Myanmar (Yangon, Mandalay, etc.) - Any experience

I just got back from Mandalay but I went principally to take a cruise on the Ayeyarwady river. The country is struggling to deal with the incredible increase in tourists which has occurred since 2011 so hotels etc. are not cheap anymore and many of the best are fully booked.

My port of entry was Yangon and I stayed at the Savoy hotel. It's beautiful and is a converted colonial house - lots of teak. Very good service. We had just a day to see Yangon - principally the Schwedagon Temple (Sp?), the People's Park, the central market, another temple with a large reclining Buddha and a drive by of some other sights. We then flew to Mandalay - saw the teak bridge, the Royal Palace grounds and a temple on high ground across the river.

We went to Bagan - very beautiful, but kind of overrun with tourists - many of the sites are not well managed by anyone so there could be crowds of people at the same time for sunset watching or whatever. Also lots of places to stay in the new Bagan - I loved the pagodas, but not the touristy atmosphere. Lots of people loved the balloon rides at sunrise over the temples - I think this is quite expensive, but many thought it was a once in a lifetime sight.

Went to Mt Popa - did not climb up the 717 steps to the pagoda - didn't want to deal with the monkeys. But it's a temple many of the Burmese go to visit as it is sacred and home to the "nats" (Spirits). This was a day trip from the ship and we saw a lot more of how the average person lives in Myanmar on this trip.

Also went to Monywa - again more interesting as a slice of more local life. And we docked at a smaller town called Myin Mu - quite a nice little town - good local market.

We saw a lot of pagodas - unlike other places, you must remove both your shoes AND your socks. Bare feet only in the temple areas.

There was a lot of interesting food - lots of rice of course and some very good salads - tea leaf salad was unusual and very good. I only ate on the ship or restaurant type places - I did not eat any street food.

I would go back to Myanmar - the changes in the country are evident and the contrast between the cities and the villages is quite striking. The people were very nice although in some places the souvenir sellers can be very persistent and follow you around.

Electricity is not reliable in many places, even Yangon. Don't even think about drinking anything but bottled water.

Just one more note - Even LP may not be accurate. Things are changing so quickly that you need to find out the current information on the ground. For example, I believe that LP states that it's difficult to get a SIM card. That was the case until 6 months ago, but now you can buy them for $2 and they are sold everywhere.

We changed money at our hotel because we arrived at 1 in the morning. The exchange rate was pretty much what everyone would give. Surprisingly, there are many money changers at some of the large temples (eg. Schwedagon) and they had the best rate.

I do agree that clean US bills are necessary - mine were scrutinized. There is a better rate for $100 bills than for $20 bills for example, even if you are changing $100 worth. $1 bills are useful but lots of things are less than that so changing money to Kyats is a good idea.

There is supposed to be an election in November. Even the slate of candidates is uncertain at this time. There has been a move to change the constitution so "the Lady" can be President, but it is unlikely to be changed and the current President may not run again due to health issues so you might want to keep an eye on the political situation as well.

Thanks Shirley for all the info.

I figure some of the info is definitely going to be outdated by the time I get to the country. That is why I also rely on the Thorn Tree forum for more upto date information especially things like visa on arrival and border crossings, etc.

RE: visa
I don't think visa on arrival is available except for business people. We did the online e visa - worked like a charm - very good website and quick email response - e visa arrived within a week to my email and was accepted without any problem upon arrival in Yangon.

VOA for Rangoon airport is available. It is just that it is a lot more expensive that applying via the Embassy in Washington, DC. $50 for VOA v/s $20 through the embassy. Since I'll be applying for 4 people, I'll go through the hassle for saving the $120.