In the 1960's, the hippies' insatiable search for something other than the suburban status quo brought them to the far reaches of the globe. Their goal was to travel as cheaply as possible - overland - to countries that offered a glimpse of enlightenment. "Finding yourself," "finding God," or simply...

"Now everything so strange," the monk said as I followed him through the crowd of money changers, book sellers and food stalls. "Now in Yangon nothing is easy."

I had met D. two years earlier at the Sule Paya and had told him by email I was to return to Burma. Ten minutes earlier, he met me with...

Yangon has to be one of the world's noisiest cities.

Correction: Myanmar has to be one of their world's noisiest countries.

You'd think that given the relative isolation of Myanmar, there would be an equally relative degree of silence, calm and peace and quiet. Not so. This current trip is really...