Myanmar – what an amazing trip. Culture, history, natural beauty, charm. We visited pagodas in cities and villages, spent a day cruising down Kipling’s ‘road to Mandalay’, the Irrawaddy. We marvelled at the Golden Rock, trekked through hills, were in awe of sunsets over Bagan, hopped in and out of boats to visit villages on Inle Lake.

Lots of powerful impressions, wonderful memories, and lots (and lots, and then some) of photos.

And yet… Myanmar now represents a traveller’s dilemma, doesn’t it? When we visited, there was already a community in Malaysia of Chin people, refugees from Myanmar. And the Press was beginning to report a growing crisis as many members of another ethnic group, the Rohingas, fled to neighbouring countries. Since then, the Myanmar government and its representatives have been widely condemned in many Western nations, for their treatment of the Rohingas in particular.

And the traveller’s dilemma (one shared of course, on a much larger scale, by national Governments, by NGOs, and by public and private businesses): to engage, or to withdraw? As tourists, should we visit countries whose regimes we believe to be morally corrupt, or should we stay away? Do our travellers’ dollars prop up bad systems, or help the ordinary people living under these systems, who just want to live their lives? And how can we judge – by reports from our own news sources, or by going and seeing for ourselves, hearing different perspectives, trying to understand the background?

And…well there are many questions and many debates. Lots of food for thought.