As my airport taxi - an ancient Toyota on the brink of collapse - rumbles down the road to Mandalay, the sensory feast that is Myanmar reveals itself. Monks smoke cigarettes in the back of a pickup truck. Women in yellow face paint cycle in the ditch, three to a bike, past feeding goats. Weathered billboards advertise four different brands of instant coffee, while the faded girl-next-door face of Canadian actress Elisha Cuthbert adorns an ad for calling cards.
My driver flashes a smile that reveals a set of teeth stained black from chewing betel nut, a mild narcotic whose juices leave blood-like stains on the ground. I nod and look out the window, soaking up the strangeness of it all.
A rush of excitement replaces any anxiety I had about visiting the country with the world's longest-running military dictatorship.
Burma, Rudyard Kipling once wrote, is "quite unlike any land you know about."
More Myanmar, from city streets to rural life
A century later, Kipling's sentiment continues to ring true. Myanmar, as Burma is now known, is a country of chaotic city streets, playgrounds of centuries-old temples and remote hill villages. There is virtually no Western influence here - no McDonald's, Starbucks or brand-name clothes (real ones, at least). Both men and women wear traditional longyi, the sarong-like garment ubiquitous in the country. It's a devoutly religious land, where monks are revered and the citizenry continues to worship nat, spirits left over from pre-Buddhist times.
Myanmar's isolation is both its charm and tragedy. The country has for almost 50 years been ruled by an intensely xenophobic and corrupt junta that routinely stamps out political opposition.
In Myanmar, the disconnect between people and government is near total. Infrastructure is abysmal. Days are marked by staccato blackouts, and many roads connecting towns and cities are barely passable. Education and health care remain luxuries many Myanmarese cannot afford.
This state of affairs has sparked a debate about the ethics of travel in Myanmar. Some human-rights groups have argued that tourism helps prop up the regime, and Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy leader currently under house arrest, has argued for visitors to stay away (although there's some debate about whether she still holds that position).
Travel advocates, on the other hand, believe the benefits of tourism outweigh the negatives. They argue that most tourist dollars, when spent carefully, end up in the pockets of locals and that the cultural exchange of tourism is invaluable in a country that receives very little news from the outside world.
In recent years, Myanmar has been hit by a string of events that has caused tourism numbers to plummet. In 2007, a violent government crackdown on monk-led protests against rising gas and food prices left at least 31 dead (officially; human-rights groups put the number in the hundreds). Cyclone Nargis, the following year, was the worst natural disaster in the history of Myanmar.
Today, most of the roughly 260,000 annual foreign visitors to Myanmar are Asians and Europeans on package tours that often use government-run hotels and services. But the best way to visit - and to ensure most of your money stays away from the generals - is to travel independently.
In fact, independent travellers hoping to escape the Southeast Asian backpacker circuit are coming in growing numbers. They find a fascinating land of endless charm, striking scenery and a people of extraordinary hospitality and friendliness. Myanmar is by far the most off-the-beaten-track country I've visited in Asia, and escaping fellow tourists can be as easy as taking a left instead of a right.
My trip begins in Mandalay, a bustling, if slightly run-down, commercial centre of growing importance thanks to its proximity to China. Downtown streets buzz with life, and outdoor barbecue restaurants play English Premier League soccer, strangely a national obsession in Myanmar.
Mandalay is a young city at 150 years, but the surrounding area was for centuries home to the capitals of Burmese kingdoms. One day, I ride a horse and buggy through the ruins of Inwa, which stood as the capital for 400 years; the next, I swim in the Irrawaddy River at Sagaing, home to about 500 stupas (mounds under which Buddhist relics - and often remains - are buried) and 6,000 monks and nuns.
In late afternoon, I catch the sunset at the stunning U Bein teak bridge and talk politics with a cab driver, something I found many locals surprisingly willing to do.
"Aung Sun Suu Kyi's party is the top party," the 40-year-old father of two tells me. "But if you protest the government, you are arrested, sent very far away. We all want change."
From Mandalay, I take an 11-hour boat trip down the chocolate-milk-brown Irrawaddy to Bagan. Burmese monarchs built the more than 4,000 temples of Bagan from the 11th to 13th centuries. Today, thousands of temples remain, covering 50 square kilometres of dusty plain.
