Blog
De corona pandemie valt ons allemaal zwaar, en zeker op onze reisbestemmingen zijn de gevolgen van het wegblijven van toeristen pijnlijk merkbaar voor iedereen die afhankelijk is van toerisme. Vandaag vragen we aan onze innemende gids Zayar hoe de stemming nu is in Myanmar, hoe hij de pandemie ervaart en hoe hij zijn tijd nu invult. Maar eerst maken we kennis met deze enthousiasteling.
When and why did you become a guide?
My career in tourism started in 2011 as a tour operation staff at a small local travel agent. 2011 was a peak tourism year, as the government transferred from military government to civilian government. There was a big increase of tourists. It was quite difficult for tour operators to find a tour guide so I tried it and I found my passion there! At that time I didn't have an official Tour Guide license. As soon as the government started organizing a tour guide training course in 2013 I joined the official training and became a licensed tour guide.
What do you love most about Myanmar?
I surely love everything of my country, the beauty, the colorful ethnics and their culture, and so on. But if I have to say the most, it is just the word, Mingalarbar! That is typical greeting here, meaning "be auspicious" or "may this day be filled with blessing." It is just a word, but it shows the kindness, hospitality and lovely culture of warm hearted Myanmar.
Why should people visit Myanmar?
The scenery is quite similar to other South East Asian counties. However, in Myanmar tourism is still developing. That's why, places to visit are not very crowded with tourists and there are still many places to visit that are undeveloped! Surely, when visiting Myanmar you won’t see a lot of other tourists. Another reasons to visit is that Myanmar has 135 ethnic groups and every group has their own culture, often still according to their ancestors traditions. That’s surely different from other Southeast Asia countries!
What do you like most about guiding?
Definitely showing my clients the local way of life, the believes and custom of the people. Myanmar has a lot of different cultures and also a lot of beliefs: not only Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, but also a lot of spiritual, supernatural beings like the nat (domestic Spirit/God), which we can see during every visit of the pagodas in Myanmar!
What has guiding taught you about your country and about your culture?
There’s really a lot that guiding has taught me about my country and our culture, which I could not have studied from a book, especially about food tradition and recipes of different tribes in the country.
How is the situation now in Myanmar (with severe restrictions and without tourists)?
It is still a very difficult time for the people in tourism, as a lot of people lost their jobs, many travel companies were shut down! Most of these people are trying to change their careers. But we are still in very difficult times, since since problems are not only in tourism, but also in other businesses.
What have you been doing since the pandemic started and tourism came to a halt?
Up till March 15, 2020, before the government shut the airport down, I was still guiding. On 29 March, my wife delivered our baby, so since then my wife and I are busy with the new born baby. Initially we decided to simply wait for tourism to pick up again. However, after 6 months of waiting we decided it’s better to start doing something else and we started an online shop with baby products. I am doing the deliveries around town! Besides that, since a few weeks we have some local tourists visiting some places near Yangon and I enjoy discovering some new places with them.
What are your expectations and wishes for the future?
I do hope that we soon get back again to a normal situation and wish the pandemic to be over so I can go back to my passion of showing Myanmar to my overseas clients. 
