#  >  > Travellers Tales in Thailand and Asia >  >  > Vietnam, Nepal and Burma  Travel Forum >  >  Burmese Videos

## Joko

Yannow, the term "Burmese" used to the refer to the county and people of Myanmar is kinda offensive to the 40% of the population who live here who are not of the dominant "Bamar" ethnic group. 

Calling Myanmar "Burma" is like calling Siam "Thailand"...

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## Joko

From today...

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## BaitongBoy

Enjoyed that, Joko...The mellow music, especially...Who's singin'?...

And where is it?...

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## Nicethaiza

Nice vid^^I enjoy the vid...do you live and work in myanmar?

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## Phuketrichard

> Yannow, the term "Burmese" used to the refer to the county and people of Myanmar is kinda offensive to the 40% of the population who live here who are not of the dominant "Bamar" ethnic group. 
> 
> Calling Myanmar "Burma" is like calling Siam "Thailand"...



BUll;
even Aung San Suu Kyi says its ok to call it Burma :Smile:

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## chassamui

> offensive to the 40%


Mustn't offend minorities eh?
Is it too soon for the infestation of political correctness in this magnificent country?

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## Joko

Thanks for the appreciation. 

Music: Taj Mahal

Location: Yangon

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## Nicethaiza

I just wonder..If thailand treat them like shit...why they still work here... why do not back to find good job in their country?

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## BaitongBoy

^ Err...For money, I'll bet...

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## katie23

@joko - thanks for the vid! 

@bb - well of course it's for the money!  :Wink:  just like the way "flippers" go abroad - as maids, nannies, construction workers, even nurses, teachers, engineers & doctors! Like you've said in another thread - you've met flippers everywhere (I assume in Canada or the US?)

@za - have you travelled outside of Th? If not, then I suggest that you do so. Improve your English, save up money, then travel to neighboring countries. You can do it by bus or bt train, and you can do it on a budget. Be a backpacker. Travel w/ friends, or travel alone. I've done it, and so have other SEAsian young ppl, who are usually on a budget too. Travelling outside your country will give you a better world view & understanding of issues. Just my 2 peso cents.  :Smile: 

Sorry for typos, am on fone

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## aging one

> @za - have you travelled outside of Th? If not, then I suggest that you do so. Improve your English, save up money, then travel to neighboring countries. You can do it by bus or bt train, and you can do it on a budget. Be a backpacker. Travel w/ friends, or travel alone. I've done it, and so have other SEAsian young ppl, who are usually on a budget too. Travelling outside your country will give you a better world view & understanding of issues. Just my 2 peso cents.


Damn good advice.

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## Nicethaiza

Sorry just back home..outside all day today for my free day
...Thanks *Katie* for your nice advice..I wait someone to support me hehe ...kidding
would be nice if I have to do that but I am scared to go outside Thailand...and I dont like to travel alone...and all my friends already marry so I have not much friends to travel together..so we can only travel in thailand and when we have long free time...we all have to back to visit family when we have long day off..same new year or song kran day here... 
For today we have to travel to some place nearly my room at BKK ..I have to show some pic but sorry cant show my sexy face so I have to put some sticker eiei...scared some people on here will cant sleep..eiei

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## katie23

@za - You live in Bkk. It would be easy to take the night train to Vientiane or the casino.bus (bus 99) to Aranyaprathet to cross to Cambodia. Then you could go to Battambang, Siem Reap or Phnom Penh by bus. Vientiane is safe for a female traveller -I've been there, and to Phnom Penh too. You just have to read up, read blogs, be safe & sensible, if/when you're travelling alone.  

Early this year I met a Thai lady, also a traveller. She works as a translator in Bkk and she spoke English well. We were roommates at a hostel in Kuala Lumpur. So there are Thsi ladies who travel too.  The world is a big & beautiful place - so many places to explore! 

Thanks for the pics - very nice. But I would advise you not to dress like that if/when you travel alone. You'd be a magnet for harassment. 

Anyway, up to you, so they say.  :Smile:  Good luck in all your endeavors. PM me if you do decide to travel - I could give you the names of the places I stayed in - they're not very pricey. 

P.S. In one of my travels, I met a fellow flipper solo traveller. We met at the Poi pet border + hr was going to Siem Reap, I was on my way to Battambang. We chatted a bit & took a selfie together.  :Smile:  He only had a few days off, as did I.  Was nice to see a fellow pinoy backpacker in that bus station, amidst the farang backpackers. There was also a backpacker couple from SG, if I recall. 

Sorry frm typos, on fone

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## Nicethaiza

Thank you* Katie*...will let you know if I can find some friend to make a trip with..as I told you I dont like to travel alone..

