Filled with wonderful people, historic sites, rural intrigues and modern markets, Myanmar, also known as Burma, has only recently become a tourist destination.Myanmar is pronounced mee-an-mar, not my-an-mar. The name means “quick strong.” Roughly 90% of the population are Buddhist. In Myanmar, both the men and the women wear longyi (pronounced lon-gee), Men and women wear the garment different, with men tied in the front and women on the side. It’s a thong / sandal kind of country. You’d be hard pressed to find someone walking down the street wearing sneakers. In a move to distance themselves from their former colonizers, they drive on the right side of the road. The Yangon International Airport code is RGN, and that is because they are reclaiming old names of cities (Yangon used to be called Rangoon). Locals will never reach to touch anyone with their left hand, because it is a sign of disrespect, (it’s also their toilet use hand). Locals get restaurant attention/service by making kissing sounds. It is popular for men and women to chew paan. Calcium hydroxide is spread on a betel leaf, then topped with cut up betel nut (from the areca palm) and usually tobacco.

Nine tips you need to know about Myanmar