Burma as a Traveler...a good discussion...updated info

[travelerjim]

Gay Thailand has a good discussion of Burma as a Traveler...
aside from the politics...

The postings are well done and good recommendations offered by experienced
travelers to Burma (Myanmar)...

http://www.gaythailand.com/forums/index ... topic=2327 (http://www.gaythailand.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2327)

Comments from posters include:

"I have a friend who just spent one month as a traveler in Burma.
He said he felt perfectly safe the entire trip and that in most places he was the only tourist."

"I also have a friend that travels quite often into Burma
and also says he feels totally at ease there"

"I am in Myanmar rather often. I have also traveled over many other parts of the world.
To me Myanmar is by far the safest place have been to. In some ways it appears
to be like I read of Thailand 30 years ago."

"There are no gay bars, openly, BUT .......
the gay scene is big in Yangon and Mandalay and several of the other cities."

"Many of the boys who work in the hotels are gay and once they know what you want
then one will come late at night and knock on your door asking if they can stay the night!"

Poster Nikom has answered many questions...
I will try to answer your questions. Easy ones first!

11. One city for a gay tourist? Yangon!
But you really miss the real favor of the country if you stay only in Yangon!

and a lot more answers...

"One note about gay visitors to Myanmar. Going to look for gay activity is one thing,
however if this is all then you miss the real essence of Myanmar, the history and the people.

History is marked by ruins and architecture of all kinds and ages; people, well just gentle and warm.

Get out and see the country and meet the people. Go to the beach and find that the man who bring the beer
to your porch wants to come back that night to see you!

Or the young muscle boatmen taking you to and back from Mingun wants to know
which hotel you stay at!

Or the hotel in Pyay that is full of nice young men who keep coming into your room to тАЬrepair the AirConтАЭ!"

-------------------------------------------

A helpful guide full of information about Burma for the Traveler...

Thank you Nikom and many other GT posters for sharing...
and the advice about Burma for the Traveler.

[Smiles]

TravelerJim, why are you flooding this Board with boring trivia from another Board which is rapidly running out of posters who actually post?
Surely the folks at Sawatdee are perfectly capable of going over there to check things out by themselves.

I'm sure you'll advise me to put you on ignore (which I'll consider), but that would hardly answer the question as to what you think you are actually accomplishing with this annoying and obvious campaign to advertise a moribund message board.


As a small aside to your post above . . . you might give some thought to the fact that the ruling military dipshits who hold an iron thumb on top of the heads of all Burmese people, and who imprison, torture, and sometimes kill with impunity (and zero consequences) Buddhist monks, students, and generaly anyone who gets in their way.

A gay nirvana indeed:

" ... Many of the boys who work in the hotels are gay and once they know what you want then one will come late at night and knock on your door asking if they can stay the night! ... "

Cheers ...

[jinks]

Oh dear what can the matter be,

Smiles has his knickers in a twist on a ......

Never mind Jim, while he is taking you to task he is leaving me alone.

[travelerjim]

Oh dear what can the matter be,

Smiles has his knickers in a twist on a ......

Never mind Jim, while he is taking you to task he is leaving me alone.

Jinks...

My sentiments exactly...

I would expect no less from Smiles...

I have no grudges regarding posters and the owners/moderators from other boards...

I and have found several topics most interesting to read...from other boards...
and thought I would call them to attention of fellow board members...
as they do pertain to Thailand...and other countries of interest.

...as I have and will continue to do so...
in spite of Smiles thoughts and frustrations.

[catawampuscat]

There is no one nicer than travelerjim except maybe Mr. Goodytwoshoes.
I have given up trying to curb his incessant habit of trying to revive other forums and pump some life
and interest into them by cutting and pasting away.

You really can't get his goat unless you impugn his reputation and suggest he has a personal agenda
for personal gain but since this isn't the case, it just comes off as mean spirited..

We are fortunate to have several gaythailand forum/websites and each has its own crowd, its own
temperament and its own characters. I prefer to see no linkages but do-gooders out there will
continue to think about others first and keep on keeping on..

At least TJ doesn't cut and paste garbage and personal attacks and keeps it to informative threads but
even doing good can be very boring.. Homogenizing all the forums make them all blander and all same-same,
but it is possible one could miss something unusual or actually interesting and useful, so carry on TJ...
It is hard to criticize Sunday school teachers after all... (this last comment comes out of my imagination and
has no resemblance to fact..Furthermore, I am making an assumption about Sunday school teachers, since I don't
know any) :cat:

It could be worse, Smiles. He could be promoting Nigerian or Pattayan bus stops, frequented by the Hydragenated Heddas.

[dave_tf-old]

It pleases me no end to be involved on a board with anybody who can use the word 'moribund' in a sentence and not sound like a History Professor. And so alliterative! Moribund message board...moribund message board. It sings!

As for TJ, continue to endeavor to persevere. You have all the permission you need from this poster.

As for visiting Myanmar--

"Aside from the politics", one thing that appealed to me about Thailand from the start was an openness to visitors. At first, I was worried and took care not to stomp my farang feet too heavily while on Holiday. Eventually, I learned that in certain places, so many herds of tourists had passed through already that my tip-toeing through the fields of foreign culture were merely quaint and unnecessary. Being careful not to stomp through individual's lives, on the other hand, remains a concern.

Visiting Myanmar, for me, would be a different matter. Clearly it is not open to mass tourism and the culture which I would be stomping through is topped by a repressive regime which, from my understanding, benefits more directly from my dollars than the BiB do from my patronage at bars.

More importantly to me, if I worry about how my actions affect individuals in an open society, I would be hugely more worried about how they might affect individuals living under a repressive dictatorship.

Put those together, and I can't see myself having much of a gay old time in Burma.

[dave_tf-old]

Maybe it really is moribund. I joined up to ask two questions, and haven't gotten a reply yet.

So I'll ask them here so you guys have an equal chance to ignore them.

What's the legal status for gays and for gay sex in Burma--both technically and practically?

What's the legal status of tran-national sex, including how it relates to what is or could be deemed prostitution?

I know what I'm doing in Thailand, and how to obey at least the spirit of the law. I know that being gay is NOT a crime for either me or a Thai. I know that 'doing' gay is also not a crime for either of us provided other laws are obeyed. I know what the general ramifications of my actions are for both me and him and can adjust my behaviour accordingly.

I don't know these things about Burma, Iran, South Africa, North Korea, China, etc. All I know about Burma is that it is a totalitarian state which I generally equate with a police state. While I obviously would have concerns about my own safety from the state and its law-enforcement apparatus (given that they apparently do a good job at keeping public order--what with killing Monks in peaceful demonstrations and all) but I have no idea what legal, moral or societal carnage I would be leaving behind with spent condoms.

I think its a fair question to ask.

[ceejay]

Dave tf

This from the UK Foreign Office website:

http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pag ... 3618387126 (http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029390590&a=KCountryAdvice&aid=1013618387126)

Homosexuality is illegal in Burma. In June 2007 a European National was sentenced to seven years in prison for committing homosexual acts.