Aung Phyo Lwin, cofounder and CEO of ezStay, said they aimed to complete 2,300 bookings by the end of March 2018 and he expected the number to grow tenfold to 23,000 bookings over the next three years.

“Within six months of business operations, we have partnered with 140 hotels and secured over 700 bookings so far,” he said.

He hoped to partner with 500 hotels, motels and guesthouses over the next six months. In three years’ time, the firm planned to expand its coverage across the nation.

The firm started preparing for launch in December last year and began trading in March when it completed an intensive coaching programme at Phandeeyar Myanmar Innovation Lab.

Aung Phyo Lwin admitted the firm was still not fully satisfied with its business performance during the low season due to budgetary constraints. The firm now operates with pre-seed funding of US$25,000 (Bt133,000) from Phandeeyar.

“At this point, we aim to seek seed funding for one year. If we are profitable after one year, we hope to run ourselves in the future. If not, we will try hard to secure Series A funding for sustainable growth,” he said.

He said the firm targeted middle-class travellers aged 18 to 35 who wanted to visit Myanmar’s tourism destinations at an affordable price.

Saving time and money

The room rates range from 20,000 Burmese Kyat (Bt818,000) to nearly 100,000 Kyat, depending on the location, travel period, services and facilities. When booking with ezStay, the average room rate costs less than US$30, he said.

For customers’ convenience, payment can be made through bank transfer and credit and debit cards such as Visa, MasterCard, and Myanmar Payment Union, in addition to payment at the hotel.

He said 90 per cent of their customers were young people who preferred to save time and money by booking flights and accommodation themselves, rather than tour packages, often through the ezStay website, which is also available in English.

Most customers opted to visit the Mandalay region, which is home to tourist attractions in Upper Myanmar such as Bagan, Mandalay, Pyin Oo Lwin, Monywa, and Meikhtila. Beaches such as Ngwe Saung, Chaung Tha, and Ngapali also attract local and foreign travellers.

He reminisced about the firm’s early days as RarHub, an apartment rental service that came up with the idea of introducing a Burmese-style Airbnb. They later transformed the firm into ezStay due to Myanmar laws that did not allow foreigners to stay at locals’ home.

Yet, he has not given up hope of partnering travellers with accommodation owners, as he thinks the government may one day allow homestay for foreigners.

He aims to make good use of social media to improve the firm’s sales of hotel rooms and tickets. To him, around 50,000 to 100,000 people usually visit their Facebook page while only 10,000 people visit the website on a monthly basis.

“The influence of social media really plays a vital role in the promotion of a tourism product. For example, when a girl sees some of her friends’ photos taken in Bagan, she becomes eager to visit there,” he said.

He foresees a bright outlook for online tourism in the near future, thanks to gradual improvements in users’ behaviour. He hopes to launch a mobile application within one year.

“Myanmar is experiencing a digital leapfrog. Now, almost everybody uses Facebook. It is a very positive sign to go digital. People may exploit technology to find information they want to know. As the users’ experience grows, we expect a healthy digital environment,” he said.

Only hours after his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson revealed that US officials were in touch with North Korean counterparts, Trump undercut his top diplomat by declaring on Twitter that any talks would be futile.

“I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man,” he said, referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.

“Save your energy Rex, we’ll do what has to be done!”

Speaking on Saturday after talks with China’s President Xi Jinping, Tillerson said that US officials had “two or three” channels of communication with North Korea despite an escalating war of words between their respective leaders.

Asked how he could know whether the North would even contemplate coming to the table, Tillerson told reporters in Beijing: “We are probing, so stay tuned.”

“We have lines of communication with Pyongyang. We’re not in a dark situation, a blackout, we have a couple, three channels open to Pyongyang.”

“We can talk to them, we do talk to them,” he said.

But the State Department later said in a statement that North Korea “have shown no indication that they are interested in or are ready for talks regarding denuclearisation.”

– ‘Suicide mission’ –

=====================

In a recent speech at the United Nations General Assembly, Trump threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea in the event of an attack on the US or any of its allies, deriding Kim as a “Rocket Man” who was on a “suicide mission.”

Kim responded by calling Trump a “mentally deranged dotard.”

His administration has also been at the forefront of a drive to impose a series of sanctions against North Korea in response to its sixth nuclear test — the largest yet — and the firing of two missiles over Japan.

Uneasy over Trump’s bellicose tone, China and Russia have both appealed to the US to have talks with North Korea, and Tillerson’s revelation was welcomed on Sunday by Germany.

