Word: rangoons
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...over in a matter of minutes, but the significance of the occasion vastly exceeded its brevity. On Aug. 28, 20 protesters gathered at a market in Burma's commercial capital, Rangoon, to demonstrate against the ruling junta's decision to raise prices of essential goods--in some cases 500%. Led by labor activist Su Su Nway, the group had just begun to chant slogans when thugs employed by the military regime swooped in and started dragging the demonstrators into waiting vehicles. The frail Su Su Nway, who emerged from prison only last year, after serving seven months for reporting cases...
...repetition of the 1988 uprising that came so close to overthrowing decades of army rule. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer once remarked sagely that progress in Burma is like glue flowing up a hill. Yet it's important to understand that beneath the long-running political stalemate in Rangoon, Burma is actually changing fast; not necessarily in the right direction, but changing all the same. The problem is not that the situation will stand still: the problem is that things might get worse - much worse...
...CURIOUS CAPITAL In 2005, in a bizarre and abrupt shift, Burma's military leadership moved the capital from its longtime home in coastal Rangoon to a far-flung jungle outpost called Naypyidaw. On March 27, in celebration of Armed Forces Day, junta head General Than Shwe unveiled the city to foreign reporters, surveying his new digs via the open sun roof of his Mercedes limo. Pastel buildings? Check. Eight-lane highway? Check. Vibrant new city for a nation of 47 million? Not yet. Those in Rangoon who still have a choice haven't budged...
...among the offerings. Alternatively, while the other guests are on excursions, you can simply sit on a deck chair, cocktail in hand, and take in the stunning riverscape. The four-night cruise to Mandalay and Bagan costs about $2,100; an 11-night cruise, including Bhamo, Bagan, Katha, Rangoon and Mandalay, is far better value at about $2,400. Even the most jaded travelers among you should prepare to be charmed. As Kipling said, Burma "will be unlike any other land you know about." See www.orient-express.com...
...sense of pride or self-direction. The British stripped the land of its ruling class when they attacked King Thibaw in 1885 and packed him off to an Indian exile, and then the Indians who came in took over many of the country's middle-class positions. Nowadays, Rangoon is full of Chinese mobsters and Russian prostitutes, while the foreign media traffics in exotic tales about 12-year-old twins running an eccentric force known as God's Army and Wa former headhunters now thriving as heroin warlords...