The majority Buddhist population mainly lives along the banks of the Ayeyarwady (Irrawady) River, while the vast bulk of Burma’s landmass consists of outlands inhabited by a multitude of persecuted minorities. But it is when he travels outside Yangon that his account becomes truly fascinating. He begins in Yangon, contrasting Golden Valley, the haunt of the country’s millionaires and diplomats, with one of the city’s largest slums. The poverty described is all the more shocking to me as I contrast it with the mega-yachts and estates the size of small countries that the world’s richest people waste their money on, oblivious or uncaring about the destitution of so many people in the rest of the world.Įimer makes a knowledgeable and erudite tour guide to modern Burma. Finally (in 2015) there were free elections, but so far (this book was published in 2019) little has changed. Then soon after independence a military junta took over, enriched themselves, and further impoverished everyone else. Then the Japanese invaded during World War II. First the British came in with the purpose of extracting its jade, opium, and other treasures. The nation has been crippled by a sordid history of oppression: international wars, wars for independence, civil wars, and misguided selfish governance almost nonstop for as long as it has been a nation. No foreign businesses such as Starbucks are allowed.īut not being able to grab a fast-food burger or a frappe at every corner is the least of Burma’s problems. Eimer explains that Burma is like this now. As a result, there was no Coca Cola or MacDonald’s or any of the other ubiquitous international brands we have come to expect everywhere in the modern era. India at that time forbade western companies from establishing franchises. Some of the author’s descriptions even of Yangon (Rangoon), the largest and most westernized city, remind me of India when I visited it back in the 1970s. It exists as a sort of pocket in time, several decades behind the rest of the world. Most of Burma, on the other hand, as described by Eimer in this fascinating memoir/travelogue, is used to going without electricity and other amenities. It is oddly appropriate that I am writing this during a rare power cut of several hours (and counting) in my apartment complex – appropriate because normally we here in Seattle can count on having electricity and other utilities twenty-four-seven, and if we don’t, we panic.
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