FROM LEFT: THANAKORN CHOMNAWANG; CHRISTOPHER KUCWAYeditor’s note (^) | OCTOBER 2017
coffee chains and inexplicable fashion trends greet us around every corner,
there’s always Burma. Shut-off, forbidden, mysterious Burma.
My first foray there was more than 20 years ago, during an age where all
Toyota models were white and every one could be operated with the same key,
which explained away the triple parking. Burma has changed a lot since then,
and little at all. This month, writer Ron Gluckman and photographer
Jonathan Pozniak venture to the far west of the country (“Secret Kingdom,”
page 66) to the largely forgotten outpost of Mrauk-U where pieces of the past
are strung together only with the imagination of any traveler who visits.
Diving into their latest journey reminds me of the Burma of two decades ago,
though the tone could be that of a journey from an even earlier era. “I am
looking for the people who have always been there,” wrote the intrepid
Norman Lewis in the 1950s, after his visit to this remote corner of the world,
“and belong to the places
they live. The others I do
not wish to see.”
Through the mist, amid
a jungle clearing, of his
trip Gluckman writes,
those “others” weren’t too
prominent: fewer than
5,000 foreigners set sight
on mysterious Mrauk-U
each year. For many of us
today, that is reason
enough to visit.
@ C K u c w a y
[email protected]
From My Travels
Checking in to the Hotel
Indigo Bali Seminyak,
there’s a buzz in the air—
something tells you that
you’re going to have fun
here. Maybe it’s the
vibrant colors or the
quirky design (accept the
offer from staff to show
you the way to breakfast
that first morning). The
resort relies on locally
sourced goods, including
Kintamani coffee beans
that it can roast on site.
Each of its 270 rooms has
a daybed, so finding a spot
to enjoy that java
overlooking the tiered pool
is not a problem.
16 OCTOBER 2017 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM
IN AN AGE WHERE TRAVEL
HAS SHRUNK OUR WORLD,
WHERE OVERLY FAMILIAR