Regardless of the name you choose to call the country, Myanmar is truly a place of majesty and wonder. I was fortunate to visit soon after the turn of the past century and I was not surprised to see that the situation in the country was as bad as I had heard and in some cases worse than what I could have ever imagined.

Almost from the time I stepped from the plane onto the tarmac in Yangon International Airport, I began to sense a profound sadness all around me. As I swiveled my head back and forth on the ride to my relatives house in a suburb of Yangon this feeling never left me.

At the time of independence in 1948, Burma as it was then known, was among the best well off-of the former British colonies and stood poised to develop rapidly in the period following World War II. The country is geographically blessed with nearly every type of topography and contains an abundance of resources. With mountains as high as 20,000 feet in the far north of the country and Indian Ocean beaches that rival the best beaches of any other place in the world, Myanmar has much to offer for any tourist looking for adventure. The health care system, educational system and transportation system was among the best in Asia and provided much promise for future development in the country. But despite the obvious advantages, Myanmar quickly fell into a series of conflicts that threatened to tear the country apart. The wars against multiple insurgent ethnic groups and the BCP (Burmese Communist Party) left the country debilitated and weak by the early 1960's which prompted a bloodless coup in 1962 installing General Ne Win as the paramount socialist leader of the broken nation.

Myanmar today is a shadow of her former self. At the time of independence, Thai representatives asked the Burmese government to donate some rice so that the people of Thailand could have enough to eat. Today Thailand is one of the largest exporters of rice products in the world and many poor Burmese flee the cruel government in Myanmar to Thailand where they work illegally so that they might make some money to send home to support their family.

The best education in South-East Asia was only obtainable in the halls of Rangoon University at the time of independence and the regions best and brightest were sent to Burma to study. I walked past the abandoned buildings of Rangoon University while I stayed in Myanmar. Not realizing exactly what the buildings were, I asked my friend about

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