One of the most startling travel epiphanies I've had in recent years came on a trip to Burma, when I was counting out small change so I could buy a packet of toilet tissues. The Burmese kyat had recently suffered a jag of devaluation, and when I'd tallied up my toilet-tissue money, I noticed that...

Photo Credit: tarotastic A couple of years ago, while riding my bicycle down Burma's Irrawaddy valley, I somehow managed to destroy my khaki trousers. These were the only pair of pants I had with me at the time, so I stopped off in a town called Pakkoku and -- faced with no other realistic clothing...

Moral dilemma: there's a country with wonderful sites you'd love to see, but your tourist dollars might end up in the pockets of a military regime. Should you still go? That's the central theme in this New York Times article: Visiting Myanmar: It's Complicated . Since the nation has made small steps toward political reform,...