Rangoon, Burma

Only after much deliberation and research did we purchase a visa for Burma. Neither Russia nor China raised a thought for 'travel ethics', but we now confronted our own backpacker impact. Burma's regime is particularly odious. We made a plan: to go, to see for ourselves and to try to support the people, not the junta. In the process we found a new heroine: Aung San Suu Kyi.

Passports stamped, a flight from Bangkok and we were in Rangoon with its golden national icon of the Shwedagon Pagoda.