Myanmar Travel Guides

Location

The Union of Myanmar is geographically situated in Southeast Asia between latitudes 09 degrees 32 min N and 28 degrees 31 min N and longitudes 92 degrees 10 min E and 101 degrees 11 min E.
Myanmar is bordered on the north and northeast by the People’s Republic of China, on the east and southwest by the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and the Kingdom of Thailand, on the south by the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal and on the west by the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and the Republic of India.
The Union of Myanmar is geographically situated in Southeast Asia between latitudes 09cated between Bangladesh and Thailand, with India and China to the north, Myanmar covers an area of about 675,000 sq km (over 260,000 sq mi). The capital and largest city is Yangon, an important trade center is Mandalay located in central Myanmar.
The country itself is divided into two classifications, Lower Myanmar and Upper Myanmar. Lower Myanmar is comprised of coastal areas with thick tropical forests that have valuable trees in them (teak forests, oil-bearing and timber trees) with Upper Myanmar making up the interior parts of the country.
A major topographical feature of Myanmar is the Irrawaddy River system. Since its deltaic plains are very fertile, it is considered to be the most important part of the country covering about 18,000 sq mi (47,000 sq km). Hkakabo Razi, the highest peak in Southeast Asia at 19,295 ft (5,881 m), is located in Myanmar. A barrier between India and Myanmar, the Rakhine Yoma range has peaks that range between 915 m (3,000 ft) and 1,525 m (5,000 ft).
Climate

Myanmar weather climate has divided into three main seasons: summer, rainy season and cold season. From March to mid- May are summer months; the rain falls from mid-May to the end of October and the cold season starts in November and ends in the end of February in Myanmar. Generally, Myanmar enjoys a tropical monsoon weather climate. However Myanmar weather climate conditions differ widely from place to place due to widely differing topographical situations. For instance, Central Myanmar has an annual rainfall of less than 40 inches while the Rakhine coast gets about 200 inches in Myanmar. Besides, the average highest temperature in Central Myanmar during the summer months March and April is above 110 F(43.3 degree centigrade) while in Northern Myanmar, it is about 79 F(36.1 degree centigrade) and on the Shan Plateau between 85 F and 95 F. Temperature of towns very according to their location and elevation.
Culture

Myanmar’s culture is largely a result of heavy Indian influences intertwined with local traditions and some Chinese influences. This can be seen in the various stupas and temples throughout the country, which bear a distinct resemblance to those in northern India. Like neighbouring Thailand, Theravada Buddhism is the single largest religion, and even some of the most remote villages will have a village temple for many to pray. Other religions which exist in smaller numbers include Christianity, Islam and Hinduism.

While the Bamar form the majority, Myanmar is also home to many minority ethnic groups and nationalities which have their own distinct cultures. Generally speaking, the divisions in Myanmar are Bamar-dominated, while the states are dominated by the respective ethnic minorities.

Generally speaking, most Burmese people are incredibly friendly and polite, and will do their best to make you feel welcome in their country.
Food

The main Burmese Myanmar food for people in Myanmar consists of boiled rice that is eaten with either meat or fish and vegetables. Lots of Myanmar dishes are flavoured with ngapi, which is a salty paste concocted from dried and fermented shrimp or fish, and can be very much an acquired taste. A thin sauce of pressed fish or shrimp called ngan-pya-rae and may also be used to salt bamar dishes.One of the culinary highlights of Burmese myanmar food is undoubted, light spicy salads made with other spices. Breakfast is a little different and consists of a noodle soup served hot that is flavored with coconut.As a light meals between the main meals of the day is Mohinga(rice noodles with chicken or fish), and it is the most populate in Myanmar food which is eaten with spoon and chopsticks. Another popular noodle Burmese dish , especially at festivals, is rice noodle with pieces of chicken in a spicy sauce made with coconut milk.

Myanmar has a wide variety of tropical fruits likes watermelon, grapefruit, lychee, pomelo, banana, tangerine, etc… And in season you can have strawberries in pyin u lwin, mandalay and even in Yangon. Fruits are liked and the main types found in Myanmar are several types of bananas and coconuts, although other fruits are available as well like the custard apple, the durian and the mangosteen.

