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periwinkle
Joined: 08 Feb 2003
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 Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 11:36 pm Post subject: New service to Myanmar on KAL |
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KAL just started doing flights a couple of times (3, actually) a week to Rangoon, Myanmar. In Nov., it will be 4 times/week. Anybody been there? I'd really like to go, and don't tell me it's sketchy unless you've actually been there, 'kay? I'd really like to hear some stories. Anybody know where the embassy is in Seoul? I know you need a visa.  |
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Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 12:04 am Post subject: |
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cool.. i'd love to go.
how much is airfare? |
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Yaya
Joined: 25 Feb 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 12:19 am Post subject: |
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The embassy is in Hannam-dong near Hangangjin subway station on the No. 6 line.
Phone number is 02-790-3814.
Koreans have to pay 25,000 won for a tourist visa. Americans have to pay $20 for a visa good for three months and must submit two application forms, three photos and an itinerary. |
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JLarter
Joined: 17 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 7:33 am Post subject: |
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| Why is it Myanmar to some, and Burma to others? I see both being used by everyone. |
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periwinkle
Joined: 08 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 4:04 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the visa info, Yaya. That's cheap! Some visas cost your left arm- my co-worker is going to Russia this week for business, and it cost a total of around 160,000 won!!! He's Australian, btw.
I'm not sure how much the airfare is. I was going to go there a few years ago, and it was around 800,000 or something. No direct flight, either. You could always check the KAL website.
Myanmar is the official name. It hasn't completely caught on yet, so some people still call it Burma (when I went to some travel agencies, they had no idea what I was talking about when I said I wanted to go to Rangoon, Myanmar. Once I said Burma, they got it, although I remember 1 agent didn't know where Burma was, either. I had to show her on the map. Maybe she didn't understand my accent, who knows). Anyway, the country wanted to get rid of Burma as its name, as that's the name they were given when they were colonized by the British. (...If my memory serves me correctly- I'll have to re-check my Lonely Planet book)
*Edit* I just asked my co-worker about his Russian visa again, and he said originally he was quoted 165,000. Then he went to the embassy, and they said 130,000, but in the end, he paid 115,000. Strange... |
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 4:38 pm Post subject: |
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I hear it's cheap to go there from nearby Thailand, so it may not be wise to take a direct flight.
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Myanmar, Jan 05, 2006
Two bomb blasts were reported in Myanmar on the eve of the country�s independence day celebrations on Wednesday (January 4). The blasts were reported within 90 minutes of each other late Tuesday (January 3) in Begu township, just northeast of the capital of Yangon. One of the blasts reportedly occurred near a high school, followed by another one which exploded near the town�s clock tower. Although both places are usually crowded at those times, there were no reports of injuries or deaths. The blasts occurred just before the Myanmar military junta marked the 58th anniversary of independence from Britain with a low-key ceremony |
I've heard a backpacker say Rangoon is "ruined" due to other tourists. Head out into the country, he says. Which seems obvious to me. |
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igotthisguitar
Joined: 08 Apr 2003
Location: South Korea (Permanent Vacation)
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| Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 1:45 am Post subject: |
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| Tiger Beer wrote: |
cool.. i'd love to go.
how much is airfare? |
Japan's Position on Myanmar Irks US
by P. Parameswaran
Sat Jun 3, 11:33 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States seems dismayed by key Asian ally Japan's decision to gang up with Russia and China in opposing UN Security Council action against military-ruled Myanmar.
Washington wants to introduce an unprecedented resolution at the council calling on Myanmar's generals to change their repressive policies, including pressuring them to free the country's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
To set the stage for such an action, the United States wanted the Myanmar issue to be formally discussed at the council for the first time.
While all the democratic nations in the 15-member council reportedly backed the US move, Russia, China and, particularly, Japan objected.
At a rare council briefing last week on Myanmar's political crisis, Japan said the situation in the Southeast Asian nation did not pose a threat to international peace and security, a key prerequiste for council action.
"Japan has made a big mistake," Michael Green, who until recently was US President George W. Bush's senior director for Asia policy, said, using unusually strong language.
"With this decision on Burma (Myanmar), Japan has lost the moral high ground," he said. "It is painful to see. On one side are China and Russia, which have increasingly repressed civil liberties and democracy over the past two years. On the other side stands every single democracy in the Security Council.
"One must wonder whether this error in judgment will have implications for Japans diplomatic standing in Washington and in Asia," Green said.
Unlike permanent veto-wielding members China and Russia, Japan is an elected council member without veto power. Yet, Tokyo's move is discomforting for Washington.
US diplomats have vowed to step up their campaign to press Japan and the others in the council to back Washington's resolution
"We believe the situation there warrants action by the Security Council, certainly an expression of concern and the desire to see the Burmese Government do the right thing, release political prisoners and move forward with a national reconciliation process and political process that would ultimately make a move towards democracy," said Tom Casey, a State Department spokesman.
"But we'll be discussing this with the Japanese, with other people as well. But again, we believe this is the right thing to do," he said.
Washington expects the resolution to "be introduced or at least circulated preliminarily sometime in the days ahead," Casey said.
Ibrahim Gambari, the UN secretary generals special envoy who visited Yangon recently, told members of the Security Council last week that Myanmar's junta had rejected his proposal to give economic aid in exchange for minimal steps toward a return to democracy, Green said.
Council members were also told details of the juntas alleged links with international drugs and human trafficking syndicates, forced dislocation of ethnic minorities, and destabilizing policies toward neighboring countries.
Yet, Japan's UN envoy Ambassador Kenzo Oshima sided with the Chinese and Russian delegations and argued that no further steps should be considered by the Security Council, Green said.
