We were away from Jan. 14 until Feb 6, spending a total of 20 nights in Myanmar. The weather was fabulous, with no rain and high temperatures mostly in the mid 80s during the daytime. We had Zaw at Santa Maria travel agency make the hotel and plane reservations, as well as arrange some transfers and car trips. He is very nice to work with, but this required a lot of time spent emailing back and forth until our itinerary was finalized. At that point, one third of the trip cost was wired to a friend of his in Thailand. The balance was payable on arrival in crisp, new unmarked $100 bills. I must say I felt somewhat anxious about carrying thousands of dollars on my person into the country, but since everyone else seemed to have done it without getting robbed, I bit the bullet, relaxed and did it.

Our itinerary included the following-2 nights at the Summit Parkview in Yangon, basically to recover from jet lag and see Shwedegon Pagoda, 3 nights at the Mandalay City Hotel in Mandalay, 4 nights at the Hotel at Tharbar Gate in Bagan, 1 night at the Hill Top Inn in Kalaw, 4 nights at the Paramount Inle Resort in Inle Lake, 1 night at the Seasons of Yangon Hotel at the airport (arrived at the hotel at 6:15PM and left the next morning at 11am), 3 nights at the Narawat Hotel in Mrauk U, and 2 nights at the Summit Parkview Hotel in Yangon. All of the hotels except the Hotel at Tharbar Gate were suggested by Zaw according to my requirements of 3-4 star hotels with 1-good location 2-good airconditioning 3-good beds and 4-clean. I checked his recommendations on Trip Advisor and all seemed ok except for his recommendation for Bagan which I switched to the Hotel at Tharbar Gate. For the most part, most of the hotels met my requirements.

We left Boston at 7:40 PM and arrived in Yangon at 6:15 AM two days later. We quickly went through immigration, changed dollars into kyats at the rate of 815 kyats to the dollar, went to the taxi stand in the terminal and paid 8000 kyats or $10 US for a taxi to the Summit Parkview Hotel. Tip: There is no need to pay 3 times this amount to a travel agent for this transfer. It is very easy and straightforward to arrange on your own at the airport.

Well, please keep going. You have wetted my appetite...

We arrived at the Summit Parkview at about 11am, jet lagged and tired. They had a room available on a lower floor, but I wanted a room on a high floor to minimize street noise. We opted to wait until a room on a high floor was made up which took until 1PM. I am very glad we waited. We were shown to a corner room on the fifth floor with a direct pagoda view of Schwedegon pagoda. This was a deluxe room for which we paid a few dollars more than a regular room. It was well worth it. The room was very large, freshly painted, newish bedspreads and drapes, and lovely sheets. It was very clean, and had the usual amenities, plus some extras, in the bathroom. The bathroom itself seemed old and in need of updating, but there was always plenty of hot water. The air conditioning worked well.

After napping for a few hours, and taxiing to the hospital for my husbands meds, we returned to the hotel to freshen up. We walked 2 minutes from the hotel to Singapore's Kitchen Restaurant, an excellent restaurant featuring Chinese and Singapore type food. We sat outside (There is indoor seating as well) and had a very enjoyable meal. The food was high quality and was seasoned well. the service was excellent. The prices were high by Myanmar standards-the equivalent of about $30 for 1 dish of stir fried vegtables, two meat dishes, rice and 1 beer. The check was payable in kyats. The food was so good that we returned here all of the nights we stayed at the Summit Parkview. On one of the nights we wanted dessert, so we crossed the street to My Garden Restaurant and had chocolate cake and black forest cake. The desserts were very good, and definately better than sticky rice.

We went to bed after taking a Melatonin (Thanks for that tip Kathy) looking forward to our first day of sightseeing tomorrow.

Kathie-Sorry about the spelling error of your name. Guess I need to pay more attention to what I type.

You are forgiven for the misspelling, Shelly, you are still in a time zone somewhere between Yangon and the US.

Loving the beginning of your report, Shelly, and looking forward to more. You and your husband braved the Myanmar medical system and came through it great!

Great report and keep it coming!

We awoke early to start our first day of sightseeing in Yangon. We had a a very good buffet breakfast at the hotel, which included Asian and western dishes as well as an omlette station. The food was good and well presented. The service was spotty, but always with a smile.

After breakfast we told the doorman what our itinerary would be for the day and asked him for approximate taxi prices from one place to the next, so we had a ballpark figure of what the taxi fare should be. The hotel is located in the green, as in treed, section of Yangon, so a taxi is necessary to get to most places except for Shwedegon Pagoda which is within walking distance. Most taxi fares were in the 2-3000 kyat range, so it is very reasonable to get just about anywhere in Yangon. The taxis seemed to be much improved from the ones I had read about-no doors falling off and windows that worked for the most part.

Our first stop was Boatung Paya, which features one of Buddah's hairs. As this was the first Paya we visited, we spent a good hour here investigating the complex. We met and spoke to a trustee of the Paya who when he learned we were from America was very interested in talking politics, both American and Burmese , with us. In addition, he gave us his philosophical take on Buddism and yoga which we found very intersting.

After visiting the Paya, we walked a few minutes down a road to the river where we observed ferry boats crossing the river, bigger boats being loaded with goods for long voyages and people selling food at stalls along the riverfront. As it was getting hot, we did not spend too much time here.

We took a taxi to the Strand Hotel, which I had wanted to see. We went through the gift shop, which had some beautiful items for sale, viewed the lobby, and used their restroom. After seeing only these areas, I was happy with our choice of the Summit Parkview Hotel, as it is in a quieter area, which for us was a plus.

From the Strand we did a walking tour down Strand Road viewing the old colonial buildings, to Mahabooli Park and through Chinatown. This was not a leisurely stroll as you constantly must be alert for broken pavement, open sewers and a huge amount of traffic. At this point we were hot and tired and would have liked to have gotten a taxi. However, since we could not get one (All that past were filled), we started to walk back to the hotel. We finally were able to get a cab when we were most of the way back to the hotel. We figure we walked several miles, but it did not feel that long since the sights along the way were interesting and we stopped a lot to take photos.

We returned to the hotel at about 2 and rested until 4. I thought about swimming in the large hotel pool, but decided to conserve my energy for our visit to Shwedegon Paya which we were going to visit this afternoon.