Burmese tea brewed in the indian style with lots of milk and sugar is in every teashop in myanmar beside the street.Green tea is drunk all day and is usually served weak and lukewarm (tepid). Soft drinks are more costly but reasonable by asian standards.Myanmar soft drink brands include fantasy Max, Star, And Fruito. Really coffee are hard to get in normal teashop in myanmar but only a few place you can have American tea or Itelian Coffee.

Myanmar Beer is one the popular for tourist in myanmar and most of them like Myanmar draught beer.Other kinds for beer like Tiger , Singha, San Miguel are available too.
Religion

Since the Myanmar ancient times, there has been full freedom of worship for followers of Burma religions in Myanmar. So many different religions can be practiced in Myanmar. Buddhism is practiced by almost 90 percent of Myanmar religion Burma’s population, with the Myanmar Theravada Buddhism School being the most prevalent. It has a firm hold in Myanmar’s culture along with an observance of animism, or the worship of ancestors (nat). In Myanmar culture, there are many Myanmar festivals and celebrations held that correlate with nat. Nat also has influence on the practice of Myanmar traditional medicine in Myanmar religion Burma.

There are other religions in Myanmar, but they are not as widespread as Buddhism and animism. Some of the beliefs found include Christianity (Baptists) in Myanmar hill areas and Muslims. Christianity is practiced by 5.5 percent of Burmese Myanmar, Islam by 3.8 percent Hinduism by 0.5 percent and Animism by 0.2 percent before respectively in Myanmar.

Myanmar is a predominantly Theravada Buddhist country. Buddhism reached Myanmar around the beginning of the Christian era, mingling with Hinduism (also imported from India) and indigenous animism in Myanmar. The Pyu and Mon kingdoms of the first millennium were Buddhist, but the early Burmese Myanmar peoples were animists. According to Myanmar religion Burma traditional history, Myanmar King Anawrahta of Bagan adopted Buddhism in 1056 and went to war with the Mon kingdom of Thaton in the south of Myanmar country in order to obtain the Buddhist Canon and learned Myanmar monks in Myanmar religion history. The religious Myanmar tradition created at this time, and which continues to the present day in Myanmar, is a syncretalist mix of what might be termed ‘pure’ Buddhism (of the Sri Lankan or Theravada school) with deep-rooted elements of the original animism or nat-worship and even strands of Hinduism and the Mahayana tradition of northern India.

Islam reached Myanmar at approximately the same time, but never gained a foothold outside the geographically isolated seaboard running from modern Bangladesh southwards to the delta of the Ayeyarwady (modern Rakhine, known previously to the British as Arakan, and an independent kingdom until the eighteenth century) Myanmar. The colonial period saw a huge influx of Muslim (and Hindu) Indians into Yangon and other Myanmar cities, and the majority of Yangon’s many mosques and temples owe their origins to these immigrants.

Christianity was brought to Myanmar by European missionaries in the 19th century. It made little if any headway among Myanmar Buddhists, but has been widely adopted by non-Buddhists such as the Karen and Kachin in Myanmar.

The Chinese contribution to Myanmar’s religious mix has been slight, but several traditional Myanmar Chinese temples were established in Yangon and other Myanmar large cities in the nineteenth century when large-scale Chinese migration was encouraged by the British. Since approximately 1990 this migration has resumed in huge numbers, but the modern Chinese immigrants seem to have little interest in Myanmar religion Burma.
Some more isolated indigenous peoples in the more inaccessible parts of Myanmar country still follow traditional animism.
The Roman Catholic Church, Myanmar Baptist Convention and the Assemblies of God of Myanmar are the largest Christian denominations in Myanmar.

Language

There are many linguistic groups in Myanmar, but the official Burmese Myanmar language is Burmese (Myanmar according to the government). Most of the Myanmar population speaks Burmese(Myanmar) language, even the ethnic minorities, with the education speaking English as well. There are also quite a few who speak Chinese, Shan, Karen and other languages.