Myanmar?

[mama squeak!]

^Thanks for visiting my blog! I'm glad it inspires you to travel more. 

Very safe to travel solo in Myanmar. Madami kaming na-meet ng hubby ko na mga solo travelers. Of course as in anywhere else you still have to take your usual precaution. But generally mababait mga tao dun.

There are only three international airports in Myanmar: Yangon, Mandalay and Naypyidaw (their new capital) where you can enter the country. We took Air Bangkok from Bangkok to Mandalay (v.v.) and Air Bagan From Mandalay to Bagan (v.v. ). Unfortunately only domestic flights are served by the Nyaung-U airport in Bagan.

When you visit Bagan, you definitely have to go on a hot air balloon ride. Balloon season is from October to March only so try to visit during those months. Nice during the cool months, December to February, para hindi tagaktak pawis mo when you go around visiting the temples. 

Hubby and I are planning to go back to see more of the country. Ipon-ipon muna. 

[krnmprl]

this place is so awesome, since naiwan nga sila ng modernization due to the junta. imagine the whole country doesn't even have a mcdonald's or a 711. and people are genuinely kind. i like that whole buddhist vibe thing.

we just did a walking tour of yangon. galing ng colonial buildings downtown. para ka talagang bumalik in the 20s. then we took the overnight bus to bagan. sayang short stay lang kami sobra so we were forced to hire a van. but if you have enough time on you. just stay in these out of the way places like bagan and bike all over the town. do the whole indiana jones thing. yung temple sight seeing dito is all the way an authentic travel experience. parang you're really experiencing something new and exploring. i guess unlike all the guided temple tours. there are also temples that are at least a thousand years old still being used for worship today. don't miss the Ananda temple for instance. sacred, quiet, great architecture.

i think i spent too much compared to our other trips. but worth it. i was boarding my flight back at yangon airport after a 4 day stay and felt i've really grown so much in that place. learned so much.

[astarte]

Glad to bump in to this thread, my boss always rave about this country and its culture. It was fun reading the posts here, now I'll save up for this this will be my next travel itinerary. Yay!

[krisel_06]

I always underestimate Myanmar thinking wala naman something spectacular na mapupuntahan doon, not after I saw a picture of a hot air balloons floats over the temples in front of a beautiful sunrise, napa-wowww talaga ako!

Nasa bucketlist ko ang hot air balloon ride and to experience sunrise in foreign land so just like sis astarte, this will be my next travel itinerary. Hitting two birds with one stone! 

Magkano ba ang kelangan na budget for 3 days (DIY), excluding the balloon ride? TIA

[krnmprl]

I think the balloon ride might cost more than your RT fare to Myanmar (we got ours on sale! Otherwise fare costs a fortune, and no direct flights from Manila). It's about 300 USD I think. But it's not everyday you have a chance to do a balloon ride, plus you get to see the awesome temples in Bagan from that vantage point.

Pero tip lang, you don't necessarily have to do it. For me it's a bit touristy. and expensive. There is an observatory that is about 13 floors (there is an elevator don't worry) where you can get a 360 degree view of all the temples in Bagan. It costs only 5 dollars. And nothing beats the experience of climbing over the pagodas yourself. Just be careful as they're kind of steep and you have to do it barefoot.

Our myanmar trip really stands out among our other trips so far. We think it's still so untamed. Yun yung trip that makes you grow up a little bit within 3 days of being there.

Budget will cost a bit more than your usual SEA country (private cars if you don't want to bike around, tour guide really helpful in Yangon at least, but food is cheap, hotel is expensive) but I assure you it's worth it.

[kachich]

^around 1K USD last I estimate for a budget trip.
The balloons kasi 300usd++ per person
You'll have to fly to Bangkok then fly to Mandalay then 4 hour bus to Bagan.
Or fly to Kuala Lumpur, then Yangon then 8 hour bus to Bagan. Sa plane fares pa lang, additional 300usd na.

[krisel_06]

^napa-wow din ako sa amount sis. I assumed all-in na ito and not budgeted travel? like hostel accommodations, sale airfare tickets? If not, ang mahal pala, akala ko nasa 30k+ lang. But may nabasa ako sa kabila around $200 lang expenses nya for 5 days na.

[mama squeak!]

^if you're going the route of super budget backpack style travel you can probably spend $200 for 5 days. But that is only for your food (super cheap ang food dun!), accommodation and land transport. Hindi kasama dyan ang airfare since the cheapest I've seen so far via Yangon on CebPac is already 4-5K on promo pa yan ha.

[a.k.a. HELGA]

Any suggestion where to get USD dollar (crisps, no folds) especially no markings for Myanmar?
TIA!

[Crissy]

^^mama squeak! you tried na the hot air balloon, how much po sya? It's one of my bucketlist to do.

[mama squeak!]

^^You can request your bank or Czarina (in case you don't have a dollar account) to give you new (yung big face na ha) crisp dollar bills unfortunately most of them will have stamp markings. Hindi naman kami nagka-problema when we exchanged our marked dollars sa money exchange at the airport.

^sis, it was the highlight of our trip! Never thought we would enjoy it. My first worry was baka mahilo ako but it was unfounded naman since the balloon floated gently. I have blog posts on our Myanmar trip in case you want to see our pictures. Just click on my signature.