We taxied to the Paya at about 4PM and spent 3.5-4 hours there. It truly is an amazing place and I took many photos. We saw it in bright sunlight, in twilight and in the dark. Each of these lighting effects give the paya complex a different appearance which makes for varied, interesting photos. The many small payas and buildings within the complex are outlined and lit with small light bulbs at dark, giving the complex a somewhat Disneyland feel. The Burmese people seemed to enjoy the ambiance as we saw many families with children strolling through and enjoying the Paya after dark.

After taking many photos we returned to the hotel by taxi, had dinner at Singapore's Kitchen and went to sleep as we had a very early flight to Mandalay the next morning.

Great Start. Looking forward to more. I too loved the gift shops at the strand Hotel.

Looking forward to more.

I'm sorry to be impatient, but I can't wait to hear more about your trip!

Kathie-Glad to hear that you are interested in my TR, although judging by the lack of comments, it doesn't appear that too many others are . I feel that I owe you big time for the sucess of our trip, so I will get back to the TR as soon as I get some pesky, everyday things out of the way. To the others that have commented, thanks for letting me know that someone other than me is intesested in my adventure.

how does a Dr. travel w/o extra meds??

Don't forget, Shelly, that for every person who posts a response to your report, there are at least 10 others reading...

And when Dogster reads them too that figure is multiplied a thousand times...

Lurking here too and enjoying your report. Kathie is right, many more than you know are waiting.........

Aloha!

Thanks for the encouragement and positive reinforcement. It's nice to know that someone is reading.

The next city on our itinerary was Mandalay. I purposely put Mandalay second on our itinerary because from my reading I felt it would be the least interesting of the places we would visit, and I did not want to make comparisons in my mind to Bagan and Inle Lake, had we seen those first. Mandalay did turn out to be the least interesting place on our itinerary, but I do not regret spending 3 days there. It gave us an additional view of the social and economic aspects of Myanmar, allowed us a day to explore the ancient cities, gave us an extra few days to get over our jet lag and was not boring in the least. What it was though was dusty, noisy, and crowded.

We had an early wake up call at the Summit Parkview Hotel, and left the hotel at 5:30 for our 7:30 flight. The hotel doorman got us a taxi for 8000 kyats and the dining room gave us a boxed breakfast as we had to leave before the dining room opened for breakfast. The boxed breakfast was horrible, but the thought was nice. I felt bad about missing the buffet breakfast at the hotel, which I thought was very good,but I knew we'd be back for 2 more nights at the end of the trip.

At mandalay airport, Santa Maria arranged for a taxi transfer to our hotel for us. It was $26, and we felt that this was money well spent. The airport is one hour from the city, and we did not see any taxis waiting at the airport. So if you are going to Mandalay, I suggest you make arrangements for an airport pickup in advance of your arrival.

We arrived at the Mandalay City hotel around 11am. I had read that there was a mosque next door to the hotel, so I requested a room on the other side of the building. Bad news though, the hotel was fully booked for the night and our room was on the mosque side. However, they could switch our room to the quiet side the next day, for our next 2 nights. Their offer was speedily accepted.

The Mandalay City Hotel is an oasis in the middle of busy, dusty Mandalay. It is landscaped with greenery, and has a coy pond and a small swimming pool. Also, because of where it is situated, it is quiet....except for the mosque. So for the first day, not only did we hear the call to prayer several times, but we heard students chanting from the Koran, loudly and in unison, for a solid 2 hours, from 6PM to 8PM. After 8, it became relatively quiet and we were able to sleep.

I had nothing special planned for our day of arrival in Mandalay, so after checking into the hotel, we decided to have a leisurely lunch at KO's Kitchen, a Thai restaurant I had read about. I asked the hotel if it was within walking distance and they said it would take us about 15-20 minutes to walk there. Well, it took us about 40 minutes, walking through hot busy streets, crossing heavily trafficked roads, breathing smog,and watching for pot holes and broken pavement. Note to self-do not plan on walking too far in Mandalay.

We got to Ko's Kitchen, hot and tired, but lunch gave us a chance to cool off and regroup. The best part of lunch was the airconditioning. The food was just ok and the service was slow. I decided we would not return there for another meal.

After lunch, we asked the restaurant if they could call us a taxi to take us to Mandalay Hill. Although they did try, they were unable to secure a taxi for us, but did find a trishaw (bicycle taxi) for us at a cost of 2500 kyats. It was great fun for us zipping through the streets on this home made contraption, although it probably wasn't much fun for the poor guy peddling. He left us at the base of Mandalay Hill, where we had the choice of walking up a zillion steps to the top, or paying a guy in a taxi-$8US to take us up wait for us and return us to the bottom. Guess which we chose?

Mandalay Hill was underwelming, and we spent only about 15-20 minutes at the top. On the way down, the driver offered to take us to a few more sights in the area and take us back to our hotel for another $4, a true bargain, to me at least. So he drove us to Sammi Paya and Kathodaw Paya, both in the vicinity of the hill. I enjoyed both and recommend a visit to both. They were similar to each other in appearance but Kathodaw Paya is several hundred years older than Sammi Paya which was built in the early 1900s. Both had many stupas which contained marble slabs inscribed with Buddah's teachings. Kathodaw Paya is termed "the world's largest book" in many guidebooks. Sammi Paya is not as prominently mentioned, but both were interesting to visit.

At that point it was getting late, we were getting tired and we asked to be returned to the hotel. We went to bed early, not having dinner, as we were not hungry after having our late lunch at Ko's Kitchen.

Tomorrow we are being picked up at 8am by a guide and driver for our tour of the ancient cities.

Thanks for the next installment. I agree, Mandalay is a hard city to love, still, like you, I was glad for our few days there. The dust and the traffic and heat make walking unpleasant.

After a very good buffet breakfast at the hotel, we were picked up promptly by Tony, our guide, and a driver. The hotel said that they would transfer our luggage to our new room, while we were away for the day, so we left our luggage in the room, packed up and ready to be transferred.

Our first two stop of the day were a gold leaf making shop and the Mahamuni Paya, both on the way to the ancient cities. The gold leaf demonstration was short and interesting. The visit to the Paya was informative and eye opening. Men could approach the Mahammuni Buddah to place gold leaf on it, but women could not. So much gold leaf was applied to the body of the Buddah that you could not make out the body parts. Only the face was obvious, as no gold leaf was applied to it.

