We asked many questions before considering his stay in Burma. To summarize, do visit Myanmar meant endorsing the junta and to provide a stock exchange or is it that would go there to meet with a population isolated from the rest of the world and receive the daily reality under the dictatorship? We chose to go ... and we have not regretted our choice.
Beyond beautiful landscapes to the plains dotted with pagodas, we found a country stayed out of the world where human rights are trampled, where inequalities are glaring ... but where the population has an urge communicate with the outside.
In this single article that we post from Bangkok (as access to our blog was censored) we show you some nice scenery but we also want to talk about people we met because they are have touched us and to them that we promised not to forget.
Our first surprise was the arrival in Yangon, where we learn that the issuance of visas on arrival, setting up this year to promote tourism, is suspended from the elections approach in November! It promises ... We quickly discover a city neglected where successive monsoons have left deep scars on their colonial buildings of the British crown. Yangon is no longer the country's capital since 2005, when the generals chose to establish a new jungle capital Nay Pyi Taw to the center of the country, but it remains the largest city in the country. People traveling by foot, in ancient Japanese taxis or buses indescribable. In the crush, the Burmese we stop regularly to say a few words of English or to guide us, we all smile. 
We visit, of course, the hugely revered Shwedagon Paya, all gold and precious stones, covered, home told the hair of Buddha. The enthusiasm is palpable everywhere. 
What we see for the first time in Yangon is the blackness of the night. The lighting is almost non-existent. The facilities could be described as imaginative and power cuts are frequent. We are told that the country's electricity is intended primarily for the new capital, nobody lives there but it shines and it's air conditioned!
We drive to Mandalay, the last royal capital. The royal palace was destroyed during World War II and rebuilt with forced labor. It is fashionable to boycott the visit. For cons, the environs of the city are rich in all kinds of pagodas, built around the ancient capitals in succession, and very active monasteries. 
Mandalay is an opportunity for us a moving encounter with a trishaw (cyclo driver local) that we will not name and you will not see photos. For three days we explored the surroundings by bike with him. Over the discussions, our banal conversations took a turn more serious. Visits to pagodas were curtailed in favor of long pauses in the tea-houses ". These institutions are veritable institutions in Burma. In a country where the right of assembly or association is prohibited, where radio stations and newspapers are not satirical taste of power, the tea-houses can share around a milk tea (honestly not that great) that we did last all day. It is in these places that our trishaw us the most spoken in English, his voice often barely audible, after ensuring that we would not listen. 
At 51, he was 3 years old at the time of the coup in 1962. The junta has been expropriated in the early 1980s, following the riots of 1988, the printing press in which he worked closed (they were printing underground newspapers ...). After several odd jobs, he is now trishaw, a situation more precarious. A few months' stay at the monastery allowed him to learn English. With him, we talked about the difficulty of movement in his own country and unable to escape, espionage and censorship, the tragedy of Cyclone Nargis, the takeover Chinese in local economy, government corruption and all of the few public services, the muzzling of the opposition propaganda, the opium trade organized by the military ... We also talked about the upcoming elections which he expects no change. He guided us during these three days telling us, often with great humor, the different aspects of everyday life in Burma. Conversely we have asked about life in France. At 51, he knows he will never leave his country but his dream would be able to use the Internet (although most sites are censored). The last evening over a beer (brewery government of course), he openly laughed when we drank together at the elections and the "new government". More than any newspaper article, it was he who gave us the finger appalling reality of his country. 
At Mandalay again, we witnessed the spectacle of the "Moustache Brothers". This time, we must name them and show them international publicity is their only chance to continue to exist. This family for three generations of comedians openly denounced the junta for 30 years in a traditional dance show mixing satirical and critical. That earned them each in prison several times and many years of hard labor breaking rocks. Now their show is tolerated only English in the ground floor of their cramped home, where the walls are covered with pictures of Aung San Suu Kyi (which formally banned in the country, as well as simply pronounce his name). 
It Mandalay finally we best perceive the importance of the monks for civil society. In Theravada Buddhism every family must send his son to study religion in a monastery a few months to several years. The monks take vows of poverty, not having much more than their clothes and bowl offerings, and offerings of the living population. The offerings are vital to the monks but are also regarded as an honor for the people, this action to acquire merit. Some monasteries include more than one thousand monks, often quite young, far from being out of touch and even closely related to the population. Contrary to what we saw in the rest of Southeast Asia is here, the monks voluntarily approach us to discuss. And even if since the bloody events of 2007 the monks were dispersed out of the cities and placed under close surveillance, it's hard to imagine that nothing happens in monasteries ...
The plain of Bagan, which we crossed by bike is really impressive. The site has some 4,000 contemporary temples of Angkor. The view on all these brick buildings scattered among the fields is particularly spectacular summit temples. 
On several occasions, we are surprised to hear students recite the lesson at the weekend. It soon with a monthly salary of less than $ 50, a teacher can hardly make a decent living. Regular classes are neglected in favor of private classes and evening weekend ... for those who can pay.
That's how we meet that Yelena was our guide in Bagan. At age 11 she speaks very well English and sells postcards around the temples. Unlike her friends, she does not go to school the weekend ... 
The last leg of our journey was the Inle Lake located in the mountains of the Northeast. The lake elevation is the meeting point of many ethnic groups in the region who come by boat to sell their products in colorful markets. The specialty of the lake is amazing culture of tomato floating gardens built on bamboo.
But what gives flavor to the trip so special, they are also all small everyday things difficult to tell. In Burma, they are all little things that show that the population is cut off from the rest of the world. Here, for example, it is unthinkable to use his credit card.
The U.S. dollar (perfectly new condition please if it is not even worth a try) exchange in the streets against the local currency (usually notes torn and taped!) . For $ 1 you get a little less than 1,000 kyat, which is the largest Burmese tickets: we find ourselves quickly with suitcases of banknotes. It runs on roads scare. It must be said that everything is handmade ... thanks in part to forced labor. The stones are worn on men's backs, broken with a pick, shovel packed ... obviously it can not be nickel. The only road worthy of the name is one that leads to the capital. More than anywhere else on the road all sorts of gear from the recovery and the ingenuity of conductors: next to some very old buses Chinese or Japanese and many bullock carts, trucks found incredible homemade and very old pickup with a body that no longer holds through painting and where we piled onto the roof! Since few years, the Chinese import motorcycles, used new pretext for government licenses exorbitant.
In the night buses considered luxurious, air-conditioning set to maximum forces everyone to travel with his cap. It looks Burmese karaoke videos or films produced locally ... and descend the bus regularly in the middle of nowhere for identity checks. 
Even if our paths followed in Burma the route of the four great classics, we find easily completely off the beaten track and we meet only very few tourists: the end of the rainy season or before an election? In any case, people readily express their concern at the approach of elections. Back in our old democracy, we will follow the information with an ear ... 
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