At some of the more famous pagodas, visitors are hassled to buy paintings and trinkets, but escape is easy. My travelling companion and I cycle mere minutes from the major temples and find ourselves alone for hours. They are bizarre structures, and looking over the horizon they resemble a set from The Lord of the Rings. In late afternoon, we buy a few Myanmar beers (the only beer I've ever encountered that gives you a hangover as you drink it) and climb the roof of a temple to watch one of the most beautiful sunsets in the world.
From Bagan it's on to Kalaw, a trekking base in Shan State. From there, I embark on a three-day, 60-kilometre trek to Inle Lake in central Myanmar. These are the best days I'll spend in the country. There are nine of us in the group, led by veteran guide Robin Singh, an encyclopedia of knowledge.
Together we hike hills and valleys made red by iron oxide. We eat lunch in the house of a medicine man, walk through villages where children ride the backs of sleepy-eyed water buffalo, and sleep in a working monastery where novice monks chant at 5 a.m., much to our chagrin.
The trek ends at the weedy banks of Inle Lake, the epicentre of life in central Myanmar. The 100-square-kilometre lake is surrounded by bamboo homes built on chopstick-like stilts. On the lake's navy waters, fishermen in conical hats pull up their nets to assess the day's catch. For the next two days we tour the lake on longboat, stopping at a bustling market, soaking in hot springs and checking out the many lakeside villages.
Trips to Myanmar often begin and end in Yangon, called Rangoon during British rule, the former capital and cultural heart of Myanmar. Yangon is a city of majestic colonial architecture, perfectly dilapidated, and a uniquely Burmese pace, at once fast and slow.
Shwedagon Pagoda, a 1,500-year-old marvel gilded with gold, is the city's physical and spiritual centre. There, I watch monks studying, children playing and elderly couples offering a prayer and donation. After leaving Shwedagon, I make my way through Chinatown, where men sip tea and appraise precious stones in street-side shops. In Yangon, this is where life happens - on the streets.
On my last day, I take a taxi to the airport in a beat-up car remarkably similar to the one outside Mandalay. The driver, a middle-aged man of Indian descent with flecks of silver in his stubble, asks what I liked (scenery, people) and disliked (food, lack of roads) about his country and where I'd been during my trip.
"Did you make it to the beaches? The south? The Delta?"
"Didn't make it, unfortunately," I tell him.
"Next time," he says.
Next time.
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Pack your bags
Getting there Air Canada, in partnership with Star Alliance carriers, flies to Bangkok via Hong Kong and Tokyo. From Bangkok, Air Asia flights cost about $115 one way.
What you'll need All visitors to Myanmar require a visa. The only foreign currency accepted throughout Myanmar is American dollars. They must be crisp and new - folded or wrinkled bills will be rejected. There are no ATMs in Myanmar and virtually nowhere accepts credit cards, so bring enough cash for the duration of your trip.
Where to go Much of the country remains off limits to foreigners and most visitors stick to the big four: Yangon, Bagan, Inle Lake and Mandalay. Popular beach spots are Ngapali or the more budget-oriented Chuang Tha Beach. Treks are becoming increasingly popular with independent travellers. Hsipaw, a picturesque town six hours northeast of Mandalay, and Kengtung, near the Thai border and accessible only by plane, are popular, but Kalaw remains the capital of trekking in Myanmar. Golden Lily Guest House (goldenlily@mandalay.net.mm) offers two- or three-day treks to Inle Lake and other day trips. More expensive than competitors, but made up for by expert guides with deep knowledge of hill tribes and great food along the way.
What to avoid Some of your money will go to the government, in the form of taxes and fees for popular destinations such as Inle Lake and Bagan. But the majority of guest houses and restaurants are family-run. Avoid big resorts, tour groups and government-run Myanmar Airways International.
More information To go or not to go? Decide for yourself: Burma Campaign UK www.burmacampaign.org.uk. Advocates a tourism boycott. Free Burma Coalition www.freeburmacoalition.org. Supports travel and tourism to Myanmar. The Irrawaddy www.irrawaddy.org. An online magazine run by exiled Burmese. Thorn Tree www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/index.jspa. For updated information about travel in Myanmar, visit Lonely Planet's forum.