I opted to skip the "feeding of the monks" at the monastery in Anarapura as I had heard that it is very crowded with often rude and unruly tourists. We drove directly to Sagaing where I had tod Tony i wanted to spend most of the day. This was a good decision and worked out well. The scenery in Saiging was lovely and green, the air was fresh and there was ample opportunity to explore the many payas, the markets and the home workshops which I was interested in.

The first temple we visited was Kaunghmudaw Paya, a round domed paya modelled after the Great Stupa in Sri Lanka. Many years ago the dome was white, but is now covered in gold leaf, and it is visible from Saiging Hill, many miles away. The next temple was the Hsinmyashin Paya, also known as the Elephant Pagoda as there are 2 elephant statues at the entrance and many smaller elephant statues at the base of the paya. We also visited the Umin Thounzen cave temple which was many Buddahs lining the semi circular walls.

We then went to a produce market which I always love visiting, and to a a clay pot making house, where the owner and his daughter demonstrated how they make the pots. The clay comes from a distant riverbank, many miles away, and is dug and transported by the family to their house. I took an interesting photo of the daughter of the owner holding several clay pots on her head and under her arms. We were given a gift of 3 very small stackable clay pots, and we returned the favor by offering a small gift of our own (a few thousand kyats). There was no pressure to buy, just an interesting interaction with a very nice family. We visited some other sites around Sagaing, and then left the area arriving at Amarapura at 3:30.

I opted to skip visiting Inwa because of the bumpy horsecart ride, which seemed like it might not be too good for DH's back. After a brief stop at the monastery which we had skipped in the morning, we spent the rest of our time at U Bein bridge. Tony left us at the bridge and told us to meet hin back at the car whenever we wished. We spent about 3 hours at the bridge.

We walked across the bridge to visit the village and paya on the other side. We walked through a residential area which was interesting. The people were very friendly, smiling and saying "Mingalabar".

We then spent a good amount of time on the bridge taking photos. When I got home, I was surprised at how many photos I took of the beautiful sunset. It was hard to decide what to keep and what to delete.

We left the bridge at about 6:30 and returned to the hotel at 7:30. We tipped Tony and the driver for a job well done and went to our new room to freshen up before dinner. The hotel had transferred our luggage as promised. The new room was smallish, freshly painted, and was very clean as was the previous room. In addition it was quiet.

On the way back to the hotel, Tony recommended a restaurant near our hotel, Mann Chinese Restaurant, which he said was very clean, inexpensive and had good Chinese food. It was where he eats when he is in the area. We walked about 5-10 minutes to the restaurant and entered a huge room filled, actually packed, with locals and a few tourists. This place is more like a pub than a restaurant, as more locals seemed to be drinking than eating. It was nosiy and crowded, but we decided to stay as it was actually an interesting environment to be in.

We ordered several Chinese dishes, which arrived 45 later, after several reminders to the one waiter who seemed to be covering the whole room. The food was good and inexpensive, as Tony had said, and as an added bonus we had a good time watching all the the activity in the very, busy place. All in all a very successful evening.

Incidentally, I would not recommend this as a restaurant to most people unless you can tolerate the kind of environment I have described. However, i would recommend it for an after dinner drink, just to experience Mandalay nightlife.

Tomorrow we head for Mingun

Continuing to enjoy your report.
As an aside, it would be nice if more people would chime in. It is often discouraging when you are not sure if you are writing for the sake of writing or if others are enjoying your report.

I'm glad you enjoyed Sagaing, it really is a lovely place. We ate at a restuarant there which was really good.

Looking forward to reading about Mingun, as we didn't get there this trip.

Kathie-You did not miss a lot by not going to Mingun, IMO. It was not one of the highlights of our trip, although it was an interesting time filler, unlike Pindaya Cave which I thought was a total waste of time and money.

I'm chiming in (and reading). Thanks.

It sounds like I guessed right on skipping both Mingun and Pindaya. Glad to hear it.

We went to Kos Kitchen as well and would not recommend it. We did a trishaw and a motorcycle in Mandalay city both of which were a lot of fun, but wouldnt want to spend more than a few hours on a tri shaw.

Although I loved Inwa, I think you were wise not to go if your husband has a bad back as it was very bumpy. We would get off an walk for part of it.

And the feeding of the monks, I got some great pictures in the very short time that we were there, but as you said the tourists were overwhelming and very pushy and rude so you didnt miss much there either.

Enjoying your report. I too took hundreds of pictures of the sunset at U Bein and then had to choose just four from that. The beauty of digital cameras!

I just finished viewing and deleting some of my photos. I've kept 900 out of 2700, After storing photos of several trips on my computer, I am running out of storage space on my computer. It may be time for am external hard drive.

Just one external hard drive? lol

We left the hotel, after another very good buffet breakfast, for a 10 minute ride to the jetty to meet our private boat to take us to Mingun. The taxi transfers, as well as the private boat, were arranged by Santa Maria at a cost of $60. In retrospect, we could have done this for a lot less by taking the public boat from the jetty which leaves every morning at 9am. Tickets for that boat are approximately $5 per person.

The boat ride to Mingun took about an hour and was not very interesting, although it was relaxing. The boat had to navigate down the middle of the river, far from the riverbanks, because of the low water level, so it was difficult to see the activities on the riverbanks. If we had had binoculars with us, it might have been more interesting.

When the boat docked in Mingun, we had to walk about 15 feet over a wooden plank to get from the boat to the shore. There were no handrails and I was happy not to have wound up in the river.

First stop was the huge base of the Mingun Paya which if it had been finished would have been the tallest paya in Myanmar. Work on it was stopped after an earthquake in the 1800s, so all that is there is a very tall base. We walked up many, almost vertical steps on one side of the paya to the top. The steps were not in good condition and we had to jump over many crevices to reach the top, but the fabulous view from the top was worth it.

As we were leaving the paya, a young man came over to us and asked if we wanted to hire him as a guide. His English was good. He said he was a student and needed the money, so we agreed on a price and took a chance that he would add to our visit. This turned out to be a good decision as he efficiently took us to and through the major sites, many times using back entrances to avoid the crowds at the front entrances, all the while giving us information about the sites as well as telling us about his family. We spent a total of two hours at Mingun, and paid him more than the agreed upon amount at the end of the tour.

IMO, there are no memorable sites in Mingun, except for the huge base of the paya and a very large cast iron bell. Nevertheless, it was an interesting way to spend a half day, and I know if I had not gone I would have wondered if I was missing something.

