Good country, bad government!

Well amazingly, 6 months of our trip is nearly up, and the travelling phase, which has taken us through 10 countries, is drawing to a close. We are seeing it out on the beautiful Thai island of Koh Tao, getting some well earned rest, and a decent amount of sun, despite it being the rainy season here.

The previous 3 weeks we spent in Myanmar (Burma), which turned out to be a perfect substitute for Tibet - a land with half a million Buddhist monks, very few tourists, and one of the friendliest peoples we have ever experienced. Sadly the other thing it shares with Tibet is the suppression of the local people by its government.

Historical highlights included Bagan, a massive temple site with 4000 stupas built at the height of the Bamar empire (11th - 14th centuries), fantastically rundown British colonial buildings in Yangon (Rangoon), and the old capital Mandalay with its myriad temples, monks and monasteries.

But, as ever in places which see few tourists, the highlight was the people. From the town of Hsipaw in the mountainous Shan state, we made a 4 day motorbike expedition into the surrounding country with a local man, driving along narrow, muddy, almost impassable dirt tracks and staying with local families in the hillside villages. In these places, white faces are such a rarity that crowds of children would swarm into the streets to stare at us as we passed. Alice's blonde hair in particular was amazing to them. The hospitality was incredible, and the experience one of the best of our travels to date.

Even in cities, as we walked through the streets, everyone waved and shouted hello. Many were keen to know what we thought of their country and share with us their frustrations about their government. We were not expecting to find such openness somewhere so repressed, and the fact that we did is testament to the spirit of the people.

But at times it was frustrating. From hilltops you can look down on mansions, golf courses and airfields, reserved for the sole use of the military, and many told us good jobs can only be obtained by family connections or large bribes. But the political corruption is the hardest to bear: the leader of the opposition party was put under house arrest in 2007 for the third time since her party won a landslide election victory in 1990. Of course they have never been handed power. We met a lady whose husband has been put in prison for 10 years on made up charges because he is viewed as a political threat. Even to get our tourist visa, we had to sign a document stating that we would not interfere with the country's internal affairs! Perhaps most frustrating of all is that despite all that this government has done to its people, the Chinese and Indians continue to keep it afloat with huge amounts of trade (nullifying the effect of sanctions imposed by western governments), and the international community at large seems largely disinterested in applying any pressure to change the situation. It is remarkable that under the circumstances the people remain so friendly and happy on the surface.

From here, we now go our separate ways, Alice back to England for her PGCE interview and Ross on to Sydney, and then Fiji to begin 2 months of voluntary work.