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Burma holidays: The south-east Asian country on the cusp of an uncertain new dawn

Beside the reflection of a dead letpan tree – normally pinkish-red in flower but now gnarled and naked in the blue morning light – a fisherman is in search of the day’s first catch.

Perched on the bow of his narrow boat, another fisherman paddling silently behind him, he casts his net wide across Taungthaman Lake and watches it sink into the inky water.

Behind them is the long shadow of U Bein’s bridge, 1300 yards of dark teak stilts and slats that rise above the shallow water. And above it is a young sun, not yet with the strength to burn off the morning dew. It emerges, not from a silhouetted horizon, but by slowly inching above the mists so that eventually it hangs like a pale lozenge, its rays adulterated.

Building bridges: U Bein is the longest teak span bridge in the world, stretching on for 1.2km

The fisherman waits and then, with excruciating patience, he pulls his net back in, running it through his hands the whole way. There are no fish and the pair glide off to find better luck elsewhere.

A seven-mile drive on the road from Mandalay, this narrow footbridge in central Burma (the longest teak bridge in the world) has greeted morning in much the same way ever since it was built in themid 19th century.

Much like the rest of Burma, a country cocooned in international isolation for most of the 20th century, it is a landscape untarnished by Westernisation; retaining the same ethereal sense of the undiscovered that British colonialists would have found when they arrived.

Under the jaundiced sky, the bridge comes to life: girls, their cheeks smeared with thanakha (the sandalwood paste worn as make-up-cum-sun lotion), manoeuvre flower-burdened bicycles across the planks and gangs of maroon-robed monks leave the monastery to collect morning alms. 

Soaring: A view of Yangon's Shwedagon Pagoda at sunset

Catch of the day: Fishing on the Taungthaman Lake, near Mandalay, is a traditional affair

Since 1962, when a coup d’état brought one of the world’s most repressive regimes into power, the country has been in chrysalis.

The Western world, shocked by accusations of genocide, systematic rape, child slavery (including in the armed forces) and punitive press censorship, brought crippling economic and political sanctions to bear on the ruling military junta and for years the country was locked in stasis.

Only now is change starting to come to Burma. The promotion of senior general, Thein Sein, to the presidency in March 2011 has been the unlikely catalyst.

Inspired either by economic imperative or a moral conscience previously unseen among Burma’s generals, Thein Sein has instigated reforms, including the release of 6,000 political prisoners (among them pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi), and set his country on the path from pariah state to democratic governance.

But just as mist shrouds the dawn at U Bein’s bridge, no-one can be certain what Burma’s new day will bring.

Market forces: A street vendor in Yangon lays out his colourful wares

Getting into the spirit of things: Chris (left) puts 'thanakha' on his face, a concoction the locals (as pictured right) use to protect against the sun's rays

Initial scepticism at the sincerity of Thein Sein’s reforms has mostly dissipated, both at home and abroad. Indeed, such is his popularity that some believe he may defeat Suu Kyi in the elections scheduled for 2015. However, there is still concern for the future.

Many worry about the military and its response should its power be diminished. There also remain nagging questions about Burma’s attitude towards the ethnic minority groups living in its frontier lands.

And even if all goes well and the elections are free and fair, there are fears that the world’s multinationals will carve the country open and its unique personality will be corrupted. How long before there is a McDonald’s in Mandalay?

It is as Burma stands on this precipice that I land at Yangon’s refurbished international airport to witness a country in flux. Like many travellers who have flooded this land since Suu Kyi retracted her call for a tourism boycott, I was eager to savour its charms before they are lost forever.

Road to Mandalay: Monks walk with parasols into their monastery

On my first day I took a tour around downtown Yangon, the former capital.

There were decrepit colonial buildings supported by bamboo scaffolding and street sellers frying pork sticks over open fires or flogging traditional shampoo made from jute, extracts of tree bark and lime juice.

The pavements, where they were not cracked and holed, were splattered with the stains of betel, the intoxicant that many Burmese males chew incessantly, colouring their teeth and lips purple.

The city streets buzzed with the roar of cars and the shouts of vendors. Only in the shadow of Shwedagon Paya, the great gilded pagoda that sits imperiously above Kandawgyi Lake, did I find tranquility. Even at night – pitch black in the absence of street lights - dogs howled as they fought over leftovers.

This has been Yangon’s story for generations. However, there is also modernity here.

Changing times: Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi photographed earlier this year (left), while former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shakes hands with President Thein Sein in July 2012

By day, Justin Bieber songs burst from speakers on Bogyoke Aung San road.

Boys still wore the traditional sarong-style longyi but regularly combined it with a Premier League football shirt. Others sat in one of the city’s many tea-houses enjoying a sweet and milky kyauk padaung (tea) while chatting away on their iPhones.

It’s still impossible for travellers to get mobile phone reception here, though that too will change within months. A number of foreign companies are already known to be negotiating for network rights.

Burma’s second-biggest city, Mandalay, is less populous and more low-rise than Yangon, and it has travelled less far down the road towards commercialism.

Owing much to Rudyard Kipling and his poem, Road to Mandalay, for many the city elicits the most romantic memories of Empire and the East.

Worlds away: The gilded Buddha at Mahamuni Pagoda (left) and a street market in the city

I spent two days here, climbing the steps to see the sunset from the pagoda atop Mandalay Hill and taking a boat trip past dolphins and bamboo rafts to explore Soon oo Ponya Shin temple on Sagaing Hill.

The next morning I watched locals exercise in the shadow of Mandalay Palace, an ancient royal city transformed into a heavily militarised camp, its walls emblazoned with the ominous slogan: ‘The Tatmadaw [Burmese army] will never betray the national cause’.

One of the most intriguing sites in Mandalay is the Buddha image at Mahamuni Pagoda, among the most venerated in the country.

  More... Find more exotic holidays in our dedicated Asia section Burma's new dawn: A country praying for a brighter future Book your own adventure in our late deals blog

The 13-foot high gold leaf figure is washed lovingly at 4.30am each morning and legend has it that the icon has the power to prophesise the future.

On the morning of August 8 1988 – a day that marked a mass uprising against Burma’s military rulers that was met with a brutal repression that lasted weeks and still scars the consciousness of the nation - the cleaners reported seeing a tear roll down its face.

I wonder how many of the pilgrims who still kneel at its base wish it would today give another inkling of what the future might hold.

Travel Facts

Exodus's Discover Burma tour lasts for 16 days and costs from £2,379 per person, including flights, accommodation, 13 breakfasts and one lunch (www.exodus.co.uk; 0845 287 7637). There are limited spaces on the April 27 departure date.











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