We returned to the hotel at 1:30, sat by the pool for a couple of hours, and at 4:30 took a taxi to the Shwe In Bein teak monastery built in 1895. This monastery is located in the "monk's district" which is an interesting area to spend some time in. The dirt streets have very little traffic, and while taking our short stroll we viewed the varied shops and activities of the district, not having to dodge traffic or watch for pothholes. We returned to the hotel at about 6PM and ate dinner at the hotel restaurant which was good and reasonably priced.

The following day we had a our 4:30 PM flight to Bagan, so we had several hours to spend before leaving for the airport. We walked about 10 minutes to a very large, busy open air produce market (Did I say I love viewing produce markets?) and spent about 2 hours just wandering, viewing the various avtivities, and taking photos. We returned to the hotel, sat by the pool for a while and left the hotel at 2PM for our one hour ride to the airport. The transfer was arranged by SM.

My view of Mandalay is that it was interesting. If time is not an issue I would include it in an itinerary,but if it would take time away from Bagan or Inle Lake, then I would skip it. If time is an issue, the highlights of Mandalay and the ancient cities can been seen in 2 days. We had 3 days there because of flight schedules and our desire to have some time relaxing and recovering from jet lag.

I am enjoying your report. I agree with you, I would skip Mandalay if time were short and just do Inle and Bagan as well. You did it like we did, saved the best for last!

Hi Live-Glad to see your still reading.

We arrived in Bagan at 5:30PM and took a 10 minute taxi ride to our hotel. There were numerous taxis waiting at the at the airport and it cost 6000 kyats to our hotel, the Hotel at Tharbar Gate.

Our deluxe room was very large, had minimalist (ie plain) decor, and was in a relatively quiet part of the large lushly, landscaped grounds. I say it was relatively quiet because our 4 night stay coincided with the Ananda Festival, at the Ananda Temple, which was in very close proximity to our hotel. At another time the close proximity to Ananda Temple would have been a plus, but in this instance it was not, as the loudspeaker from the festival seemed to be aimed directly at our hotel. Music and priests chanting was the order of the day and night. It was so noisy on our check in that there was a sign at the front desk saying that if any guests were disturbed by the noise they could get earplugs from the desk clerk. So much for the peace and quiet we had hoped for. Fortunately our room was about as far away from the noise as possible, so it was quiet in our room and we did not need earplugs to sleep. The breakfast area overlooking the pool was noisy, however, and I was happy to be away from the hotel grounds for most of the day.

The first evening we walked about 5 minutes from the hotel, with a flashlight, to have dinner at the Be Kind to Animals vegetarian restaurant, opposite the Moon Restaurant. The food was very good, especially the pumpkin soup and the special eggplant dish. It is a family run restaurant which prides itself on making everything to order. The family that runs it was very nice, and we enjoyed speaking to them, especially the daughter who left her job in the new capital to return to Bagan to help her family run the restaurant.

For the next 2.5 days we had Min Thu as our horsecart driver/ guide. I previously wrote to him telling him that we wanted to visit not only temples, but also some villages and some home workshops. We let him decide on where to go each day.

On most days we toured from 8am to 12:30 and from 3:30 to 6:30. We left the hotel earlier on one day in order to see the sunrise which was not as spectacular as the 2 sunsets we viewed.

Min Thu did an outstanding job of giving us a good understanding of the temples, the economy, and the society/culture of Bagan. He took us to his village so we could see the market there and told us about his extended family which all live together under the same roof. We feel very fortunate to have had 2.5 days with him.

We had originally booked him for 3 full days, but on the second day he told us that he could only be available to us the third day for half a day because he had the opportunity to be the guide for a 10 person tour group which he had to meet at the airport at 4PM. He offered to get us another horsecart driver to take us to the jetty for a sunset cruise on our third afternoon, but we declined, preferring instead to spend the afternoon visiting the Ananda Temple on our own and relaxing at the hotel swimming pool.

Speaking of the hotel pool, although it was large and looked clean, I was disappointed not to be able to use it because the water was very cold. There were many people sitting around the pool, but only one or two ventured in, and they did not look too comfortable once they got in. Note to Tharbar Gate Hotel-The pool water needs to be heated during the cooler winter months.

We returned to the same vegetarian restaurant a second night. We ate at the Moon Bean Restaurant the third night. Although it would like to be thought of as an upscale restaurant alternative in Bagan, IMO it was not. We ordered a fish dish and a chicken dish. The fish was the better of the two, though nothing special. The service was amaturish and lacking, and the prices were high for what we got. The highlight of our dinner was dessert, 2 small chocolate lava cakes. They were not the best we've had, but werepretty good. Maybe we were there on an off night because the hotel guests who recommended it to us thought the restaurant was fabulous.

On the last night we ate at the Sarabar II Restaurant which is next door to the hotel. The Chinese food and service were very good, and the 30 minute marionette show after dinner was entertaining.

Our flight to Heho the next day was scheduled for 10am. We paid Santa Maria for a taxi transfer to the airport because I felt that if there were a last minute change or cancellation, the SM driver would know about it and be responsible for getting us to the airport at the right time..

We had the hotel confirm our flight in the afternoon, and Bagan Air confirmed the flight time as 10am. When we returned to the hotel after dinner we were given 2 conflicting messages about what time we were to be picked up by our driver. The first message which came in at 6PM said that we would be picked up at 8 AM for our 10am flight. The second message which came in at 8PM said that our flight was changed and we would be picked up at 6:30AM for an 8am flight.

I was really confused and annoyed as both messages came between 6PM and 8PM, well after the airport office had closed. After many phone calls to Zaw, Santa Maria, and the Santa Maria field agent in Bagan, we were told that the phone call that our flight was changed was a mistake by a Santa Maria employee, and that we would not have to leave the hotel at 6:30 after all. I can only imagine how furious I would have been if I had not followed up on the second message and had awakened hours before necessary, missed breakfast and then had to sit in the airport for 3 hours waiting for our 10am flight.

Tomorrow we fly to Heho.

Yes still reading Shelly and still enjoying your report especially since we were there the same time. We went to your hotel one day for a coffee and sat by the pool and saw that there was no one in it. I loved the large wooden beams in the entrance way, they were stunning.

We had tea at the same restarant across from Moon and found them very nice as well. Later we came back to have dinner at Moon and as we were leaving saw the owner and felt so bad that we didnt have dinner at his place, almost like we were cheating on him....

