During the dark winter months in the North, traditionally millions of tourist celebrate their holidays in Thailand. My advice for this season: avoid the ‘Land of Smiles’ and visit Burma instead. Unfortunately the political turmoil in Thailand is currently so unpredictable, Burma seems safer.

The protests in Thailand are world news, but from a global perspective the events aren’t easy to interpret. We’re in Thailand for two weeks now and can witness the underlying dynamics run deep and are about to turn toxic.

On the surface it may not seem so serious. After some weeks of oppositional protest in Bangkok against the prime minister, she promises new elections. In normal democracies that is as much as you can wish for: a relative easy victory for the ‘yellow shirts’. But the protesters know they won’t win next elections: they represent the urban South, that demographically can’t beat the rural North, where the ‘red shirts’ are most popular.

Political analysts are trying hard to predict the next phase of these long running conflicts (link, link, link), after years of slow economical growth, a fading monarch, partisan media, a meddling military, and political polarization. Some fear civil war, but the truth is that nobody has a clue.

For most tourists, these dirty political games don’t matter, as long as their beach is clean and their cocktail is shaken. But the political battle is becoming so fierce in the coming weeks, I am not so sure it won’t effect everything. What makes this paradise such a dangerous place, is that it is hard to find out as a foreigner what is really going on (most Thai don’t want to scare you off) and the amount of weapons around is much higher compared to surrounding countries.

That is why our humble travel advice for these holidays is: don’t fly to Bangkok, try Yangon instead! Burma isn’t as developed as Thailand for sure, especially the tourist industry is very poor compared to the popular neighbor destination, but it is currently more stable and at least as beautiful.

Happy holidays!

P.S.: taking a short break ourselves -in the dark North- but will continue 'Burma Impression' in January.