Location: Lake Inle at Nyaung Shwe, Myanmar (20°39′N 96°56′E)
Date: 17 December 2000; 10.15am
Canon EOS 500N (analogue) on slides and scanned
There are several villages around Lake Inle that are quite fun to visit. In 2000 most of these villages do not have many foreign visitors and the kids are really happy to see us. They are as curious about us as we are about them. However I am sure it is quite different now as Inle is one of the most popular and one of the few places open to foreigners in Myanmar. It is interesting that despite calls and appeals to foreign tourists to isolate and give Myanmar a miss, there are still hordes of tourists visiting the country. Personally I am not sure the boycott is the right way to go towards helping to push the country towards democracy or forcing the junta down. Tourists are not their mainstay of income but earnings (into the military's private pocket) from exports of resources such as timber, oil, gas and minerals. A better way is to encourage countries such as China, India and Singapore to stop allowing their shores to be used as well as dealing with the regime. On the other hand, contacts between tourists and locals, in my opinion, are beneficial as it is a means for foreigners to understand their plight close-up and an opportunity for the average citizens to be in touch with outsiders be convinced that they matters. Moreover tourist spending (at least the independent ones) in small ways directly help them economically.
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