I look forward to your reflections on Inle.

I think that not many people are reading either of our reports because not that many people go there (which is why we loved it) and all those that did (like you and I) have done their planning.

I bet you that next fall or late summer will see comments when people are thinking of traveling there again. Great report however and I am sure the others are all enjoying. Lots more read than leave comments too. It is too bad that they dont have counters on these, like my blog does, of how many people read them and not just leave messages.
Debbe

Correction: The name of the restaurant where we had mediocre entrees, and good desserts , was Star Beans, not Moon Beans.

Myanmar is on our radar for a future trip, although we would feel more comfortable if the USA had better diplomatic relations. It's wonderful to be able to read reports like yours.

Shelley, as you know we organized our second trip itinerary with Mandalay first for exactly the reasons you did, and I felt it worked very well. Every flight we took had the times changed by the airline several times between the time we booked and the time we flew. The error by Santa Maria on the call about the flight change - eek. Good thing you followed up.

Comments on how you felt about Bagan? Were you wowed or not?

dgunbug, the US has reinstated full diplomatic relations with Burma, as the result of Hillary's visit. An ambassador has not yet been appointed, but will be in the near future.

Live and dgunbug-Glad you're continuing to read my report. At this point I think I am writing as much for me to relive part of the trip as I am for other people to read the TR, and that's ok.

Dgunbug- If I were you, I'd visit Myanmar sooner rather than later. There are changes taking place so quickly that I think the country will look quite different five years from now. I've spoken to other travelers, mostly French and German, who have been coming to Myanmar since the late 1970's. They said that they have noticed striking changes just since 2009.

I've tried to include some of the detailed information I wished I had prior to my trip. The information I gleened from Kathie's and others TRs made planning my trip so much easier. When planning a first time trip to Myanmar, I think it helps to know whether or not taxis are readily available at certain airports and jetties, as well as how far certain restaurants are from hotels.

Kathie-We were blown away by Bagan. Reading about it, and even seeing photos of the numerous temples, in no way compares to being there. The sunsets in Bagan, as well as in Inle Lake and Mrauk U, were the most beautiful I have seen anywhere. I asked Min Thu if they were this gorgeous all year round and he said they were this vibrant only for a few months of the year, mostly during December, January and February.

I'm glad to hear that Bagan was such a wonderful experience for you. For me, Bagan is so tied to my childhood dream, that I have no perspective on what it is like for others.

Loving your report, Shelley!

Thanks, Kathie. The one thing I was not happy about in Bagan, Kakku, and Mrauk U is the way some of the payas and stupas are being restored. In the past, the restoration work of the stupas and payas was done under the auspices of UNESCO. From about 1983 to 1996, UNESCO supervised the restorations. However, in 1996, the government threw UNESCO out of the country and the government is now restoring historically important sites on their own, making some old payas look as if they were constructed yesterday. (It reminds me somewhat of what China did in Beijing, tearing down the old hutongs to build new apartment buildings.) Obviously, this not a good thing, although the government and the foreign donors who are financing a lot of the restoration work as a way of making merit, think it is. The place that was least restored and looked the most authentic to me was Indein on Inle Lake. But I'll bet in another five years that too will be spoiled by amateurish restoration. One of the reasons I think people should travel to Myanmar sooner rather than later is to see the sites before they are over restored.

The other thing that I noticed, especially at places like Indien and San Kar is that the ruins are not being touched and crumbling under the trees and weeds. I figure in a few years they will be reduced to rubble if nothing at all is done. Another reason to go soon.

I agree with you about the rebuilding rather than restoration. In Bagan, the building of old temples "like new" is done by the government. At Kakku, the new stupas built on old bases were done by donors, many from Europe or the US, many from Korea and Singapore. At Indien, the stupas that have been rebuilt have also been financed by foreigners. There are unrestored stupas as well at Indien and at Sankar. I'd support stabilization of the ruins, but I hate seeing the new stupas built on the old bases. My worry, like yours, Shelley, would be getting to Burma before all the wonderful old temples and stupas are rebuilt to look like new rather than worry that things will be reduced to rubble. You both may remember Takhaung Mwetaw Pagoda, on the southern part of the lake, where the Pa-O have made sure the old stupas are being restored rather than building new stupas on old bases. Remaining elements are reproduced, and even the old brick is incorporated into the restoration.

Perhaps the new openness of the country will all UNESCO to return and help with restoration.

Yes that is what I meant Kathy, to keep them the way they were. Restore them rather than rebuild.

Just wanted to chime in since I am now catching up with this thread. Yes, Shelley, part of writing a detailed trip report is to relive the experience. I also use my TR's as a reference that I can refer back to years from now, not only to relive the experience but to help others on this forum and elsewhere.

I was one of the early Fodor's explorers of Myanmar. Every time I read an excellent report like yours, I want to return. Thanks for posting!

Thanks for the report. I didn't start reading it until tonight, but am enjoying it.

You are welcome Craig and Patty. I used information from both of your Myanmar reports to plan my trip, so thank you for posting

We arrived at the Heho airport at 11am and were met by our driver who would be with us for the next 2 days. We drove about 2 hours over rough roads undergoing rebuilding, to Pindaya Cave. The drive was through pretty, agricultue scenery, and was actually made more interesting because of the construction. The methods seemed very primitive, using mostly people power and very few machines. Men and women were breaking up the pavement with sledgehammers, loading the debris into large basins, dumping it into piles, and sorting out the rocks into 3 piles, small, medium and large, probably to be reused in some way. The only machines we saw were a few dump trucks dropping the tar and a few rollers to roll it smooth. By the time the project is over, they will have a new four lane road, but not for our trip. And from the rate they were going, not for any time soon.

We arrived at Pindaya Cave and walked into a large natural cave with the walls covered in Buddahs of various sizes, mostly donated within the last 50 years. There were signs next to each Buddah saying who had donated it. We spent about 10-15 minutes in the cave and decided we had seen enough. For us it was a truly an underwelming site.

In retrospect, this was the one place we visited that I should have left out of the itinerary. The ride is too long for what you see at the end of the ride. I'd rate Pindaya Cave a definite miss.