Japan's refusal to support putting Myanmar on the formal agenda of the Security Council also comes at a time when "even famously patient Beijing is getting annoyed with the hardheaded generals" in Yangon, said Dana Dillon, a senior policy analyst at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation.
Myanmar watchers in Thailand say that China was dismayed by the 2004 arrest and sacking of Myanmar's Prime Minister Khin Nyunt and is now looking for ways to restrain the junta's "worst excesses," Dillon said.
China, the junta's biggest patron, is affected by the flow of refugees, disease, and drugs from Myanmar, he said.
Furthermore, Myanmars uncontrolled logging is damaging Chinas reputation in the World Trade Organization, Dillon said.
Last month, China closed the China-Myanmar border to all timber trade. In response, members of Myanmar's army reportedly attacked Chinese migrant workers. |
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indytrucks
Joined: 09 Apr 2003
Location: The Shelf
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| Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 2:41 am Post subject: |
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| VanIslander wrote: |
I've heard a backpacker say Rangoon is "ruined" due to other tourists. |
And he was not one of the aforementioned tourists? |
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Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:51 am Post subject: |
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| indytrucks wrote: |
| VanIslander wrote: |
I've heard a backpacker say Rangoon is "ruined" due to other tourists. |
And he was not one of the aforementioned tourists? |
I was thinking of commenting on that as well.
Backpackers are an extremely lousy bunch of people to get any info from about anything. |
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igotthisguitar
Joined: 08 Apr 2003
Location: South Korea (Permanent Vacation)
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| Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 6:24 pm Post subject: |
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U.N. Human Rights Body Backs New Myanmar Probe
Fri Dec 14, 1:25 PM
By Laura MacInnis
GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N. Human Rights Council told Myanmar on Friday to prosecute those who committed abuses during a crackdown on peaceful monk-led protests and free Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners.
In a resolution adopted by consensus, the United Nations forum called on the ruling junta "to lift all restraints on the peaceful political activity of all persons" and "to release without delay those arrested and detained as a result of the repression of recent peaceful protests."
It also urged Myanmar "to ensure full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and to investigate and bring to justice perpetrators of human rights violations, including for the recent violations of the rights of peaceful protesters."
The 47-member-state Council said its special envoy for Myanmar, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, should revisit the country and report back in March on the fall-out from the September suppression that captured international attention.
Myanmar criticized the resolution, backed by 41 countries including Britain, Germany, Canada and Korea, as "politicized."
"This clearly shows that Myanmar has been put under pressure by influential and powerful countries who have their own political agenda," Wunna Maung Lwin, Myanmar's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, told the Friday session.
Human rights groups welcomed the censure by the Council.
"This is a very positive thing," Juliette de Rivero of Human Rights Watch told a news briefing in Geneva. She said it was important for Pinheiro to return to the country "to do a more in-depth investigation of violations he has already identified."
Amnesty International said a second and longer visit to Myanmar could help Pinheiro carry out a full investigation of the circumstances before and during the crackdown, as well as reported abuses against ethnic minorities there.
EXCESSIVE FORCE
cont'd ...
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/071214/world/international_myanmar_un_rights_dc |
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articulate_ink
Joined: 23 Mar 2004
Location: Left Korea in 2008. Hong Kong now.
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| Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 10:03 pm Post subject: |
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| periwinkle wrote: |
Thanks for the visa info, Yaya. That's cheap! Some visas cost your left arm- my co-worker is going to Russia this week for business, and it cost a total of around 160,000 won!!! He's Australian, btw.
I'm not sure how much the airfare is. I was going to go there a few years ago, and it was around 800,000 or something. No direct flight, either. You could always check the KAL website.
Myanmar is the official name. It hasn't completely caught on yet, so some people still call it Burma (when I went to some travel agencies, they had no idea what I was talking about when I said I wanted to go to Rangoon, Myanmar. Once I said Burma, they got it, although I remember 1 agent didn't know where Burma was, either. I had to show her on the map. Maybe she didn't understand my accent, who knows). Anyway, the country wanted to get rid of Burma as its name, as that's the name they were given when they were colonized by the British. (...If my memory serves me correctly- I'll have to re-check my Lonely Planet book)
*Edit* I just asked my co-worker about his Russian visa again, and he said originally he was quoted 165,000. Then he went to the embassy, and they said 130,000, but in the end, he paid 115,000. Strange... |
The military junta ruling the country renamed it Myanmar, and renamed the capital Yangon. Many people (including the BBC) still use Burma and Rangoon. My friend from there, who would have been murdered if his family had stayed in the country, prefers to call it Burma. Makes sense to me. That's what I use. |
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Drew345
Joined: 24 May 2005
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| Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2007 3:09 am Post subject: |
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A Myanmar friend in Seoul (met in Korean class) told me the new KAL flights would be primarily chartered for tour groups. Much the same as the current Orient Thai flights are from Seoul to Bangkok.
Bangkok to Rangoon is just about 20 or $30 on Air Aisa and I hear Air Bagan flies to Bangkok now really cheap too.
I lived in Rangoon for 2 years. I wont comment on the government as the above posts from UN says it all. As far as personal safety for tourists is concerned, I always felt safe backpacking solo throughout Myanmar. If you are concerned about personal safety for tourists then certainly get other reactions from people who have travelled there. I have been to 10 of the 14 states and divisions and never felt in any personal danger. Some people have said the border areas seemed sketchy and this is probably very true (for any country). |
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2007 10:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Drew345 wrote: |
Bangkok to Rangoon is just about 20 or $30 on Air Aisa and I hear Air Bagan flies to Bangkok now really cheap too.
I lived in Rangoon for 2 years. I wont comment on the government as the above posts from UN says it all. As far as personal safety for tourists is concerned, I always felt safe backpacking solo throughout Myanmar |
thanks for the information backpacker |
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