magical place I saw was Bagan, an ancient and historical city stacked full of temples and beauty.
It’s as if all of Europe’s cathedrals have been stuffed into an area the size of Bristol. Bagan used to have something like 10,000 Buddhist temples and about 2,000 of them survive today.
To my mind, it is a site that matches any of the great wonders of the world. You get these fairytale temples popping up through the jungle, many of them in need of a little tender loving care, but all the more appealing as a result.
I felt rather like Indiana Jones, heading through the jungle and pushing back branches to discover a temple that looks as though nobody has been there for years.
I would also advise visitors to go to the wonderful Green Hill Valley Elephant Sanctuary near Kalaw, which was founded in 2011.
People sometimes question the motives of such places but this is the real thing: its focus is primarily
I FELT LIKE INDIANA JONES AS I DISCOVERED A REMOTE TEMPLE
on providing care for elephants that are no longer fit to work in the timber industry. T HANKS to the income provided by visitors, elephants at Green Hill Valley can enjoy their retirement and receive the care they require. At the end of their visit, tourists are invited to plant a teak sapling to help with reforestation.
In terms of tourist travel to Burma, it’s not a place to go to with your eyes closed.
How could one possibly visit a country where the United Nations says ethnic cleansing is under way without thinking really carefully about the consequences of what you’re doing? But I also see the enormous advantages of tourism for making connections between us, for people to have adventures, and also for locals to earn an income.
I think travel and tourism are almost always good things. However, there is a saying in Burma that anything that makes money, the army has got their fingers in it, and that includes tourism.
There were times when I felt safe and there were times when I must confess I was worried. However, I have a much better understanding now of what Burma has been through and is still going through.
It’s a more beautiful country than
THE ARMY HAS ITS FINGERS IN ALL THINGS THAT MAKE MONEY
I ever imagined but it’s a more troubled place than I realised. There are enormous problems facing Burma, and those problems aren’t just affecting the Rohingya people but other ethnic groups too.
I think the Burmese government has a lot of questions to answer about its behaviour, its treatment of ethnic minorities and how much control it has over the army, which is generally held responsible for perpetrating the worst crimes against some ethnic groups.
However, Burma is somewhere where the utter friendliness of local people and the gentle pace of life leave such an indelible mark on your memory.
Getting to make the films I do is an enormous privilege. I go on exotic adventures, but they are also tough trips into which we blend light and shade. They’re not jolly japes, although my friends rib me endlessly that they are.
I’m always keen to encourage people to keep their eyes and minds open, to travel adventurously and to take a few risks – you have bigger, more memorable experiences as a result. We should put aside our natural reserve more and gently quiz people about their lives.
You learn much more and you have closer, warmer, more meaningful interactions with them as a result.