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Testimonials from ‘Welcome to Burma and Enjoy the Totalitarian Experience
In his first book, ‘Welcome to Burma and Enjoy the Totalitarian Experience’ Timothy Syrota ventures beyond Asia’s bamboo curtain into a country from a bygone era which, at the time, had only recently opened to foreign travel. With a goal of going from Rangoon to Putao, Syrota’s travels soon became much more about the people of Burma – and their predicament under the military regime – than about the places that he visits.
In having ‘Welcome to Burma’ published, Syrota gained the best of support when Aung San Suu Kyi’s late husband, Dr Michael Aris, took a liking to the original manuscript; a manuscript at the time rough, raw, full of expletives and written by a self confessed beach-loving-back-packer of the Pulp Fiction and dance-scene generation. It was, nonetheless, a manuscript with an important place to fill in the body of literature concerning Burma under the military regime.
The wise counsel and sunny optimism of Dr Aris is greatly missed.
‘Welcome to Burma’ is written with a sense of integrity, simplicity, humanity and with an almost beatnik rhythm to its text. It provides one of the more accessible introductions to the machinations of totalitarian rule and is an important insight into the realities of life under one of the world’s harshest and most enduring military regimes. In this context, ‘Welcome to Burma’ is a relevant piece of literature today, tomorrow, and, sadly, perhaps every day until the Burmese military finally release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and genuinely 
respect the nation’s desire for human rights and democracy.
Mr Garry Woodard, former Australian Ambassador to Burma, China, and Malaysia
Subtitled ‘and Enjoy the Totalitarian Experience’. Penetrating and empathetic insights into the daily lives and trials of the Burmese people as they eke out an existence under the ever watchful gaze of their oppressive military government. Syrota, spent many months roaming the cities and countryside meeting and chatting with citizens from all walks of life, a trip eventually cut short when the authorities expelled him from the country for his inquisitiveness. Highly readable; a ‘must’ for all with interest in Burma and its current political situation. “Syrota takes his reader on a Kerouacian journey of discovery through the military controlled Burma, simultaneously absorbing and exposing the country’s multitude contrasts and contradictions. His spontaneous prose and genuine concern for his subject perfectly captures the appalling predicament and masked spirit of a people continuously in fear of military spies, incarceration and torture. For anyone who has ever taken a cursory interest in life in other countries, ‘Welcome to Burma…and Enjoy the Totalitarian Experience’ provides a welcome and enlightening snapshot into one of the world’s most inaccessible regimes.” “Welcome to Burma helped connect me to the real Burmese people and the difficulties they face under the current regime. It is written with a genuiness that conveys the authors honesty and strength of feeling for the plight of the Burmese people.”
Abe books, rating 5 stars
Dominic Riley, Human Rights Documentation Unit, National Coalition Government for the Union of Burma.
Chris Morris, Right to Play, Canada