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Home » Trip Reports » Another Coup In Rangoon, Burma (Vintage Trip Report)
MyanmarTrip Reports

Another Coup In Rangoon, Burma (Vintage Trip Report)

Matthew Klint Posted onFebruary 5, 2021November 14, 2023 25 Comments

I was saddened this week by news that Burma, also known as Myanmar, had suffered another military coup. It brought back memories of my first trip there in March 2013 shortly after it had re-opened to international travelers.

My 2013 Trip To Rangoon

I flew to Rangoon in Singapore Airlines business class, a regional 777-200 with old-school recliner seats and a projector screen.

a seat on an airplane with a television

a plate of food on a tray

a group of vehicles parked outside a building

an airplane on the runway

Burma had just begun issuing visas to foreign visitors and I had arranged a visa on arrival.

Upon landing, I proceeded through a beautifully remodeled airport to a lengthy queue for passport control. Once I reached the front, I presented my e-visa confirmation and was soon stamped in.

a group of people standing in a line

I recall that foreign currency exchange was an issue and several of my U.S. bills were not accepted because they were creased or crumpled.

Sadly, I have lost the pictures from my journey through Rangoon…Maybe they will turn up one day, but at present I cannot find them. The ones in this report are from my iPhone, but I had my SLR camera along as well. But what I do recall was a bustling city filled with commerce and immense amounts of new construction.

I bet the city has greatly transformed over the last eight years.

a road with cars and trees

a luggage tag on a luggage handle

While my pictures are lost, these videos of my drive back to the airport are not:

I flew back on Thai Airways and spent some time in the Royal Jade Lounge prior to departure.

people in a large building

a large mural on a wall

a group of people standing in a line

a entrance to a building

a group of people sitting in a lobby

CONCLUSION

The persecution of the Rohingya cried out for justice, but a coup d’etat seems to set Burma back even further. Statecraft can be a dangerous chess game, but let us hope for the sake of the people of Burma that peace and democracy will one day flow freely.

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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25 Comments

  1. Gene Reply
    February 5, 2021 at 3:49 pm

    @Matthew — I remember a city that was a dump, filled with filth and poverty.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      February 5, 2021 at 3:58 pm

      Yes, I saw that too. But such potential!

    • KyawZin Win Reply
      February 6, 2021 at 5:06 am

      Yes because city municipal didn’t have budget to hire ppl, most ppl that already in government are corrupted. It has started changing and more tighten the corruption after NLD won majority of the seats in 2015. From 2010 to 2015 was still former Burmese military government just with civilian clothes. Please do me a favor, when someone call as Burma. Do not try to tell them to call as Myanmar. We didn’t vote for our country mane to be change it. That was military regime decided to do that with their ritual so they can be in power.
      This coup been planning for a while. I am very sad that all my friends and family members still have to suffer. 2 big countries like China and Russia always back Burmese military. This military announced as 1 year period more likely to be longer. Sections against government will not work because of that 2 countries and some ASEAN members.

  2. Paul Reply
    February 5, 2021 at 4:54 pm

    I really enjoyed my trip around Myanmar with some of the friendliest people, none of the hassle or trying to rip tourists off like in most countries.

    The Hilton Ngapali also really takes care of diamond members!

    • Argus Tuft Reply
      February 5, 2021 at 8:41 pm

      You sound somewhat confused, saying that in 2013 Myanmar had “‘re-opened to international travellers” and “just begun issuing visas to foreign visitors”.

      I can assure you that Burma has been issuing visas to foreigners, and been open to foreign visitors, for many many years prior to 2013

      Please correct your article.

      • Matthew Klint Reply
        February 6, 2021 at 3:01 am

        I’m talking about its broad change in policy in the time period:

        https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/8/130817-myanmar-burma-tourism-democracy-culture/

        • Sco Reply
          February 6, 2021 at 6:48 pm

          But it is just factually incorrect to say that they had “just begun issuing visas to foreign visitors”. I spent a month in Burma on a tourist visa as a US citizen in 2011 and know others who visited years before I did. I’m actually not sure that the government ever stopped issuing visas to foreigners. In fact, the government was always trying to lure tourists (famously using slave labor in the mid-90s to rebuild Mandalay Palace as a part of a campaign to increase tourism) and it was Aung San Suu Kyi who, while under house arrest, called for a travel boycott of the country.

          I will say that even though I have now been to 102 countries, that trip to Burma is still my favorite trip I have ever taken. I had plans to return in 2012, but unfortunately my life circumstances changed and I wasn’t able. Talking to people that visited in 2014 it seems like it was already a totally different place than what I had seen just three years earlier.

  3. Debit Reply
    February 5, 2021 at 5:08 pm

    Myanmar generals used stolen election as the excuse for the coup just like the white Republican male terrorists in our own country. These terrorists have become an international network providing moral and sometimes logistical support to each other.

    The US government needs to investigate all white Republican males for terrorism and at the very least get a sworn written oath under penalty of perjury from each that they do not intend to be a terrorist. Tomorrow is the one month anniversary of this attack and i will ask all your readers to keep a close eye om all the white Republican males they know. They might be terrorist sleeper cells.

    We are still in immense danger until their leader, code name orangutan, is apprehended and put in prison for life. Last i heard he fled and is hiding in the jungles of the south eastern coast.

