Customer Reviews

To Myanmar with Love: A Travel Guide for the Connoisseur (To Asia with Love)

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4 star:		(1)
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When the editor of To Myanmar With Love began to collect the essays that make up this new guidebook,one Myanmar citizen told him, "Show people that my country is not some sort of hell."

This book does does this so well and so vividly that readers will race through it, vicariously savoring noodles with Yangon gourmet Ma Thanegi, having a traditional teashop breakfast with Win Thuya in Bagan, and carbo-loading with Giles Orr before tackling the sightseeing glories of the Shwedagon Pagoda. With Robert Carmack they will explore the colonial glories of the Strand Hotel in Yangon, learn the pleasures of being derailed in Bago with Peter Walter and a friendly railway clerk, and watch the launching of fire balloons that are three stories high with Anne Marie Power in the Shan State town of Taunggyi.

Breakfast with 2,700 monks in the company of Morgan Edwardson,explore a forest where spirits reside with Hpone Thant, visit a market where not a single souvenir can be found with Guillaume Rebiere where "colors, fragrances, and sounds are all sewn together into a patchwork." Deep sea dive in the Myeik Archipelago with Graydon Hazenberg, find the elusive Ayeyarwady dolphins with Hpone Thant and learn how these extraordinary creatures help the local fishermen. Take a bicycle, a boat, a pony cart, a trishaw, or a slow, slow train. Learn the joys of chewing betel or the casual elegance of wearing a longyi or savor the sweetness of tamarind flakes dissolving on the tongue.

The two features that appear in every volume of the To Asia With Love series of guidebooks are particularly outstanding in this book.

Paying It Forward: Suggestions for giving back while you're on the road reminds readers that "a donation can include more than just money." Viola Woodward tells how travelers can help spruce up schools and monasteries with a coat of fresh paint by supplying the paint and the labor. Sudah Yehudah Kovesh Shaheb's chance encounter with beach vendors leads to a visit to their homes and a trip with them to Yangon. Jan Polatschek tells how to teach English at monasteries while passing through town. Kyaw Zay Latt explains how to help in orphanages, with a list of places to visit with addresses and Janice Neider offers a list of items to give children instead of money or candy.

Resources for the Road offers a variety of annotated reading lists, suggestions for language learning materials, a wonderful essay on the bookshops of Yangon by James Spencer, and a comprehensive list of informational websites. And throughout the entire book, Steve Goodman's photographs reveal the faces of the Myanmar people and the beauty that is found in their country.

To Myanmar With Love shows this isolated country with burnished affection and extraordinary care. Through the eyes of the contributors, we all have the privilege of seeing and savoring the pleasures of Myanmar.

One person commented that they didn't discover anything new about "Burma" after reading this book. How is that possible? Did they really read the entire book? This travel guide is overflowing with information and new perspectives of looking at --- and enjoying your trip to --- Myanmar. It's such a shame that Myanmar (get over calling it "Burma" everybody; that's a name that the Colonialist British bestowed upon the country, and is no longer what most of the locals call their country) continues to be subject to sanctions and travel boycotts. Those who have visited Myanmar, including the contributors to this book, will tell you that the experience was profound. Looking beyond the politics, this is a country that is incredible. These are a people that are worthy of your time, worthy of visiting, and worthy of befriending. And I think that message resonates loud and clear in most of these essays. These stories are ostensibly about travel, but they transcend that; they are about life and generosity and kindness. And yes, believe or not travellers can find those things in Myanmar. This book is a real eye opener, and FULL of NEW insight and tips on where to discover new places and experiences. Highly recommended!

A delightful and enjoyable experience. This is not an ordinary tour guide, although there are plenty of specific and detailed references to places and activities. Its editor invites you to imagine an invitation to a party of talented, diverse, and accomplished people who regale you with tales and divulge secret hideaways--who all happily compete in offering favorite views and all unite in a love for the people of Myanmar.

I will embellish this image with the feeling of a genial inclusion into a company of admirable people--opening a window into a place of no small enchantment.

The photos are art quality and the commentary covers a good range of subject. I found the section dealing with how to help the local people particularly thoughtful, and there are reading and language references as well. Very well done.

Some books are necessary. "To Myanmar With Love" is one of those books. It reveals a side of Myanmar that is not only not written about in newspapers and magazines, but a side that is pointedly ignored.

Myanmar is a place with a rich culture, and a population eager to share that culture with the outside world. As this book shows, there is more to the country than just politics. While this is technically a guidebook, it is also a storybook, filled with tales by travelers, locals and foreigners who have made their homes in Myanmar. Many of the stories are lessons in reading between the lines. For example, when Aye Aye Maw writes about teashop culture in Yangon, she is also writing about what it was like to grow up as a girl in Myanmar in the early 1990s. The book also does an admirable job of introducing readers to individuals, from artists, monks and young guides to an Indian watchmaker in Yangon. Most important is the chapter in which writers share ways for travelers to assist the country when visiting.

I confess that I am the series editor for the To Asia With Love guidebooks, but my feelings about "To Myanmar With Love" are based on my experiences as a traveler, a reader, and a former bookseller. The book was not created to meet any kind of corporate editorial need. It was created because the editor has such a great passion for the people of Myanmar, because the people of Myanmar asked for it, and because the world needs to know more than one side of a story that has been presented with bias for too long.

I bought this book in tandem with Lonely Planet's Book on Myanmar. It is not a travel guide, but gives excellent ideas of things to do, places to eat, experiences to seek while in Burma. Well-written, it is a joy to peruse--and even reread, which I am doing before our trip there. I think it helps open the soul a bit to southeast Asia--to prepare to experience the delights of Burmese culture, food, history, and the lovely people.

I was really looking forward to this book while doing research for my upcoming trip. I had read the Lonely Planet guide, plus a few non-fiction books on the history of the country, but wanted more than the dry facts in those.

This book does share some cool experiences, but the thing that disappointed me were that most of them take place in the large cities, and most of them are quite esoteric in nature. Many are not something that a prospective traveler could repeat if they wanted to (some are, to be fair). Other than the main tourist areas (Yangon, Mandalay and a few near Bagan), the rest of the country is mostly ignored. It was very obvious that many of the authors just stayed at the very British Strand Hotel in Yangon and merely wandered around the neighborhood near the hotel (count how many galleries and shops are mentioned near the hotel).

It does give some sense of atmosphere and of a few of the people living there...I was just hoping for more "meat" that I could then use in my planning.
In my opinion, this is more of a library borrow book rather than a purchase and cherish (or use for planning).

This book wont tell you where and what to do, but it does set the scene for you before you arrive, its an enjoyable book and should be complimented with a traditional guidebook.

I was expecting to discover new things about Burma but I didn't find the stories very interesting.