My partner and myself just returned from Myanmar after an amazing trip. I wanted to post some information and tips that I thought might be useful to others:
Firstly, we entered Myanmar using the Visa-on-Arrival. I've read several posts saying this is not possible, well this is not true. If you book a tour or a few nights hotel stay with a licenced travel agent (doesn't have to be government run, we used Myanmar Tourex who were excellent) they can arrange the visa on arrival for you, simply send them by email a scan of your passport and a scanned passport photo, they email you a copy of the approval letter, which you show to the check-in staff at Bangkok. Once we arrived in Yangon the immigration guys were waiting for us and came and got us from the line up, took us to the front, took our passports and the passport photos we'd brought, and we had a visa in our passports in less than 5 minutes. In our situation it was difficult to get to an embassy, so the $20 each it cost on top of the $20 visa fee us to have the visa on arrival was well worth it. It even seemed like we were specially treated because of it; the immigration officer escorted us out of the immigration area, took us to Customs, said something to the Customs officer, and he waved us straight through no questions or searching through our cases like we were expecting (or maybe they are more relaxed than people think).
We had also read that we shouldn't go to Myanmar in July because of the rain. Again not true in our case anyway. In the southern part (including Yangon) you can expect rain several times a day, but it was usually short downpours so we'd just shelter for a few minutes or walk with umbrellas. The northern areas though including Bagan and Mandalay don't get much rain during this time. We had no rain in Bagan, and just a morning shower in Mandalay. Our guide in Bagan said it doesn't usually rain much there until September/October, and even then not a lot. It was VERY hot and humid everywhere, so we usually went back to the hotel after lunch each day and relaxed for a couple hours before heading back out in the late afternoon when it was cooler.
Like most people, we were concerned about carrying large amounts of cash with us so we decided to pre-book our accomodations, flights, and guides before leaving home and paid by credit card online. We used Myanmar Tourex, who we found to be very professional and accomodating of our requests, and as far as we could find out they are not affiliated with the government. We also thought they were very good value compared to other agents we received quotes from. They have an office in Singapore, so they are able to accept Paypal payments. By paying for this upfront we just needed to carry spending money, which was far more comfortable than carring over $1000 each. As for spending money, we averaged about $125 per person per week eating at mid-priced restaurants, tipping our guides and drivers around $3-$5 a day each, and buying quite a few souvenirs. We asked our guides to change money for us as they got a better rate than we would have gotten at the hotels (and I'm sure they even make a bit on it too which was fine with us).
Something we also tended to do was to try to buy small items from the children or young mothers selling things in the tourist areas. You will find that some people will follow you asking for money, or women holding babies will approach you. We made a point of only handing over cash in return for some kind of goods to discourage begging. We never paid more than K1000 (under $1), and for this we bought packs of postcards, lacquerware pots, small stone/wood carvings, bracelets & necklaces, and more, infact we now have a huge stock of small presents to give friends and family, and it was worth spending the $1 to see the happiness on the faces when the children sold us something. In Bagan we also bought some of the sand paintings by local artists, some of these are beautiful and we saw some for sale in Yangon galleries for over $500, we paid $25 for two direct from the artist - you'll see lots for sale outside the temples, some better than others.
If you want to take some cheap pens, soap, small bottles of shampoo (we took ours from the hotel every day and gave it all away), any kinds of make-up, perfume, notebooks, and any other everyday items they will be greatly appreciated especially in the countryside, just be discrete otherwise you'll be suddenly surrounded by excited kids!
If anyone has any questions or would like more information I'll be happy to answer.
What did the Tour cost you BTW? How many days were you with them, did they provide the Transportation, was planes involved or a big tour bus, and was it at Guesthouses or Hotels?
Thanks...
The tour was about $650 per person for a week, and that included airport pick-up, all hotels which were 4 star and all very good, flights from Yangon-Bagan-Mandalay-Yangon, a locally stationed guide and driver with our own private car with aircon at each place for about 8 hours a day, and all entry fees for sightseeing. I know it is better to try and do more yourself, but when we had a tight schedule this was the best way for us to make sure we got to do as much as possible.
In Yangon we stayed at the Parkroyal, which was in a good location (plus next to it is a small mall that sells snacks, drinks, beer etc so we could bring that back to the room rather than pay hotel prices) and has cheap internet $1 for 15 mins or $2 per hour I think it was, and in addition the room service menu was pretty cheap (we were too tired at the end of the trip to go out, fish & chips for $6 was great!). In Bagan we stayed at the Tharabar gate hotel, gorgeous gardens and the best room we had on the trip, a couple of restaurants in the vicinity so you're not forced to eat at the hotel (though it looked pretty good), the one thing with the Tharabar was that the pool was closed for repair, but it is probably open again by now. In Mandalay we stayed at the Mandalay Hill Hotel - nice hotel, but restaurants were expensive for us and it is a little way away from anywhere else to eat, so we took a trishaw (there's usually one waiting outside) into town and ate there at some of the places we found in the LP. I'd recommend all of these hotels, especially the Parkroyal and Tharabar.
I have stayed at the Tharabar gate, its is a very nice property, outside of the luxury Ngapali beach resorts, its was the nicest. The pool is great, sorry it was under renovation.
FYI-
There are a few properties that if you stay at least 2 nights, you can take a Cash Advance, $100 USD per night, and the Tharabar gate is one of them, as is the Sedona, and other High End places. There is a 8% fee as well on the transaction. They also accept Credit cards, so you can splurge, get money, and be on your way.
They Take Amex TC as well, for a fee...
Wandering around giving away "cheap pens,soap, shampoo,make up, perfume and notebooks..............."" Great , lets turn the locals into beggars, yes, thats what you are doing, thats what the kids will become. Local schools in Bagan already have trouble getting the kids to school because they are encouraged by their parents to see what "gifts "" they can scrounge from the tourists. Im sure that it made YOU feel good but it really is a stupid thing to do.... I remember the tourists throwing their half eaten hotel packed lunches from the Mandalay boat to the people who were selling handicrafts.. ' Why do they do that,we are not beggars and we are not hungry" the women selling her fine blankets said to me...
OK so we took the soaps etc that we got at the hotels and gave them to the kids who sold us stuff, you're saying thats bad? So nobody should give to charity either then because its effectively the same thing? I despise begging, and will never give anything to a beggar, but to those who are making an effort to make an honest living why not give them a pen or a bar of soap to encourage them to continue that way of life? As for the pens and notebooks, we had our guide take us to his old school and gave them to the principal (and we gave a few pens to people who asked us for them, such as the women who make the lacquerware who use them for engraving). In my opinion it was the very least we could do to help out some very needy people. You sound like the stupid one to me niJERK if you are prepared to visit an impoverished country and not do what little you can to improve the lives of those you come into contact with (provided of course they are not beggars).
" I despise begging and will never give anything to a beggar " Strangely enough, beggars are often ( not always) the people who need help the most.... ' The Burmese often give to needy beggars not to sellers of trinkets, they just pay the price, as I do , although I probably pay over the top...." Why not give them a pen or a bar of soap to encourage them to continue that way of life... " The mind boggles.....I dont delude myself by thinking that handing out goodies is somehow going to improve these peoples lives , the naievity is quite breathtaking , imo of course..... Oh ,btw that niJERK bit was really clever.....
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