After catching a running nose and fallen flat on my back in front of my house
it seems it's the right moment to abandon such a dangerous place like
Estonia.
In addition to the books on the picture, the literature list
includes innumerable on-line materials, one live Burmese monk and one
senior research fellow from the Tallinn University. My tests lately have
shown that German guidebooks (in this case Loose) are more useful than
mass-oriented LP. The only shortcoming of the Germans is heavy paper.
For learning Burmese the best choice is John Okell (Essential Myanmar), traditional and systematic.
Thant Myint-U (whose grandfather was Secretary General in UN for 10 years, before Dag Hammarskjöld) writes about Burmese history in a eye-opening way. Among other things he explains about the negative effects of isolation politics towards a country which wanted nothing more than to be isolated. The military took over about the same time also in Thailand, Indonesia and South-Korea. And look at them. Burma, sitting above probably one of the biggest gas deposits in the world has been forced to foster an economy which only served to fill the pockets of the government. International trade and tourism at the same time would have fostered the formation of educated middle class. Exactly the ones who would demand for change of the regime. So That Myint-U points a finger also on every independent traveler who has cancelled or postponed his/her trip to Burma. On me too. Package tourists not included because they are easy to control and not so prone to interact unchecked with locals. Of course, the picture is not so black-and-white, it's easy to say things in retrospect etc. It's a good book anyway (The River of Lost Footsteps).
After the pointed remark from Indrek Hargla has Tallinn Airport stopped threatening travelers that the personnel steals your luggage if you don't keep an eye on it. They threaten with that in Frankfurt, though.
For learning Burmese the best choice is John Okell (Essential Myanmar), traditional and systematic.
Thant Myint-U (whose grandfather was Secretary General in UN for 10 years, before Dag Hammarskjöld) writes about Burmese history in a eye-opening way. Among other things he explains about the negative effects of isolation politics towards a country which wanted nothing more than to be isolated. The military took over about the same time also in Thailand, Indonesia and South-Korea. And look at them. Burma, sitting above probably one of the biggest gas deposits in the world has been forced to foster an economy which only served to fill the pockets of the government. International trade and tourism at the same time would have fostered the formation of educated middle class. Exactly the ones who would demand for change of the regime. So That Myint-U points a finger also on every independent traveler who has cancelled or postponed his/her trip to Burma. On me too. Package tourists not included because they are easy to control and not so prone to interact unchecked with locals. Of course, the picture is not so black-and-white, it's easy to say things in retrospect etc. It's a good book anyway (The River of Lost Footsteps).
After the pointed remark from Indrek Hargla has Tallinn Airport stopped threatening travelers that the personnel steals your luggage if you don't keep an eye on it. They threaten with that in Frankfurt, though.
Add a comment