Our destination for the night was Kalaw, a one hour drive from Pindaya. We were staying at the Hill Top Resort. I had read reviews on Trip Advisor that the Resort (many small bungalowas in a pretty hill top location) was ok as long as you ate before you got there because the dinner menu was very limited. Thank goodness I read this review because it was exactly correct. The dinner menu had 3 things on it-fried rice, fried noodles and fried eggs. That was it.

So I told the driver before we got to Kalaw that I wanted to stop in town for an early dinner and asked him if he could he recommend a good Chinese Restaurant. At 4 PM we stopped at the Seven Sisters Restaurant on Main Street, a cute little restaurant in a converted house. The food was decent and the service was excellent.

The waitress spoke excellent English with a slight British accent. I asked her where she learned to speak English so well and she said, "From the tourists". I got this same reply from many Burmese to whom I asked this question. It's nice to know that tourism can benefit the people in ways other than just monetarily.

With our bellies full, we continued another 15-20 minutes to the Hill Top Resort which is located on a hilltop in the middle of nowhere. The mountains were covered in pine trees and reminded me very much of a mountains in New Hampshire, not far from where I live. We viewed a pretty sunset from the balcony of our small bungalow. Because the room lighting was too dim to read by, and there was no TV in the room, and it was starting to get cold after sunset, we went to bed early.

For those that like remote, this is it. Maybe I would have been more enthusiastic about Kalaw and the Hill Top Resort if we were trekking, but this was not on our agenda.

Tomorrow we leave for Kakku and Inle Lake.

It's nice to read about your stop in Kalaw. As you know, we opted not to go there, but Kalaw and places farther norther are still on our list for a future trip.

Kathie, on a third trip, after you've seen the major sites on the first two,, Kalaw might be worth a visit. For our first trip, I should have used the time elsewhere. Kalaw does get mixed reviews from others, so maybe it was just not our cup of tea. Also, I do not know of any upscale hotels in the area, so you'd really have to take a large step down from your preferred type of hotels.

Shelley, I know you are working on your India trip, but I'd love to hear more about your time in Burma!

Hi Shelly and all,
I often use Fodors forums for help. In this case, I'm just reading your thread for the vicarious pleasure if learning about visiting someplace foreign and exotic. It's a great travelogue you're writing and I'm enjoying it. Haven't finished reading your entire thread yet but will.
I loved my 3 wk. trip to Thailand but all the beds, in many places, were so hard I developed back pain. What were the mattresses like on your trip?
I was told that the Thai people sleep on thin futons on the floor at their homes so they are accustomed to HARD. Therefore the hotel mattresses are beyond firm. Don't know about Myanmar.

Kathie-This has been a busy week. I will get back to this TR as soon as I can, definately by the weekend, if not sooner.

Bonbon-Glad to have you along on my adventure. The beds were firm, not hard, although I know there is a fine line between the two. We had no problems with the beds, and definately had no problem sleeping after a busy day of touring.

Shelley--I am enjoying your report and sort of re-living our trip. 2700 photos!! I thought that we took a lot but it was not nearly that many.

I guess that it was fortunate that we were on the 'good' side of the Mandalay City Hotel. I didn't even know that there was a mosque nearby. I, too, would skip Mandalay if time was short. It was, by far, the least likeable of our destinations.

You mentioned the pumpkin soup. I had this soup at least 6 times (at different restaurants). It was always slightly different and always delicious. Pumpkin curries were also wonderful.

I agree with you and the others about the restoration work being done by the govt. I thought that, perhaps, a friend or relative of the govt. must own the new brick factories! There certainly is a big difference in the appearance.

Inle Lake had the best sunset when we were there. The one in Bagan was a non-event. The other people around us (on a very crowded temple) seemed to agree. We should have tried a sunrise but I seem to be a fairly lazy traveller.

I agree that, for anyone considering a trip to Myanmar, the sooner the better.

glyntor- I guess we lucked out with thew sunsets in Bagan. But you lucked out with your room at the Mandalay City Hotel. Once our room was switched I really liked the hotel. But I would hesitiate to recommend it unless one could be guaranteed a room on the 'non mosque side', which I gladly would have paid extra for.

Shelleyk - Great TR with all the detail you provide! Myanmar is high on my list for travel in 2013 ... but as a solo traveler, don't think I'm brave enough to go on my own. However, the company I'm considering (OAT) has a number of free periods and meals 'on your own,' so your info on sights and restaurants is very helpful!

One question - was the temperature dramatically different from the beginning of your trip in January vs the end in February? I'm waivering between which month would be the 'coolest.' While I know temperature is never a guarantee from year to year, mid-70 degrees is a lot different than in the 90 degree range!! (This was the range I experienced in Italy this past October when I thought I was traveling safely in the more temperate timeframe; yet Rome and Venice were sweltering, while Tuscany was pleasantly enjoying Fall weather!)

Hi Janet- Glad to know you are enjoying my TR.

We left Myanmar on Feb.4, so we did not spend much time in the country in Feb. We started and ended our trip In Yangon and the temperature was about 5 degrees warmer (around 94 degrees) in Feb. than in Jan. You can check the temperatures for all the cities OAT visits on weatherbase.com. If you want cooler temperatures, especially desireable in Mandalay, Bagan and Yangon, I would go in Jan.

I am pretty familiar with the OAT trip as I just got a phone call from someone who is considering it. OAT spends several days in Kalaw and on Inle Lake, where you do not have to be too concerned about the temperature in Feb. . But you do need to be concerned about the temp. in Yangon, Mandalay and Bagan where it can get very hot mid day.

Janet-I forgot to mention that you do not have to be "brave" to travel solo in Myanmar, but you do need to be comfortable being on your own. If you wanted to, you could have a travel agent in Myanmar plan the trip and supply everything you need to do it on your own. I felt very safe in the country. But there is something to be said for a group if you do not want to plan the logistics of the trip, and be on your own for several weeks.

Hi Janet, I agree with Shelly that you don't have to be brave to go to Burma alone. It is probably the safest place I've ever been.

Let me start by stating my bias - you couldn't pay me to go on a group tour to Burma. With that in mind, I looked at the OAT itinerary and costs. The 16 day trip has just 12 days in Burma by my count. The lowest cost for the land only is $3000. For that price, you could get a local agent in Burma to book everything for you, stay at the finest hotels, and have guides and drivers anywhere you wanted.

You can't avoid meeting other travelers even if you wanted to so you won't be alone even if you are traveling solo. We met some fascinating people in Burma. I'd really encourage you to consider traveling independently. You can experience so much more on your own!

