About Travel with us to Asia, tour operator for Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Bhutan, Thailand, China, North Korea, Taiwan

Dear Travellers!

I was born in Basel. Swiss Cheese...Swiss Chocolate...Swiss Miss, that's me.

Early in life I developed a strange fascination for travel. My childhood memories are still quite vivid - local trams and buses; weekend excursions with my parents and sister in the family car; and my first overnight train trip with my sister and grandmother through the Swiss Alps when I was about five years old.

Myriam Grest (Switzerland)

My mother was a patient woman and always answered my never ending questions of faraway lands. We had a small globe of the world in my father's library and I can still recall spinning it around and around while closing my eyes and then stopping it with my forefinger - looking carefully at the place which my finger had covered. I always used this method to determine my next 'destination'. Before each bedtime my mother would ask: "Where are we going tonight?"

So, I imagine, I was deemed or doomed to travel. Not surprising then that I am writing to you today from my office in Yangon, Myanmar. Don't start spinning your globe of the world - many of them are still marked with Rangoon, Burma.

I first arrived in this city in 1985. Alone of course, looking like a mix between Liv Ullman and Mrs. Trapp in the Sound of Music! Yes! Yes! Yes! Blond hair and blue eyes - I could not have been more different in appearance from the local Burmese! But somehow this never made a big difference to anyone here. In the mid-80s it was still Rangoon, Burma.

But even in 1995, after name changes, the life and landscape look about the same. It's an amazingly green Asian capital city. Wide boulevards of manicured trees and flora, with a full view of blue sky and cotton puff clouds which are still, even more amazingly, unobstructed by high-rise towers and buildings. They're on the way but still the panorama is clear. This is a country with colourful contrasts between the people and their surroundings.

Alas - as time goes by, life changes, especially in this area of the hemisphere - where nothing is granted but continuous change!



Soe Soe Moe (Myanmar)		Ye Thiha (Myanmar)

After many years, I was one day on my own again - this time not alone but with my daughter. Yes, and we are still a very specialized company. We offer tailored itineraries for each group. We don't have a printed catalog (a la the Chinese restaurant take-away menu style - choose one from column "A" and two from column "B"). I personally design each program to fit your group's needs of interest and financial pocket. We supply photographs or website addresses of all hotel rooms and facilities. If there is a request we cannot fulfill WE WILL TELL YOU IN ADVANCE! We arrange special interest groups. Foreign trade and government delegations who require special services (private planes and security) are given special attention by my staff. If for a group of 2 or 200, we really offer personalized service provided by a caring staff

Don't be fooled by my years in Myanmar and Thailand! I am still Swiss and Very Fussy. So are my clients. When I say a tour guide is fluent in English - I mean it! We never forget - hence the elephant is our company mascot! And: We now offer tours to Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Bhutan, China, Taiwan, Singapore and North Korea!



Walaikorn (Thailand)		Quyet (Vietnam)

Yes! Except of Thailand where we have a partner office in Chiang Mai, we arrange all other journeys from my office in Myanmar. I am often being asked why I do not move the operation to Thailand as it would be easier to work in a non embargo battled country. Well, despite of all the events happened in Myanmar it has not only become my second home after 20 years, but both my half Burmese daughter and I are strongly attached to its people. I further have such a wonderful staff and I am happy to be able to give them the opportunity to work in a very unique company in Myanmar; a tour operator which is able to offer 9 Asian destinations!

We are looking forward to hearing from you: Let us know your interests and I am sure we can offer you some programs tailored to your wishes!

Mingalarbar from Yangon

Myriam Grest Thein
Managing Director and Travel Designer

SPECIAL THANKS

To
Charles Ross of INTERNATIONAL GALLERY TOURS in the U.S.,
whose pioneering spirit has inspired many of us in the travel industry. I have had the rare privilege to be his ground operator here in Myanmar. As a result of his vision and imagination I learned and helped to create one-of-a-kind extraordinary programs in an extremely challenging environment.

To
Bill Alborough of TEFS in the U.K.,
with whom I arranged the most exiting steam locomotive tours throughout Myanmar! After our January 2000 finale, TEFS officially closed. Bill "remained keen to move on, to somewhere warmer and near to the sea" and Myanmar Travel moves on, to always finding challenging programs!

To
the tour operators world wide
for cooperating with us, thus giving us support in promoting this wonderful country.

To
my office staff
without their support Myanmar Travel Ltd. would not be what it is now. Their patience in dealing with an extremely fussy European, their willingness to learn a field of business which was until a couple of years ago closed to the private sector, will always be in my mind.

I do know that Myanmar as well as North Korea has not the best reputation among Western journalists - but there are always two sides of the coin and the most advisable thing will be, come and see for yourself! Before you ask me to comment on Myanmar's human rights record (and now North Korea!), just think about so many countries which do not ‘fit’ into our Western democratic way of life: China (Tien An Men Square 1989 & subsequently), Indonesia (East Timor & Irian Jaya), the Philippines ("Smoky Mountain", NPLA), Vietnam (Communism), India (Caste system), Pakistan (Religion), Cuba (US sanctions), Northern Ireland and, and, and...

Surely, there are many arguments to be made for the opposite viewpoint. I have made my choice, but leave it to each individual to choose his own path.