Smiles and tourists vanish from Myanmar

YANGON (Reuters) - The traditionally hospitable people have clammed up and the tourists have disappeared from the streets of Myanmar's main city amid fear and anger at the military's brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

Yangon's famed Buddhist shrines are barricaded with barbed wire and police and soldiers patrol the streets, arresting anyone they suspect of taking part in protests, shoving them onto trucks with rope binding their wrists.

Residents, renowned for their warmth, go about their business grim-faced.

"Three weeks ago when we were here everyone was smiling, but that's finished now," said Heidi Colombo, a tourist from Brussels who returned to the former capital after three weeks traveling around the country.

Now, foreign tourists have all but disappeared from this elegant but dilapidated city.

In The Strand, Yangon's most luxurious hotel, the wood-paneled bar has been bereft of revelers since a night curfew was imposed four days ago.

The Hotel Nikko, overlooking the shimmering waters of Kandawgyi Lake, has halved its rates but its lobby remains empty, the death of a Japanese journalist during a demonstration on Wednesday putting off its main clientele from Japan.

In Mandalay, the country's major seat of Buddhist learning, the receptionist at one normally bustling hotel said she only had three guests even though the former Burma's second city appeared to have witnessed less violence than Yangon.

"There was a little bit of soldier on the road, but very far from our hotel. Nobody died," she said in halting English. "Not so dangerous in Mandalay."