The Monk's Route

We were hoping to travel the road into Burma, and then down to Yangon, as was possible a couple of years ago. However, the Burmese have closed the border to visitors from third countries, and it was closed even more firmly given the imminence of 9-9-99, which the authorities were getting tense about, fearing attempts to commemorate 8-8-88 (the day the democracy movement burst out). So we spent 10 days in Yunnan instead, probably China's most varied province, scenically and culturally. It is making a big push to attract tourists (of which it already gets three-quarters of a million) and getting a visa from the Chinese embassy in Delhi is quick and simple.