This blog by Lucas Jac and I would agree that Myanmar was one of the most DIFFERENT places we have been on this planet. A true melting pot with Chinese, Shan, Bangladeshi, numerous hilltribes and Burmese inhabitants, as well as more monks per square meter than anywhere else in the world, makes for an interesting cultural mix, and perhaps thankfully, it is totally cut off from Western influence. No MTV, Gap, McDonald's or Coca-Cola here (although a few people smuggle Coke in for prices similar to the opium trade). Trade sanctions and an isolationist government make Myanmar (formerly Burma - but that sounds too colonialist to the current regime) a communist mecca: all clothes and bikes from the same factory, ugly grey 'bloc' buildings, propaganda everywhere in the media and street signs, and all the inefficient
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