I was in Burma in Nov/Dec and if you click on my name, you'll find my trip report from 2011 as well as my report from 2009.

Just want to chime in that Kathie is right, there are lots of lurkers reading your report, like me. I have never even thought of going to Myanmar, but it sounds fascinating and I would like to look further at this countryas a destination.

Lovely report, thank you for the effort!

Shelley - Thanks so much for your response ... November to January will be my goal timeframe for a visit to Myanmar! It is very reassuring to hear that personal safety is not a concern, too. While I will cost out what a tour agent can provide, group travel is still tempting when complicated logistics are involved. Early in my career I experienced solo business travel to Asia; but since retirement, my solo travel has been to various European destinations. Just not sure about tackling Asian logistics now! Looking forward to the remaining days of your TR. (India is your next destination? Loved India!!)

Kathie - Appreciate your confirmation that independent/solo travel to Myanmar is doable, and safe. I do agree that when solo it is easy to meet the nicest fellow travelers, and I like having control of my own schedule. It's just the taxi/train/plane aspect of multi-cities within country that appear challenging to me! I'll definitely do some homework before committing to group travel. And I'm off to read your TRs from 2009 and 2011!

We had to awaken early as I planned to leave the hotel at 7am in order to go to Kakku and make it to our hotel on the lake by sunset, as i did not want to be in a boat on the lake after dark. I figured that if left the hotel at 7am this was doable. I asked the night before what time the dining room opened for breakfast and they said breakfast was served from 6:30am onward.

When we arrived at the dining at 6:30, the tables were set, but there was no food to be seen on the buffet table. As I heard pots and pans banging in the kitchen, I figured the food would be out shortly. At 6:45 they began to put out the food, and DH and I decided to delay our departure in order to eat breakfast, which turned out to be good, at least the limited food items they had out were good. By the time we left the dining room, they still had not finished putting out the buffet items. Too bad for us. i think it would have been an excellent breakfast.

We left the hotel at 7:30, drove off the mountain and drove to Taunggi, the regional capital, and picked up our compulsary Pau O guide, Mr. A. Being with him added so much to our understanding of the social and economic situation in his area, as well as to our understanding of Buddism.

During the drive to Kakku we learned that Mr A had been a farmer who taught himself English from listening to the radio (Voice of America) with a dictionary next to him so he could look up the meaning of words. He then moved on to watching movie DVDs to learn more English. His English now, after 10 years as a guide, is very good.

He also told us that the road we were traveling on, which had one narrow lane in each direction, aand was in very bad condition with large pot holes and chunks of pavement missing, was a lifeline for his village. The ride that took us one hour from Taunggi to his village took villagers 2 days before the road was paved. It made me realize how important roads are for nation building.

When we reached his village at about 11am, he wanted us to see the village market. Most of the stalls were empty as this was a morning market, but there were a few people around and he took great delight in chatting with them while taking great delight in the fact that he was acting as a guide. Ifelt that this stop was more for his ego than for our benefit, but the rest of our time more than made up for this short diversion. He also wanted to show us the stupa in his village, but I explained to him about our need to stick to a schedule

and politely declined his offer.

We arrived at Kakku at about 12:30 and spent several hours wandering around the sight, viewing the many stupas, and listening to the sound of the bells on the stupas. Mr.A left us on ourown to enjoy Kakku, and this is really the best way to see it,IMO.

We left Kakku at about 2:30, and dropped Mr.A off in Taunggi. I asked him if he kept the money we paid at the office for the guide service or did it go to the tribe. He said that he kept 80% and the tribe kept 20%. We decided that he was such a good guide that we wanted to give him some sdditional money which he gratefully accepted. He also asked if he could take a photo of us for his album as he wanted to show his grandchildren the Americans that he guided. I guess Americans are not the usual visitors he has guided.

We then drove another one and a half hours to the jetty at Inle Lake. We tipped and said goodby to our excellent driver,, met our pre arranged boatman, rode 45 minutes by boat to our hotel in daylight, and arrived at the Paramount Inle Resort Hotel, in time for a gorgeous sunset.

The Paramount Inle Resort was one of our favorite hotels. . I planned a four night stay here as Inle Lake, as well as Bagan seemed to be the highlights in most TRs I had read.

We had a deluxe room in an individual stilt house directly on the lake. When we arrived we were given a choice of a cabin with a sunrise view, or a cabin with a sunset view . The general manager recommended we take the sunrise view cabin, as it would be quieter. Paramount Inle Resort does have a lot of boat traffic passing by, but the noise was not bothersme to us and seeing the longtail boats loaded with both people and goods headed for the 5 day markets added to our experience.

The staff at the Resort are super friendly and the manager is a true gem who takes great pride in her hotel as well as her heritage. BTW, she is Burmese (the majority of the population), but she prefers Myanmar to Burma as it is more inclusive of all of the minority people.

The dining room at the Resort has a lovely lake view. The food is very good and very reasonably priced considering you are a captive audience for dinner (There is no road access to the hotel). Payment for dinner, as well as for the daily boatmen, is in kyats only. So be sure to change enough dollars into kyats before you arrive.

The one slight downside , and it was very slight, is that there are tour groups who stay here. When they do, and you eat dinner at the same time they do, service can be very slow, and a little derelict, as the staff focuses on getting the food out to the tour groups first.

They have sort of solved the problem by asking guests to pre order dinner before arriving at the dining room for dinner, so that the chef can prep the ingredients in advance and have everything ready to be cooked when you arrive.

So each day, after returning from our day of sightseeing at about 5-5:30, we would go into the dining room, tell them what we wanted for dinner, go to our room for a couple of hours, and return to the dining room for dinner at about 7:30. On the days that the tour groups were in the dining room the sevice was still slow, but better than it would have been if we had not pre ordered dinner.

We had Mr A too, and went to his village. What a sweet man he is.

It sounds like you made a great choice of hotel on the Lake. I'm glad you enjoyed Kakku.

Kathie-Zaw suggested this hotel after his first suggestion wanted to put us on a wait list. It was lucky for us that they were fully booked. Paramount Inle Resort was perfect for us.

Ah, a suggestion from Zaw! I mostly knew where I wanted to stay, but the couple of places I wasn't sure, his recommendations were right on target.

I've been reading, but did I miss your photo link?? Always love to see the photos!

