Luxagraf

That’s the title of a list over on ForeignPolicy.com. I know, sounds like a thrilling site doesn’t it? Don’t worry, I made the trip over to Foreign Policy and here’s the list (which is almost entirely wrong):

• Mount Kumgang North Korea - beautiful beaches
• Baracoa, Cuba - beautiful beaches, supposedly where Columbus first hit land
• Somalia’s east coast - beautiful beaches (notice a pattern yet?)
• Persepolis, Iran - (no beaches) Ruins of Darius the Great’s once-great city
• Mandalay, Burma - architectural wonders etc

Here’s the good news, only one of these is actually off-limits to Americans — to get anywhere in North Korea (other than where the North Koreans want you to go) is nearly impossible. If you have training as a Navy SEAL or Green Beret you might be able to pull it off, but the rest of us would be restricted to a very surreal, state-controlled trip (if you can even pull off a visa).

Fortunately, while the rest are difficult to get to, American aren’t forbidden from going there as the article implies.

Even Cuba is not technically illegal to visit, it’s illegal to spend money while you’re there which, granted, makes it difficult to go. But I’ve known at least a dozen Americans that have snuck in and out. Check out the journalist visas and see if you can get some unwitting hometown newspaper to sponsor you.

As for Iran, visas are tough to come by, but if Rick Steves can do it, so can you.

Somalia? Nothing stopping you, though I imagine Black Hawk Down didn’t do much for Somalian tourism, and from what I read Somalia is still pretty much the way it was when the U.N. tried to intervene.

Which leaves us with Mandalay, Burma.

There’s a big debate as to whether or not you should visit Burma (I continue to all it Burma, all the Burmese I know — granted only three — claim to dislike the name Myanmar) given the horrible regime currently in power.

There’s good arguments on both sides, but in the end I believe that more tourism will ultimately help undermine the regime more than prop it up. Of course Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been fighting the Burmese Regime for over two decades, has called for travelers to stay away.

I understand her point — that most tourism money finds it’s way into government hands, helping to finance the regime — but given the current level tourism to Burma, I don’t see that tourist money can be a major source of funds for the regime. In other words, the voluntary ban hasn’t changed anything, perhaps it’s time for a new tactic.

So, no, maybe none of these spots are easy to get to and perhaps some of them ought to be avoided, but to say that American’s can’t go there, is, with the exception of North Korean, simply a lie and for Foreign Policy to propogate misinformation and lies — something Americans are probably just about done with right now — is a damn shame. It earns them the an official Jackass of Week award.

[Photo of [Burma’s Bagan Temples][5] from Flickr]