Geography Myanmar is Asia at its best. More than any other Asian country Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has preserved its cultures and traditions. Myanmar is a deeply religious Buddhist country and is well known by travelers for its abundance of sights and sounds, interesting cultures, diversity of nature and most of all for its charming and friendly people. A kind of magic shrouds the whole land with its tropical plains, the Himalayan Highlands, teak woods that create an impenetrable jungle and the Ayeyarwady River. With an area of 676,557 sq. km, Myanmar is almost twice as big as Germany or the state of Arizona. It is sandwiched between India and Bangladesh on one side and China, Laos and Thailand on the other, while to the south is the Andaman Sea with beautiful unspoiled beaches. The Himalayas rise in the north, where the Hkakabo Razi, right on the border between Myanmar and Tibet, is the highest mountain in Southeast Asia at 19,290 ft./5881m.