Culture Shock! Myanmar: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette

Culture Shock!

by Saw Myat Yin

Book by Yin, Saw Myat

Genres: Travel, Asia

234 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1993

Reviews

[Johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started reading this book after living in Myanmar for a few years. Overall I found the cultural insights to be pretty accurate with some exceptions. Obviously any book about culture will need to generalize. The weakest part of the book is it's age. It was written before the opening up of the country post 2010. This means that many of the changes socially, politically, and economically are not mentioned. These changes have contributed to pretty significant differences from what the author states. That being said, the book gives a great snapshot of life and culture in Myanmar pre-2010.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book on the plane to Myanmar and found it an easy and useful read. My edition was published in 2011, but in reality it was pre the changes of 2010 and I felt it was written very carefully for that reason. It still gave useful insight into Myanmar culture and helped prepare me for what I would find there, but I felt there was a bit of a hole in it in terms of the impact of the regime and the ethics of how to relate to all that as an outsider. It was also written by a fairly conservative Myanmar male, which didn't prepare me for the energetic progressive female guide who introduced us to the city of Yangon, though it was a fair reflection of our encounters in more rural Myanmar, where many people have never travelled beyond their own district. Interesting to hear people talk about how they feel about the cultural change taking place as their country opens up and the 'old ways' are brought into contact with the century outside. I shall watch with interest as they feel their way into what I hope will be a better and freer future.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good, easy to read intro to Myanmar

[Deborah Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was pleased that I had done my homework before getting there. Myanmar was like nowhere else that i had ever been.