Burma has missed out on the South East Asia’s boom in foreign tourism, but that is not surprising. The country is ruled by a military dictatorship, boycotted by the West and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi tells us to stay away until her people win back their freedom.

I asked a young Burmese migrant called Mya, who was selling fake CDs in Bangkok, what she thought about my plans to visit her homeland. "Go ahead," she said, "tell the world about my beautiful country!" I went and I can hardly disagree. From Rangoon, to the exquisite Inle Lake and the temple vistas of Bagan, it is a place largely ignored by the rest of the world.

Burma was renamed Myanmar in 1988 and Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest two years later after her pro-democracy party won free elections. Since then this largely Buddhist country of 50 million has been run with an iron fist, the military accused of using slave labour to build tourist facilities, as well as other brutalities.

International sanctions and economic mismanagement have left Burma in a kind of time warp. However, there is an endearing old-worldliness to the place: computers are a rarity and beautiful colonial buildings have run to seed. Shoppers, hawkers and monks mingle on wide boulevards, squashed against cheap cars that were scrap heaps 30 years ago. Not only are worn out, the steering wheels are on the wrong side after a sudden government dictat changed the driving side of the road.

What it lacks in terms of modernity, Rangoon makes up for with its past. The glittering Shwedagon Pagoda is unsurpassable. Legend has it that the 98-metre tower is almost as old as Buddha, who died 2,500 years ago. However, experts date the original structure between the sixth and tenth centuries. Be prepared for the crowds - the pagoda is also Burma's foremost religious centre and the place teems with monks and lay pilgrims.

I met a 28-year-old monk called Ashin Thanwara, who spoke to me in almost flawless English. He was spending four days here and had come from the Aungzay Yone monastery at Thrkota, a township 15 miles outside the capital. "I come here to earn myself good Karma", he said. "I also stay as a monk to teach younger people. They have no money for good schools so the monastery will give them an education."

The main tourist destination in Burma is 670 kilometres miles further north, the ancient capital of Bagan. This is one of the richest archaeological sites in the world. Getting there by bus can be an uncomfortable 20-hour ride though. In the wet season, roads are frequently cut off so you can be stuck for days. The only easy way to travel is by flying: it costs an average £35 one-way.

(Most flights, boats and accommodation are charged in US dollars, and everything else in kyats (pronounced "chats"), the local currency. The best exchange rates are found on black-market street corners. There are no ATMs and credit cards are not accepted here, so bring plenty of dollars.)

Bagan is on the central plains, on the eastern bank of the Ayeyarwady River, 90 miles southwest of Mandalay. It is the largest area of Buddhist temples in the world – many dating back 1,000 years - and is much bigger than Angkor Wat in Cambodia. From 1057 until 1287, more than 13,000 religious structures were built. Afterwards, the city was overrun by the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan. Today, seven centuries later, approximately 2,000 temples, or ‘paya’ as the Burmese call them, remain standing. The Ayeyarwady has washed away much of the original city, thieves have ransacked many temples, while earthquakes and neglect have reduced others to piles of crumbled stones.

Spread out over 42 square kilometres, transport is essential. There is too much to see in even a couple of days, but you can experience the best bits by hiring a horse and cart for seven dollars a day. Just the job in these parts where my driver navigated fields, ditches and peasant farmers. Do not expect the driver to speak English but he will take you off the beaten track. Like all transport, though, it pollutes and my horse stank of dunk.

The following day I rented a bike from the guesthouse for a dollar and set off to explore some of the smaller and neglected structures. Sunsets and sunrises are of course the best time to see ancient ruins. The bigger temples fill up with package tourists, mostly retirees from Italy and Germany. But it is easy to find one to yourself.

Leaving Bagan behind, I took a gruelling bus trip to the unpolluted and scenic Inle Lake. After five hours cooped up like a battery hen, we came to a dead end. It was the rainy season and the road in front was underwater. After discussing the situation with my companions, we decided to wade through to dry land on the other side and hitch a ride to the nearest bus station.

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