Word: tourists
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Remittances from Egyptians working in the Persian Gulf declined by $300 million, to $3.5 billion, this year and are expected to continue falling as the major oil producers in the region cut back production. In addition, the country has suffered a 20% decline in its $1 billion-a-year tourist trade, principally because of American fear of terrorism...
...world, but it is also the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma: this is the "Burmese way to socialism." In order to work out such a complex destiny, its leaders basically closed the country from its independence after World War II until, in the seventies, a 24-hour tourist visa was instituted. Now tourists are allowed in for seven days--the longest, busiest week of your life...
...though about 70 percent of the Burmese economy is black-market and the government often appears hopelessly out of touch with society, people take it seriously. We went to the Rangoon train station to try to get a Burmese to buy us train tickets instead of doing it at Tourist Burma at the official rate. The same people who wanted to buy our dollars, Walkmen, cassettes, cosmetics, T-shirts and even underwear, wouldn't touch our money to break that rule. It's as though the government tacitly cedes certain areas to the black market, and the people steadfastly leave...
...night the boat stopped in Pakkoku. Tourist Burma had told us we had to sleep on board, but that turned out to be another official lie. We guessed that since Pakkoku wasn't on any of our maps, it must be a tiny village; it turned out to be a city of 200,000. We stayed at a family inn called the Myayatanar, where innkeeper Tint San spoke impeccable English and his son played "Ob-la-di, ob-la-da" on the guitar. They took us into town to the festival that was going on that night. We expected another...
...last sight I remember on leaving Burma is 2,000 dots on the landscape as the plane rose out of Pagan, good old Burma Air. I'd only changed $15 with Tourist Burma, but I had three bags of Burmese lacquerware and a full-size traditional puppet, and I don't know where I lost all my tapes and T-shirts. Must have been those crazy Burmese--an especially tricky people...