“This is exactly the right course and a courageous step,” German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said in a statement.

“North Korea would be well advised to take this offer of talks seriously.”

Gabriel also urged the US to have dialogue with Iran over a nuclear accord which Trump appears on the verge of scrapping, adding that such a move “would undermine the credibility of the offer to North Korea.”

Trump has previously kept the door open to possible talks with North Korea.

In a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in on the sidelines of the UN, Trump responded “Why not?” when asked whether there could be talks.

The United States is expected to dispatch an aircraft carrier strike group including the USS Ronald Reagan this month for a joint exercise with the South Korean Navy, a defense official here said Sunday.

“We are discussing the plan to dispatch the aircraft strike group, including the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, to the East Sea around Oct. 15,” the military official said on condition of anonymity.

“The military group will carry out a high level joint exercise in the sea with the naval forces here.”

The strike group will also include guided missile cruisers such as Aegis-equipped destroyers and Ohio-class submarines that carry Trident missiles that have a maximum vertical range of 13,000 kilometers.

The maritime exercise will focus on detecting and tracing North Korean ballistic missiles under simulated conditions. The two allies will share information to practice intercepting the missiles.

The aim of the exercise is to boost the allies’ combined capabilities to respond to the North’s escalating military provocations and threats against the US.

North Korea has threatened to launch missiles into the seas surrounding Guam to demonstrate its capabilities, and high-level officials have said that a nuclear bomb test in the Pacific could be carried out.

The South Korean official also said the two sides would conduct anti-submarine warfare training.

“We will also run an exercise targeting submarine-launched ballistic missiles along with a live fire exercise.”

In a show of force against the communist regime, the US Air force flew a squadron of B-1B strategic bombers and fighter jets close to the North’s east coast on Sept. 23.

USS Ronald Reagan is a Nimitz-class, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that has its home port in Japan’s Yokosuka Naval Base. The 333-meter-long, 100,000-ton flattop has a deck the size of three football fields and can carry up to 80 aircraft of fighter jets and helicopters. It has a crew of 5,000.

The refugees follow more than half a million fellow Rohingya who have emptied out of northern Rakhine in a single month, fleeing an army crackdown and communal violence the UN says amounts to “ethnic cleansing”.

The journey to Bangladesh is fraught with danger for the stateless Muslim minority, who have faced decades of systematic oppression in mainly Buddhist Myanmar.

After fleeing burning villages they say were set alight by soldiers and Buddhist mobs, more than one hundred Rohingya have drowned in the scramble to cross the Naf river that divides the two countries.

The latest boat capsize on Thursday has left some 60 feared dead, with 23 bodies — mainly of children — brought to shore as dozens more remain missing.

The crowds building up along Rakhine’s coast hail from the same inland area — Buthidaung township, west of the Mayu mountain range — as many of those who perished in the boat tragedy.

“Starting on Tuesday, they left their region, claiming that they felt insecure to remain because they were now living in a sparsely populated area, as most of their relatives had left for Bangladesh,” the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported.

More than half had gathered on a beach near Lay Yin Kwin village, the report said, with photos of women and children clustered together on the sand as security officers looked on.

It was not clear if or how they would complete the journey to Bangladesh, where the unprecedented influx of refugees has unfurled a separate humanitarian crisis as aid groups struggle to meet their vast needs.

The report said officials tried to assure the Rohingya of their safety in Myanmar but villagers said they “would still like to go to Bangladesh of their own accord.”

The UN has previously reported that increasingly isolated Muslim communities in Rakhine are receiving regular threats from local Rakhine Buddhists to leave the area.

They have also been cut off from crucial humanitarian aid since August 25, when Rohingya militant raids triggered the military backlash that plunged the region into crisis.

Myanmar denies ethnic cleansing is under way and instead blames Rohingya militants for the violence, which has also displaced tens of thousands of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Hindus.

The unrest has inflamed already blistering religious tensions and fuelled a dizzying array of claims and counterclaims from different ethnic groups.

The Muslim Rohingya have been the target of especially acute loathing in Myanmar, where they are denied citizenship and are instead branded “Bengalis” — or illegal migrants who do not belong in the Buddhist-majority country.

Tillerson was scheduled to meet with President Xi Jinping after talks with top diplomat Yang Jiechi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, ahead of Trump’s trip in November.

The visit comes as relations between the two superpowers appear to be improving after months of tensions over how to handle North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un’s nuclear provocations.

Trump has repeatedly urged Xi to exert more economic pressure on Pyongyang to convince the renegade regime to give up its nuclear ambitions.

