In Easter 2008, I visited Burma (Myanmar) - home to a totalitarian military dictatorship.

As a tourist, I was careful to minimise any money going to the government infrastructure and was welcomed by the Burmese people throughout the country. There are no right or wrong answers in response to whether or not foreigners should visit Burma - but all who choose to go should ensure they do extensive reading before and during their travels. See: http://www.freeburma.org/ and http://www.freeburmacoalition.org/

Journal extract (more on my website - link at the bottom)
"The activist comedy troupe The Moustache Brothers were one of the big reasons I wanted to come to Myanmar they claim they 'are alive because of tourists', and have been covered numerous times by the BBC and international press. To me, they are heroes - their live performance combined screwball comedy, classic Burmese dance, and satirical criticism of the totalitarian regime. This has, of course, led repeatedly to their arrest Par Par Lay was recently released from prison after doing 7 years hard labour (breaking up rocks with iron bars across their legs). They were banned from performing in Burmese in public, but today they perform to tourists from their front room. Apparently, when they first started doing this, the Myanmar secret police (or the 'KGB' as the comedy trio call them) watched and filmed their show. Since then, and perhaps due to the support of tourists, Amnesty International, the world's media and comedians in the UK and US, they've continued. With tourism at an all time low, and a Manchester United game on in the bar next door, I sat down to the show with just two other people the first Brits I'd met in the country.

The humour was very traditional, far from scathing and the show consisted mainly of Chaplin-esque buffoonery and their wives performing traditional dancing. The satire made up just a small part of the show and it was very mild I wondered if it'd been deliberately watered down. Sometimes it was difficult to follow as Par Par Lay spoke very fast in a thick accent littered with old English idioms and sayings. One second he'd be comparing his wife's and Jennifer Lopez's respective 'booties', and the next he'd be joking about traffic police taking bribes. They're all very brave and defiant guys and it was a truly unique experience - I was lucky to be able to speak to them all personally and interview them on camera afterwards. Since they'd met and performed for Suu Kyi, I asked whether they agreed with her call for a tourism boycott they said the boycott was a direct response to 1996's 'Visit Myanmar Year' and less relevant now. I noticed their collection of newspaper cuttings was missing a few recent BBC stories I'd read online. Using a proxy to bypass the internet filter, I printed them off the next day for them. Though I made a generous donation, I later questioned where this, and the US$8 they charge audience members, goes as surely they have to pay off some of the local authorities? But then, every penny you spend in Myanmar is questionable."

My own Burma page: http://www.globalcitizen.co.uk/travels/myanmar/index.html for photos, journals and more videos. (less info)