My specs to our Travel Agent or Tour Operator usually go something like this:
- Is there someplace safe to travel that isn't completely Westernized?
- Do we have to stay in tents or are there reasonable facilities available?
- Is there any shopping? (I do love to shop.)
After those questions are answered, we're easy. Food isn't an issue. If it's awful, there is plenty of reserve fat on our bodies to sustain us...I don't think famine will set in...and if we're really concerned, we can always bring 20 lbs. of candy, toss in a few cans of tuna and survive easily.
Thoughts of Myanmar (Burma) came up. We had visited "Burma" , as it was known then, in 1988. That trip involved over a week's worth of discomfort, terrible food, a repressive government - but a wonderful group of people to travel with. (I'll write about that trip in the future...funny, funny, funny.)
Things have changed since then and, once again, we decided to use Diethelm Travel . Diethelm has a huge presence in South East Asia. They are extremely reliable, honest, and have an excellent reputatiion - so important in that part of the world. There are lots of other Myanmar tour operators but we like Diethelm.

Ex-Marine decided revisiting Myanmar would be a good place to celebrate his 65th birthday. This kicked-off months of e-mailing back and forth to Diethelm, putting an itinerary together.
Continue reading "Myanmar's Golden Triangle Hill Tribes" »