P.s. about my dress I think I can wear only in BKK or somewhere in Thailand
even my hometown at KK I cant wear this cuz my mum dont like it...we fight about my dress many time 555+  :Smile:

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## can123

... and today's word is 

nincompoops

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## wasabi

I've met Flippers where I live, male and female nurses, and sailors on the ship that brings Scandinavian timber on board over here for the building industry.

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## BaitongBoy

Flippers are everywhere!...It's a wonderful thing...Even under the water we need flippers while diving...

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## Nicethaiza

> ... and today's word is
> 
>  nincompoops


I think my word is

You just stay home and drink hot milk then go to bed  

(offline computer )...the best thing I would say

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## BaitongBoy

Maybe he will have sweet dreams and visions of sugarplums?...

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## BaitongBoy

Who is the pig in the pic, up there?...Heh...

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## can123

> Maybe he will have sweet dreams and visions of sugarplums?...



There are some seriously sick people about. My vision is of a couple of fairies.

One sends "reds" - nincompoop !

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## BaitongBoy

> My vision is of a couple of fairies.


Is it a good dream, can?...

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## Nicethaiza

He cant have a good dream ...maybe he will dream about me 555+

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## can123

> Originally Posted by can123
> 
> My vision is of a couple of fairies.
> 
> 
> Is it a good dream, can?...


No, it's really disconcerting. I have recurring nightmares of Les Dawson/ Roy Barraclough.

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## fishlocker

All I can say is wow. 

I applaud your inhibition in that you, bld and Nicethaiza are the only ones on the forum bold enough to use your actual pictures as your avitar.

How long had you been there before you would not get Delhi belly and or what would you say to someone who has never traveled Burma to keep from getting it?

I'm also curious as to what you do there and why. I have met a few  Burmese people and I have never found one that wanted to go back. These were people that work at the local Asian food market and a few others that worked in thrift stores.

I ask them if after they save for retirement would they like to return and still none would say yes or even maybe. I know of may Laotians that have built homes back in Laos with plans of returning as the cost of living is much lower.
Any insight as to why. I can only imagine it's not a good place for the average person or the political climate is distasteful ect.

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## Nicethaiza



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## fishlocker

> Who is the pig in the pic, up there?...Heh...


Hungry for a taste of pork are we?

Be careful Thaiza.

It translates to him you see. 

You have read the story of the three little pigs, no?

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## CaptainNemo

> Yannow, the term "Burmese" used to the refer to the county and people of Myanmar is kinda offensive to the 40% of the population who live here who are not of the dominant "Bamar" ethnic group. 
> 
> Calling Myanmar "Burma" is like calling Siam "Thailand"...


No it isn't.

"Myanma" is a bad transliteration of the literary form of the name of the country "Mra-ma" or "Mya-ma", and is interchangable with "Bama". You are just quoting rubbish from a SLORC-friendly source. Are we going to start calling China "Zhongguo" now, just to be authentic?! "Nippon"? "Hankuk"? "Pilipinas"?! it's silly, and it's not offensive at all - the junta tried to spread that message and have it taught in educational instutions. 
They know that Burma is the name in English of the country used by those who reject their reign of terror; so it's only "offensive" to murderous gangster dictators. Bama is the largest ethnic group as English is in the UK, so calling it Burma is analogous with calling the UK, "England", which septics often do. 
The name Burmese is the English name, just as names like Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, and Peking, Dublin, Copenhagen, Saigon, Rome, Moscow, are, and it is offensive for foreign states to try to tell us what the words are for places in our own language. The Burmans are the largest ethnic group of Burma.

Siam hasn't existed for about 80-90 years, so it's not clear how that is an analogy. Siam was a different state that incorporated surrounding territories in Laos and Shan state and Malaya, I believe.

You'll know that in parts of the country the names written "My-" are pronounced "B-", so Myeik for instance is pronounced "Bake" (well, that's how the Prof of Burmese at SOAS said it to me last time).
As I mentioned earlier, it isn't pronounced "My an mar" either - it's "Myaa maa", with a nasal bit between the two syllables; the sounds Mya and Ba are often interchangable in Burmese.... and that's another point... you can't call the national language "Myanmar" either, because it's "bama zaga" - Burmese... not Mon, not Karen, not Shan, not Chin, Arakanese or anything else. It's part of the Burmish sub-group of languages: http://www.ethnologue.com/17/subgroups/burmish/; trying to shoe-horn the made-up world "Myanmar" everywhere doesn't work.

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## fishlocker

Hey captain in the teaching in Thailand subforum they are looking for a substitute teacher to fill in for a few months while the current gal goes out on maternity leave. 

They also are looking for a history teacher whose native language is English to teach middle schoolers full time! You sound like a shoo-in for the job.

