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Top
Stories |
Burmese Brilliance
Explained
Student Gives the Inside Scoop on Her Home Country of Burma |
Myanmar's Magic
and Mystery
One of the Most Mysterious and Undiscovered
Destinations in the World |
A Burmese History
Lesson
The Past and Present of the Country Now Known as Myanmar |
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BURMESE BRILLIANCE EXPLAINED
Student Gives the Inside Scoop on Her Home Country of Burma
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Sein and her family and maids in front of Bagan City,
an ancient temple site that is a landmark in the country. |
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By ISABEL LACY
Staff Writer
Junior Cherry Sein left her home country of Burma (officially the Union of Myanmar) in 2006 to attend Lynn, and recently spoke with the iPulse about her experiences.
Q. What is the culture like in your home country?
A. It’s Asian, and mostly Buddhist based. It’s traditional and kind of conservative.
Q. What is the food like?
A. We use a lot of spices, especially chili, cilantro, turmeric powder, ginger, onions, garlic, fish sauce, peanut oil, sesame oil and tomatoes. The most traditional Burmese dish would be the coconut chicken noodle soup and fish noodle soup.
Q. What do you miss most about the country?
A. I miss the food and visiting temples (ancient sites).
Q. How would you describe the country to someone who has never been there?
A. It’s very different from the lifestyle of the West. Once you get passed the certain things that happen in the country, the country itself is a nice place. You can’t explain it – it’s one of those things you have to see for yourself.
Q. What would you like foreigners to know about the country?
A. In Burma, we have these ancient temples that are pretty interesting and hardly anyone knows about them. But to us, they compare to the brilliance of the cathedral of Notre Dame.
Q. What is your favorite thing to do?
A. Visiting villages and ancient sites, hiking hills, taking a tour of the mini China Town and eating the food.
Q. What is your favorite place to visit?
A. Mini China Town; I go there almost every day.
Q. Do a lot of people in your country speak English? Do they speak any other languages?
A. No they don’t speak English, and the official language is Burmese. But in the rural areas, minority groups have their own traditional dialect.
Q. How did you learn English?
A. Around 1991, at the age of 3, my family moved to New Delhi, India, because my dad was posted at the World Health Organization office there.
There I went to the American Embassy School, which is an international school, connected to the American Embassy in New Delhi. And at the school, everything was taught in English. They had Spanish and French available as a second language course, which is required from the grades 4 to 12. I took beginners’ French from 7th to 8th grade, and intermediate from 9th to 10th. I didn’t take any languages in 11th grade, but I took beginners’ Spanish my senior year.
Q. Is there anything you would like to add?
A. Be sure when you plan to travel to my country to take note that the months of May through August is the monsoon season, especially June and July. It pretty much rains about 18 hours a day. It’s like you would have an hour straight of heavy pouring rain. Also, there are no winters, but only cool seasons up north.
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Sein with her family in a waterfall cave in a northern city in Myanmar |
Sein at Multicultural Day on campus. |
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Sein’s friends participate in a water festival in Burma. The festival occurs in April of each year and is a sort of Burmese New Year celebration. During the festival, people on a balcony platform use water pipes to pump water onto people passing by who are taking part in the celebration. |
Cherry Sein in the Elmore Commons Dining Hall on campus. |
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MYANMAR’S MAGIC AND MYSTERY
One of the Most Mysterious and Undiscovered
Destinations in the World
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The central stupa of Shewdagon at night in Yangon, Myanmar. |
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Myanmar sits at the crossroads of Asia’s great civilizations of India and China, and looks out onto the vast Indian Ocean next to Thailand.
One of South East Asia’s largest and most diverse countries, Myanmar stretches from the sparkling islands of the Andaman Sea in the south right up into the Eastern Himalayan mountain range.
To this day, Myanmar remains one of the most mysterious and undiscovered destinations in the world. A land of breathtaking beauty and charm yet only recently emerging into the modern world.
What can the casual visitor therefore expect upon arrival, and why should one embark on such a journey in the first place?
Myanmar offers all the traditional delights of Asia in one fascinating country. Virgin jungles, snow-capped mountains and pristine beaches, combined with a rich and glorious heritage spanning more than two thousand years.
Spectacular monuments and ancient cities attest to a vibrant culture that is still home to 135 different ethnic groups.
Myanmar also boasts one of the lowest tourist crime records in the world, so visitors can rest assured their holiday will be carefree from start to finish.
Wherever one goes in Myanmar, whether it be cruising down the mighty Ayeyarwaddy River in style, drifting over the ancient city of Bagan by hot air balloon, or searching for that elusive tiger on the back of an elephant, there is always a feeling of adventure.
From mountain trekking and rafting in the far north to world class diving in the Mergui Archipelago. But above all, Myanmar offers the warmest welcome in Asia.
Source: The Myanmar Tourism Board |
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A BURMESE HISTORY LESSON
The Past and Present of the Country Now Known as Myanmar
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A British 1825 lithograph of Shwedagon Pagoda reveals early British occupation in
Burma during the First Anglo-Burmese War.. |
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Myanmar’s prehistory begins with the migration of four groups into the country: the Pyu from either present-day Tibet or India, the Mons from what is now Cambodia, the Mongol Burmans from the eastern Himalayas, and the Thai tribes from northern Thailand.
In 1767, the Burmans invaded Siam and sacked Ayuthaya, forcing the Siamese to move their capital to Bangkok.
The British saw their chance to invade in 1824, and then again in 1852 and 1883. Burma became a part of British India and a major rice exporter.
In 1937, Burma was administratively separated from British India and there was nascent murmuring for self-rule. The Japanese drove the British from Burma in WWII and attempted to enlist Burman support politically.
In 1948, Burma became independent and almost immediately began to disintegrate as hill tribes, communists, Muslims and Mons all revolted.
In 1962, a left-wing army revolt led by General Ne Win deposed the troubled democratic government and set the country on the path of socialism. The Burman economy crumbled over the next 25 years until, in 1987 and 1988, the Burman people decided they had enough.
Huge demonstrations called for Ne Win’s resignation, and massive confrontations between pro-democracy demonstrators and the military resulted in 3,000 deaths in a six-week period.
A military coup then handed control to General Saw Maung and his State Law & Order Council, promising elections in 1989.
The opposition quickly formed a coalition party called the National League for Democracy (NLD), under the leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi. In 1989, the government placed Suu Kyi under house arrest. Despite her imprisonment, the NLD scored an overwhelming victory at the polls. However, the junta prevented the elected party leaders from taking office.
Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt drafted a seven-point ‘roadmap’ to ‘disciplined democracy’ in September 2003. It was dismissed as a diversion by the US, which, along with the EU and Japan, tightened sanctions against Myanmar.
Efforts to bring both parties back to the table continued with a constitutional convention in May 2004, although its legitimacy was undermined due to an NLD boycott. The replacement, a few months later, of Khin Nyunt as prime minister was taken as a sign of ongoing unease at the top levels of the junta.
In 2004, Khin Nyunt was removed from office in a surprising take-over from hard-liner Soe Win, who promised he would continue Khin Nyunt’s program.
The capital was moved to Naypyidaw, 460km (300mi) north of Myanmar’s largest city and former capital, Yangon, in 2006.
Source: Lonely Planet
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