Falling for Burma

What’s not to love about a place where people wave and smile at you like you’re a celebrity as you go by whether it’s on foot, in a longboat or in a car on the highway. Who wouldn’t love to be in a place where the sun sets in such dramatic ways over Inle Lake or the thousands of pagodas in Bagan? Burma is struggling on many fronts, and is being influenced by Thailand and the west, but still maintains many of its traditions. The men wear lungis (fabric worn like a wrap-around skirt) and women paint their faces with sandalwood, then draw designs in the paint to look like leaves or spirals on their cheeks. It took a few days to appreciate all the charms of this place, but now that I have, I can’t wait to return.