Thanks for the geography /English / Burmese/ phonics lesson. I didn't get all that by watching The King and I.

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## SKkin

^^ I got that same lecture from Joko back on Ajarn forum. 

Is saying Rangoon offensive too...hasn't that been changed to Yangon or sumpn?

jus askin like...

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## katie23

@fishlocker - I spent 4 days in Myanmar during my last trip and didn't get delhi belly. I didn't eat street food at all, and only ate in restos - the ones where you'll order & they'll cook it up for you. There are stalls which sell noodles as street food, but I didn't buy from them since I saw that they handled the noodles with their bare hands. Also, a colleague visited Myanmar last year, and one of her friends got tummy trouble, so I got dome tips ftom her prior to my trip. 

Re: pronunciation, the driver of the shared taxi that I rode pronounced Myanmar as Myanmaa, just like captain nemo said. He also pronounced Mawlamyine as Maw lam yan. The kyat (their currency) is pronounced as cha or chat, depends on the person.

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## chassamui

> No it isn't.
> 
> "Myanma" is a bad transliteration of the literary form of the name of the country "Mra-ma" or "Mya-ma", and is interchangable with "Bama". You are just quoting rubbish from a SLORC-friendly source. Are we going to start calling China "Zhongguo" now, just to be authentic?! "Nippon"? "Hankuk"? "Pilipinas"?! it's silly, and it's not offensive at all - the junta tried to spread that message and have it taught in educational instutions. 
> They know that Burma is the name in English of the country used by those who reject their reign of terror; so it's only "offensive" to murderous gangster dictators. Bama is the largest ethnic group as English is in the UK, so calling it Burma is analogous with calling the UK, "England", which septics often do. 
> The name Burmese is the English name, just as names like Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, and Peking, Dublin, Copenhagen, Saigon, Rome, Moscow, are, and it is offensive for foreign states to try to tell us what the words are for places in our own language. The Burmans are the largest ethnic group of Burma.
> 
> Siam hasn't existed for about 80-90 years, so it's not clear how that is an analogy. Siam was a different state that incorporated surrounding territories in Laos and Shan state and Malaya, I believe.
> 
> You'll know that in parts of the country the names written "My-" are pronounced "B-", so Myeik for instance is pronounced "Bake" (well, that's how the Prof of Burmese at SOAS said it to me last time).
> As I mentioned earlier, it isn't pronounced "My an mar" either - it's "Myaa maa", with a nasal bit between the two syllables; the sounds Mya and Ba are often interchangable in Burmese.... and that's another point... you can't call the national language "Myanmar" either, because it's "bama zaga" - Burmese... not Mon, not Karen, not Shan, not Chin, Arakanese or anything else. It's part of the Burmish sub-group of languages: http://www.ethnologue.com/17/subgroups/burmish/; trying to shoe-horn the made-up world "Myanmar" everywhere doesn't work.


A top quality and highly informative post. Thanks for sharing.

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## katie23

@wasabi - yes, there are a lot of flippers in the healthcare industry, be it UK, US, middle east or Aus. In the US, there are also doctors & physical therapists. 

There are a lot of flippers too in the maritime industry.  Many men opt for the sea, as it pays good money. The downside is, they're far from their families. As I've said before, there are a lot of flipper workers all over the world. They have 2 or 3 lanes reserved for them at immigration in the airport. 

Re: Myanmar, there are also a lot of men opting to be mariners. I saw that in Yangon airport, there was a lane reserved for seamen. In my travels, I met 2 seamen from Myanmar. One was a youngun, met him at the bus stn in Yangon. He was going home to his family for Thingyan/Songkran. He was quite goodlooking too. Lol. 

Another was a retired seaman. He said he had many pinoy colleagues & friends from his time in the sea. I met him when I needed to exchange money. He owned a convenience store & pharmacy near the Sule pagoda. I asked him.if he could change my usd to kyat, since all banks & money changers were closed. After I hsd changed money, we chatted a bit. He has done well for himself. He owns several businesses, taxis & apartments. I said that it was good that he invested his earnings from the sea wisely, and has now retired ftpm the sea to manage his businesses. Good on him! 

Sorry for typos, frm fone

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## Phuketrichard

> ^^ I got that same lecture from Joko back on Ajarn forum. 
> 
> Is saying Rangoon offensive too...hasn't that been changed to Yangon or sumpn?
> 
> jus askin like...


Major newspaper in BURMA call Yangon , Rangoon




> By Tin Htet Paing 18 October 2016                                            
> *RANGOON*  Police have brought criminal charges  against the helmsman of an overcrowded ferry that capsized on the  Chindwin River in Sagaing Division over the weekend.


Arrest Warrant Issued for Helmsman of Capsized Chindwin Ferry

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