[lavieenrose]

Thank you for these tips! Booked a Myanmar trip in May, via Mandalay RT. I realized now that I should have booked different flights, e.g. fly into Mandalay and fly out Yangon or vice versa.

Mamasqueak, I also read your blog posts, really helpful!

I am quite concerned about taking public transport between Mandalay, Bagan, Inle Lake (buses / trains).
How costly are the domestic flights and the tour package?

We will be skipping the hot air balloon, and it might not be the right season for that in May I think.

Thank you!

[a.k.a. HELGA]

^^ thank you mama squeak! Cant wait for next month.

[mama squeak!]

@lavieenrose, sayang! Balloon season is during their winter months lang kasi. Re expenses, we did a combination DIY/arranged tour with one of the travel agencies there. Just to give you an idea of our IT and the expenses, here's how we did it:

Our route was Manila-Bangkok-Mandalay-Bagan vv.  (we stopped in Bangkok for two nights on our way back)

MNL/BKK/MNL via CebPac (paid taxes only since we fly free with CebPac) approx. Php2500/person

BKK/MDL/BKK via Bangkok Air approx. Php9000/person

Private packaged tour: USD787/person (can be lower if you go for lower starred hotels)

Inclusions:

02 nights stay in 4-star hotel in Mandalay with breakfast
05 nights stay in 4-star hotel in Bagan with breakfast
Half day city tour with driver and guide in Mandalay in A/C car, horse-cart, boat
Entrance fees for Mandalay tourist sights
All transfers from hotel to airport Mandalay and Bagan
Domestic tickets Mandalay to Bagan vv via Air Bagan

We decided to do the arranged tour in Mandalay since we only had one day and the sights were far in between so mahirap mag-commute. Hindi din gaano efficient pa their public transpo so effort talaga if mag-DIY unless you plan to stay longer.

In Bagan though we DIYed everything since we were there longer. We only had our hotel and transfers booked by the travel agent since it came out mas mura rates ni travel agent as compared booking directly with the hotel.

Re transpo around Bagan, nakatipid din kami since the hotel had bikes that we could borrow. We only rented an e-bike on our last day since napagod na kami. Lol!

Overall, I must say this was one of the trips we really enjoyed. We're hoping to go back again in the future.

[lavieenrose]

Thanks so much mama squeak! this is really helpful!  your tour pala includes the domestic flights already. We will also definitely go with a mix of DIY and arranged tour.
We have the same route, Mandalay via Bangkok, but we'll fly into MDL via Air Asia (~6,300 per person).
Thank you again! I have your blog bookmarked so we can go back to it for reference.

[mama squeak!]

^I was also looking into Air Asia kasi cheaper yung fare nila but they use Don Mueang and we were coming from a CebPac flight arriving from Suvarnabhumi. The connecting time was not ideal for us.

Just in case you still don't have a travel agent in Myanmar, I highly recommend the agent we used. It's One Stop Travel and Tours . I actually found them on Tripadvisor and they really deserve their no. 1 ranking.

[Crissy]

I'm going to Myanmar this coming May 21, meron pa kayang hot air balloon on this month? I really want to try this. Parang it's not complete yung trip if you're not gonna ride a balloon.

[mama squeak!]

^balloon season is from October to March only.

[fairytink]

Hello..

We are planning to visit Myanmar next week end - super biglaan kaya eto nangangarag sa DIY and super budget backpack trip planning  Meron ba sa inyong me contact na van for hire? We are arriving Yangon and flying out Yangon also. Total 8 naman kasi kami and we only have 4 full days and wanted to see the most of Burma in 4 days.  See our itinerary, please advise kung posible ba ito o kathang isip lang namin 

DAY1:   Arrive Yangon at 8am
            9am-1pm : 4 hours Yangon City Tour
            1pm onwards : Travel to Bagan
            Overnite Bagan.

DAY2:   Early morning Bagan Tour.
            Thousand pagodas.
            Travel to Mandalay.
            Amarapura Sunset Bridge
            Overnite in Mandalay.

DAY3:   Mandalay Tour.
            Mingun - White Temple + Inle Lake
            Pone Taloke Lake - Pindaya + Temples on the Lake
            Travel to Taunggyi - Kaku Pagodas
            Overnite Taunggyi

DAY4 :  Early trip to Bago.
            Golden Rock.
            Then Back to Yangon.
            Overnite Yangon.

DAY5:  Yangon - Kuala Lumpur
           Flight at 630am.

mama squeak! - Can you share with me your blog posts about your Myanmar trip pleaseee 

Thank you all in advance! I hope me isa sa inyo ang makapag share ng contact number ng van for hire..
     

[mama squeak!]

^sis super ngarag yung itinerary nyo. Para kayong nag-amazing race. Byahe pa lang kapagod na from south to north and back. Maybe you can do Yangon and Bagan. Haven't been to Yangon yet but if the attractions are kinda similar to Mandalay's kaya na siguro one whole day (bitin pa rin for my preference). Bagan, bitin if you overnight it lang. Give it at least 2 full days. We spent 5 full days there and yet we felt we haven't really seen the whole place.

I posted the link to the travel agency we used in Myanmar. Check with them if they have vans for hire. For my Myanmar trip, you can just click on my signature. Bawal to post links to personal blogs on the thread.

Good luck!