Burma is a mountainous country bordering Thailand on the east, India and China on the north and west and the Bay of Bengal on the south.

Burma has a distinct tropical monsoon climate with a very wet summer that runs from May to around October followed by a drier and somewhat cooler winter from November to April. The cause of the seasonal changes is the Asian monsoon, which blows dry from the northeast in winter and wet from the southwest in summer.

As is the case in much of this region, the warmest temperatures usually occur in the March to May period when the sun is rising higher in the sky and the air is still dry. Temperatures fall back a little when the southwest monsoon brings clouds and rain in May.

If Burma is in your travel plans, you may wish to plan on a vacation during the dry monsoon (the December to February period). Temperatures are a bit more pleasant and humidity is lower at this time. Also, there is more than twice as much sunshine then during the wet June to September period.

RANGOON, BURMA