    • Derek Reply
      February 6, 2021 at 7:00 am

      This is the BS that causes the country to be divided. Hint, it’s not the Republicans. It’s people like you, Debit

  4. Paolo Reply
    February 5, 2021 at 5:16 pm

    The persecution of Rohingya and other vulnerable groups is not going to lessen as a result of the coup, but rather likely intensify. Aung San Suu Kyi has been hugely disappointing, but even she is better than the vicious thugs in the military.
    The generals take comfort from the fact that tourists continue to flock there ( mostly hipsters, trendies and faux- Buddhist types) now matter how egregious the human rights abuses). They’re likely quite pleased to use COVID as a cover for the coup, knowing that the tourists will return when the borders reopen.
    My first trip there was in the ‘70s, followed by 2 or 3 trips in the ‘80s , but not since 1990.

  5. Christian Reply
    February 5, 2021 at 10:48 pm

    Nice recollection. I can’t help but notice that you keep calling it Rangoon rather than Yangon and Burma as opposed to Myanmar. I don’t mind at all but is there any particular reason why?

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      February 6, 2021 at 3:04 am

      Yangon and Myanmar were terms chosen by the military junta. I prefer to use the other terms.

      • Aaron Reply
        February 6, 2021 at 10:51 am

        Thats a bit like saying you visited Constantinople and not Istanbul…

        • Matthew Klint Reply
          February 6, 2021 at 12:07 pm

          Perhaps, though that has been a longer-term change than in Myanmar.

          In calling the capital Rangoon or the nation Burma, I don’t mean to suggest support for colonialism.

          On that note, I wonder how long Park Hyatt will continue using “Saigon” instead of “Ho Chi Minh City” for its Vietnam property? The very premise of that property is to sell you on the charm of Viet Nam’s French colonial past.

          • Bob
            February 6, 2021 at 12:31 pm

            Interestingly, just last week, talking with my pharmacist, which is a 30 years old nice French lady, I mention something about Ho Chi Minh City…

            She told me immediately: “I do not like that guy, please call the city Saigon”.

            I guess she is from vietnam roots and altough she probably been born in France, she knows well the history… and what probably has been horrible for the people living there during this period and maybe now.

        • Paolo Reply
          February 6, 2021 at 5:09 pm

          No one in Saigon ever called it HCMC, not even in the mad excesses of the new govt after 1975.

  6. derek Reply
    February 6, 2021 at 1:00 am

    America should try to work with the generals not slap sanctions. If they are really stubborn then sanctions are a possibility. Maybe pay them a billion dollars to release Aung San Suu Kyi and see if they accept the offer?

  7. derek Reply
    February 6, 2021 at 1:12 am

    Thanks for the photos and video!

    Myanmar drives right but I suspect most of the cars are used cars from Singapore and Japan, maybe a few from Thailand, all of which drive on the left. It’s dangerous to drive on the right with a right hand drive car.

    I see they use a lot of red and white paint to paint the curbs. Good idea. Make the curb easier to see. In the US, that is never done.

    • Debit Reply
      February 6, 2021 at 8:14 am

      Did you see/find anything? Do not trust any white Republican males. They are terrorists.

      • Debit Reply
        February 6, 2021 at 8:15 am

        For the other derek

  8. Jason Reply
    February 6, 2021 at 9:04 am

    I went in 2017. Rangoon was ok but not by any shot the main reason or place to visit. The best places in the country in my experience are the temples around Bagan and Inle Lake. Those were definitely the highlights of my trip. Stayed in fantastic hotels. Not points hotels but fabulous luxurious hotels. Highly recommend those places. I hope you didn’t just go to Rangoon as there’s so much more in the country. Glad I was able to visit when I did.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      February 6, 2021 at 10:34 am

      I really wanted to go to Bagan. Flights were sold out and time was limited, so I did indeed remain in Rangoon.

      • Paolo Reply
        February 8, 2021 at 8:18 am

        You would enjoy it very much; no doubt you’ll make it there in the future. Also Mandalay, although it’s no longer as charming as it once was.
        I took a train from Bagan back to Rangoon, which was pretty basic but very charming. Getting up there involved flying on rather ancient prop planes ( Hawker Siddley or Fokker, IIRC), but it was more than 40 years ago…

  9. Debit Reply
    February 6, 2021 at 11:49 pm

    https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/06/asia/myanmar-coup-what-led-to-it-intl-hnk/index.html

    There is a sobering parallel of how white Republican males and their leader orange orangutan used the playbook of dictators in other countries to steal the elections in the US and overthrow a legitimate govt. Stop treating these white Republican male terrorists with kid gloves. They are evil, they are stupid and they are dangerous.

    Also for all the liberal numbnuts, having guns in the hands of the population ensures the military can’t overthrow govts. Whenever it wishes. Myanmar’s military is pathetic. They only distinguish themselves from the rest of the population by having access to weapons making them more powerful.

    • cargocult Reply
      February 7, 2021 at 8:13 pm

      The Democrats would love to take away everyone’s guns.

      https://reason.com/2021/02/05/this-draconian-bill-would-turn-millions-of-peaceful-gun-owners-into-felons/

      Sheila Jackson Lee has a reputation for nastiness and Matthew has posted about her before. She is the sort of person who cries racism at the drop of a hat. She demands to be treated like a queen. What happened to “democracy?”

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