China, North Korea’s main trade partner, has responded by backing a slew of new United Nations sanctions.

For its part, Beijing has insisted that the sanctions must be coupled with efforts to organise peace talks, but Trump and Kim have traded increasingly personal insults that have raised fears that the crisis could spark a conflict.

The acting US assistant secretary for East Asia, Susan Thornton, told sceptical US lawmakers ahead of Tillerson’s trip that China appears to be on board with the plan to squeeze Pyongyang.

“We are working closely with China to execute this strategy and are clear-eyed in viewing the progress — growing, if uneven — that China has made on this front,” she said.

“We have recently seen Chinese authorities take additional actions,” she said, referring to new controls on the cross-border trade and finance that is North Korea’s economic lifeline.

On Thursday, China said it was ordering North Korean firms on its territory to close by January.

The announcement came days after China confirmed it will limit exports of refined petroleum products to North Korea from October 1 while banning imports of textiles from its neighbour.

The measures were in accordance with UN sanctions that were approved earlier in September after North Korea detonated its sixth and most powerful nuclear bomb — a test that triggered an earthquake felt across the border in China.

Trump’s November trip will be part of a tour that will also take in regional allies Japan and South Korea.

Mount Agung, about 75 kilometres (47 miles) from the resort hub of Kuta, has been shaking since August, causing some 144,000 people to evacuate their homes over the past week as experts warn an eruption could be imminent.

As evacuees have streamed into temporary shelters or moved in with relatives, animals — including wild monkeys as well as dogs and farm animals such as pigs, chickens and cows — have been left in the danger zone close to the volcano that is most at risk of cascading ash, rocks and hot gas.

“I’m really worried because all of us that work together to rescue the animals don’t know when the eruption will be,” Vio Verandhini, from Jakarta Animal Aid Network, told AFP.

“Earthquakes happen everyday, maybe every hour.”

There are hundreds of tremors each day triggered by the volcano, a handful of which are magnitude 2-3 and are strong enough to rattle windows and rock furniture.

Verandhini’s organisation and several others have formed a 12-person emergency response unit that has been making dangerous trips into the red zone, which extends between nine and 12 kilometres from the mountain’s summit.

The animals are relocated to shelters where they are fed and cared for and the owners are encouraged to visit as often as possible to ensure their upkeep.

Livelihood at stake

The Indonesian Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation said Friday that remote satellite sensing had picked up new steam emissions and thermal areas within the crater.

White steam clouds above the summit have been observed with greater frequency over the past three days, increasing the probability of an eruption, the centre said.

The slopes of Mount Agung are a hub for cattle farming in the region, providing an important source of income for local communities.

Around 10,000 cows have been shifted so far in an evacuation aided by the government, Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency said, but there are 20,000 more to relocate.

The coordinator of a government livestock rescue team, Natakusuma, who goes by one name, said some farmers were sleeping at evacuation centres but returning to tend to their cattle during the day.

“Emotionally, it’s really hard for the farmers to part with their cattle, not only for economic reasons but also they care so much about the animals,” he said.

“Some insisted they stay in their village with their livestock even though their safety in is danger.”

Natakusuma said the government was trying to persuade farmers not to return by assuring them their livestock would be safe at special shelters.

Running out of space

Some forced to flee have carried their animals with them, fearful they will die or be stolen.

At a sports centre packed with evacuees in Klungkung district, Ketut Pageh cradled one of the two roosters he saved before leaving home.

“I feel sorry for them, I took them so they won’t starve because there’s no one at home to feed them,” the 42 year old said, adding he had to sell his pigs before fleeing.

Another evacuee, Nyoman Suwarta, tearfully recounted how he was separated from his two pet zebra doves amid the frantic rush to flee the volcano.

“When I was evacuating that night, I forgot to bring them with me,” said 52-year-old Suwarta, who was able to retrieve his birds nearly a week later.

“I feel very sorry for my birds because they have not been eating for six days.”

Faced with uncertainty about when — or if — the mountain will erupt, animal welfare groups are calling for feed, cages, water tanks and other supplies.

Verandhini said space to house the animals was becoming one of the most pressing issues.

“At the moment we have enough (room) but if a lot of people contact us, we should need more space for cows and dogs. We are still preparing for that,” she said.

Mount Agung, 75 kilometres (47 miles) from the tourist hub of Kuta, has been shaking since August, causing fears it could erupt for the first time since 1963 and triggering the highest possible alert level eight days ago.

