Its name may have changed, but much of Myanmar still looks as it did in the days of the Raj. Here, a guide to traveling back in time

Since the early 1990s, when Aung San Suu Kyi first called on tourists to stay away so as not to support the cash-strapped military junta, Myanmar has struck major pipeline deals with China and India. In control of the world's tenth-largest natural gas reserves, the government now reaps $1.2 billion per year—a figure that's expected to grow. Although no traveler can completely avoid putting some money into government coffers, if only in the form of entrance fees at sites, tourism has become increasingly privatized, particularly at the luxury level—in part because it is seen as far less profitable for the government. Even so, several tourism projects are operated by government cronies; for outsiders, these may be hard to detect. For that reason—and because booking hotels and internal flights from outside the country can be tricky—you'd be well advised to work with travel specialists such as Colorado-based AsiaTranspacific Journeys (800-642-2742; asiatranspacific.com) or Yangon-based Good News Travels, which provides guides and translators for Lonely Planet's authors (95-1-375-050). Art historian Donald Stadtner also arranges small tours that focus on Myanmar's wealth of antiquities (dstadtner@mac.com).

Many e-mail services are blocked within the country, including Yahoo, Gmail, and Hotmail, and e-mails are monitored and may not be delivered if they contain banned words like Aung San Suu Kyi. Myanmar has no banks or ATMs, and few hotels take credit cards. U.S. currency is accepted in most touristy areas. Communications are terrible: Internet access is spotty, forget about international roaming for foreign cell phones, and a land-line call to the States is $11 per minute. Then there's transportation. The most efficient way to get around—by air—requires another ethical compromise: The newest and most reliable carrier, Air Bagan, is run by a family friend of Senior General Than Shwe. Air Mandalay has the cleanest investment record but the oldest aircraft. Even luxury hotels are relatively inexpensive, but meals are the real bargain: Other than at Yangon's fanciest restaurants, you can expect to pay less than $5 for a dinner entré.

Conversations with locals are surprisingly open since the dismantling of military intelligence during a 2004 coup, and curiosity is often appreciated and reciprocated. Still, don't start with political questions; let your Burmese contact take the lead. Ask if he or she has had to "volunteer" for anything this year—volunteer being the local euphemism for being dragooned into government projects—you will get a picture of the breadth of the regime's policy of using forced labor to build civic infrastructure.

The country code for Myanmar is 95. Prices quoted are for October 2007. Unless otherwise noted, tour prices are per person.

Bagan
Your hotel can point you to bike and horse-cart rentals to see the 42-square-mile temple complex. Visitors are no longer allowed to climb many of the monuments, but Balloons Over Bagan provides an expensive yet worthwhile alternative to the government observation tower (95-1-652-809; balloonsoverbagan.com; one-hour ride, $275).