I did it, I crossed from India to Myanmar. So here I write all the details about my experience.
I confirm that there is no need for permits for Nagaland and Manipur.
I did my MTT permit with 7 Diamonds. It's better to send them e-mail. If you send a message through their internet site they might not answer. They were always very fast to answer to the e-mails and I got a very good service. Some people coming from Myanmar told that there are other agencies which are cheaper. I paid 100 us. 7 Diamonds didn't want rupees or euros.
For that MTT permit you need to send a scan of your Indian visa and Myanmar visa, the crossing date, and a planned itinerary. So you must have first the visa for Myanmar before you can apply for the permit. 7 Diamond told me that they need 20 working days for making the permit. So you need to apply almost one month before. I sent all the documents 8 January and I asked to cross the border on 9th February, so very enough time. The itinerary is nothing complicating. You just need to list some places with dates. Once you are in Myanmar nobody will control if you are respecting your itinerary or not. I wrote 9Feb Tamu, 12Feb Mandalay, 15Feb Bagan, 18Feb Yangoon, 28Feb Myawaddy.
I got the visa for Myanmar in Kolkata. The visa was very easy. I'm from Finland which is in European Union. Very easy application form to fill in. For the "complexion" I wrote "white". I don't remember the price but it was pretty cheap and I paid it in rupees with cash directly in consulate. The only boring thing is that they ask flight tickets. One german guy said in the consulate that he is going by land. He got an answer that he cannot have the visa before he show his MTT permit. The guy explained that it's impossible to have the MTT permit before the visa. Then they asked him to print his e-mail with 7 diamonds to confirm that he is going to apply for the permit. He gave the print to the consulate but I don't know if he got the visa or not. I didn't want to take any risk in that moment, so I did a flight reservation.
I'm not very used to book flights and I had difficulties to find cancellation details. So I just decided to go to a travel agency. I didn't see any travel agency near the Myanmar consulate, but there are many of them around Sudder Street where are the cheap guesthouses and many tourists. I just went to one of them with a very random selection. The name is U.S. Travels, it's in Stuart lane. They are maybe not the cheapest. I paid 500 rupees. They found a flight via Bankok with 3 days cancellation time. I need to wait for the visa only 2 days so that's perfect. They said that they print me the reservation at the morning. The problem was that the agency opened anly at 11am. I have to apply before 12. Taxi drivers are too stupid to find anything or to listen to you explaining where to drive, and walking takes time. The Myanmar consulate address in Kolkata is 57K Ballygunge Circular Road. It's the Southern part where the street is going between East and West, and actually the consulate is not directly in Ballygunge Circular Road but in a small side street in Northern side. It's not a very long walking from Jatin Das metro station. The applying time was from 10 to 12 and it's open from Monday to Friday.
The road to Moreh is sometimes closed in Indian side, because there can be problems. It was closed from end of January and it opened a bit before my crossing date. I wanted to be sure to be in Moreh, as I can cross only 9th Feb. So I took the challenge to pass the road already some days before the crossing. I can walk I thought. Between police checking gates there was some traffic, but very low in some places. They let me walk. Finally it took less than 2 days to hitchhike and walk. Most of the distance I was in a car. So if the road is closed and you are not afraid about a little walking, you can get an adventure.
There are many places to stay in Moreh. I was in Sangai Lodge at the beginning of the town centre while coming from Imphal. It's the best value I have got in India as I paid only 150 rupees. The owner is very nice, it's clean and correct. If you don't have phone or computer you might be able to use the internet in a internet place just opposite State Bank. When I was in Moreh most of the time it was not working for the problems with electricity or connection.
There are two places to cross the border from Moreh, but only one for foreigners. The Friendship Gate is in the town centre, but people told me that it's only for Indians and Burmese. That Friendship Gate is in a street to the left. To get to the correct crossing place you just go always straight. Near the crossing with the street to the Friendship gate there is a police station. Some people might tell you to go there for the immigration, but it's not there anymore. The immigration has moved. So you just follow the road straight and about one km later there is a checkpoint with solders. They asked me questions and took time to write details from my passport. Little bit later there is a white building on your right side and that's the immigration building, so you get your exit stamp here.
Somebody told me that the border is open from 9:30am to 5pm. I don't know if that's true and if that's in Indian time. It was 10am Indian time and 11 am Myanmar time when I arrived to the immigration. All the doors were open but nobody was there. The guys came at 11am Indian time, they were late. Their computer system didn't start to work so they decided to note passport details on a paper. It took time as they had serious problems to read and write. No stupid questions and no checking my baggage.
The Myanmar immigration is immediately after the bridge on your left side. The dude took first 10 minutes to finish his coffee. He doesn't speak much english and he didn't ask questions. They didn't check my bag. After coffee it took 35 minutes. First they didn't find my permit and they said that 7 Diamonds has sent it to me. 7 Diamonds has sent it directly to the customs, not to me. Finally they found it. Then a dude brought me with his motorbike from the customs to a hotel. In that hotel I paid 100 us cash. Then he brought me to a place to buy bus tickets and said that the last bus is leaving. I didn't take any bus and I said that I just want to be alone and relax. I hitchhiked from Tamu. In first checkpoint police asked stupid questions and said that I should not walk, I should take a vehicule. They didn't ask about the permit. I was in a vehicule but they took me out from that vehicule. So then I just walked away and hitchhiked again. The police haven't asked me anything later.