But officials say the number of evacuees has grown too high, and only people who live within nine kilometres of the crater should remain in temporary shelters or with friends and relatives further afield.

“There is no reason for people who live in the safe zone to evacuate. They need to go back to their village because they will become a burden,” Bali’s governor I Made Mangku Pastika said.

Only 70,000 people live within the nine-kilometre radius affected by Mount Agung’s volcanic activity, meaning more than half of the evacuees can return to their houses, the government said.

“Only people from 27 villages must evacuate. The rest can go home. They can either go home independently or with the help of the government,” said Nugroho.

The activity of Mount Agung remains high but stable, said the Indonesian Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation. There were fewer than 200 tremors between midnight and 6am on Saturday — slightly below the level of seismic activity observed Wednesday and Thursday, it said.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

In 2010, Mount Merapi on the island of Jaya erupted after rumbling since 2006, while Mount Sinabung on Sumatra island — which is currently also on the highest alert level — has been active since 2013.

“There are no visual signs yet that Mount Agung will erupt soon. So don’t be afraid to come to Bali, it’s still safe. And if the mountain erupts, it’s still safe as long as people stay out of the dangerous zone,” Nugroho said.

“The pump works, but the water stinks, so we don’t drink it,” the Rohingya woman said in the squalid camp where her family of 11 has lived since fleeing Myanmar a fortnight ago.

The UN has warned of a humanitarian “nightmare” unfolding in Bangladesh’s refugee camps, where half a million people have taken shelter after fleeing violence in Myanmar in unprecedented waves.

With a lack of clean water and toilets, aid workers say a major health disaster is imminent.

Heavy monsoon rain is compounding the risk of disease outbreak, with field doctors reporting a huge spike in cases of severe diarrhoea, especially among children.

The near daily torrential downpours send streams rushing through areas where tens of thousands openly defecate every day. For some, this murky runoff is their only source of drinking water.

A stench of excreta hangs in the air on the outskirts of Kutupalong, a camp that already housed tens of thousands of refugees before the latest influx saw it mushroom into a fetid tent city stretching for miles.

At a field clinic, a long queue of refugees waiting to see the only doctor available stretched beyond the tent into the pouring rain.

Dr Alamul Haque sees upwards of 400 patients a day and looked exhausted as he described the spiralling number of children presenting with water-borne illnesses.

“Earlier parents were bringing one or two children with them. Now it’s three to four,” Dr Haque, from Bangladeshi charity SDI, told AFP.

“It’s been raining, so human waste is running everywhere. There is a high chance of a diarrhoea epidemic here.”

Serious risk of disease

New groundwater wells are being dug quickly across the camps, which stretch along the Cox’s Bazar district bordering Myanmar.

But there remains a serious shortage of fresh water, with the sheer scale of the disaster — described as one of the fastest-growing refugee crises in years — outpacing aid efforts on the ground.

“There are long queues whenever we go to collect water. There are far more people than there is water,” said one Rohingya man, knee-deep in mud as he dug a pit latrine on a hillside.

At Unchiprang, a enormous hillside shanty town of nearly 30,000 people, close to three-quarters of a million litres of water needs trucking in every day. But the roads are virtually impassable, hampering delivery.

Further down the coast at Nayapara and Leda camps experts warn existing water sources will run dry by January.

But sanitation is a more immediate concern.

Toilets are being filled as fast as they are being built, forcing people to defecate wherever they can.

“There are hundreds of people queued for the toilets. It’s a big problem, especially for the children,” Hasina Begum, an elderly Rohingya woman, told AFP.

“There are other toilets on the hillsides, but they’re basic pits. They’re filled up now, and stink, so nobody uses them.”

The Red Cross says camps are teetering on the precipice of a full-scale health disaster.

Conditions are ripe for an illness like cholera to tear through the densely-populated camps, experts say, where refugees live cheek by jowl.

“The risk of there being an acute, watery diarrhoea epidemic is real and serious,” said an international health and sanitation expert, who asked not to be named because they were not authorised to speak to media.

“If the current situation stays the same, I guarantee it. It’s not if, it’s when.”

There are small signs efforts to promote hygiene are getting through

On a hillside in a newly-built shanty, Karim Ullah watched as labourers dug a simple pit toilet — the finishing touch on a new dwelling for 16 members of his family camping far away.

The 56-year-old Rohingya man did not want his wife and daughters using the open fields, and would send for them only when the toilet was complete.

“It’s very important to have a proper toilet. Hopefully, I’ll be able to bring them here the day after tomorrow,” he said.