Patty-I posted the link to the photos in a seperate thread, but I will post the link here, as well.

http://shelleysmyanmarfavorites2012.shutterfly.com/?role=-1

Thanks, Shelley!!! I loved seeing your photos. You have some lovely ones! I especially enjoyed seeing the women in the field, the street scenes, market girls, close-ups of kids/baby! Very nice. Brought back good memories, plus you visited more places than we did.

Glad you liked the photos,Patty. Since I took 2700, it has become almost a full time, but fun job of sorting and deleting them. These photos cover the first half of the trip-Yangon, Mandalay and Bagan. I need to sort through the photos for the second half of the trip-Inle Lake, Mrauk U and return to Yangon. Hope to have that done by Easter. lol

For the next 3 days we spent 10 hours a day visiting the different parts of Inle Lake. Our routine each day was to have breakfast at 7:15. Breakfast was not a buffet, but rather a limited small, served breakfast of juice, a basket of rolls and toast, eggs made to order, a small plate of fruit and coffee. Although it was a much smaller breakfast than we had become used to on this trip, it held us pretty well until dinner, with the supplimentation of some granola bars as a midday snack.

We met our boatman (same one every day) at 8 o'clock. We did not book the boat through Santa Maria as it was much less expensive to do so through the hotel. Payment was in kyats.

The first day we visited the Phaung Daw OO Pagoda, a lotus weaving workshop where we were given a demonstration of the craft, and where I purchased a scarf (not lotus), Indein, and the Jumping Cat Monastery.

Indein was one of my favorite places on the lake. We visited an interesting pagoda , the Schwe In Tein Pagoda. The stop at Indein also gave us a chance to do some walking which we enjoyed. We spent 2 hours there, visiting the Pagoda, walking through the stupas, many unrestored, and walking along a riverbank and through a bamboo forest to a mini waterful. At the waterfall I bought a fish carved out of bamboo.

After leaving Indein we boated through a floating garden growning many different vegtables. It was interesting to watch the people who were cultivating and harvesting the crop. The last stop of the day was at the Jumping Cat Monastery, not a highlight of the day. The maonastery itself, although teak, was not as nice as some of the others we had visited. And to me the jumping cats were a gimic to attract tourists, which it certainly did do.

We returned to the hotel at 5, had a very nice dinner at the dining room and went to bed looking forward to our next day at Sankar.

Great pictures. A market is the best place for picture taking, isn't it? Thanks for sharing.

I found the boats on the lake at Inle to be just magical.

Great Photos, thanks for posting them

Glad you enjoyed the photos.



Live, Thanks for the compliment. Glad you liked my photos.

Patty, wasn't that little boy the most adorable child? I could not take my eyes off of him, and he obviously was interested in what I was doing, too. His Mom was oblivious to what was going on behind her.

Karen, I agree that market places make for really intersting photos. When going over the photos I noticed that as nice as the Bagan photos were, they were more two dimensional and less interesting than the market place and street scene photos, IMO.

Yes, so adorable!!! Those are the photos that touch the heart!

For our second day at Inle Lake we decided to visit Sankar and the southern part of the lake. It took 2.5-3 hours to get there and 2.5 hours to return to the hotel. The boat ride was interesting, with beautiful mountain scenery, and past close to many stilt house villages and floating gardens. the trip to the southern part of the lake was one of the highlights of our time on Inle Lake and is highly recommended.

On the way to Sankar, we stopped at Yawama to view the 5 day market. when we arrived there at 8:30, there were very few tourists, but by 9:45, the tour boats started arriving and it was beginning to feel more like a tourist market than a 5 day market for the villagers around the lake. So if you go, I'd advise getting there early.

While we were at Yawama, we spent several hours wandering through the 5 day market, observing the interactions of the indiginous people, and taking many photos. It was very colorful and very interesting.

We left Yawama at 10am, picked up our Pao O compulsary guide ($10) and paid our admission fee (an additional $10) and arrived at Sankar at about 12. Our Pau O guide did not speak English very well, but was nice to be with and was able to tell us a short tale of how the area was flooded by a dam that was built many years ago and that there were many unseen stupas that are actually underwater.He told us that until 20 years ago this area was unsafe for both tourists and people who lived in the area because there was fighting going on between the government and some of the indiginous people. The are has been open to tourists only for the past 10 or so years. He also pointed out some of the flora, and where the bathrooms were so all things considered, he earned his fee and his tip.

So glad you got to see Sankar. I felt it was really a highlight.

Kathie-We also liked the visit to the town and monastery across the lake from Sankar. The stupas were less rebuilt there than at Sankar and there were fewer tourists , not that Sankar was crowded. It was very nice to have the town and stupas across the lake almost to ourselves..

We included Sankar on our itinerary because you mentioned it in one of your TRs, so thanks for the recommendation. It really was one of the highlights of our stay on Inle Lake.

Your reports are not being ignored. Instead, I am making many,many notes since Myanmar is currently at the top of my list. This has been one of the best reports I have read on the web.

Wow. Thanks for that nice compliment, Barbara. I hope you do get there before too many changes take place. It is a beautiful country with lovely, friendly people, and a tourism boom will change some things about the country, not necessarily in a positive way.

Shelley- Just started reading your TR, as we just got back from our trip. It is bringing back great memories and loved your photos too.

Thanks,susncrg, and welcome home. Wasn't Myanmar the most interesting country?

I'm interested in how your trip turned out as I think it was a fairly last minute decision for you to visit Myanmar. How were the hotels you stayed at? Did you have a problem getting decent hotels and flights you wanted? Every hotel we stayed at and every flight we took was fully booked.

Yes us too Shelly. I met some folks in Thailand who wanted to do a spur of the moment trip to Myanmar and I told them it wasnt that easy to do as everything did seem to be booked up. Not to mention all the other things like money/visas etc.

For our last full day on the lake we explored some of the places north of our hotel. We left the hotel at 8am, and visited a 5 day market which was smaller than the one we previously visited, though no less interesting. Each section of the market sold a different type of food-noodles, snacks, candy, all hand made in peoples homes/villages, as well as fish, meat and vegtables. ect. We purchased some home made peanut brittle candy made with dark sugar which was delicious and which we carried with us to snack on for several days. It was the best 1000 kyats we spent on the whole trip.

Next we visited the Inle Princess Resort. Because I had read so much about it, I wanted to see it and compare it to where we were staying for a possible return trip to Inlay Lake in the future. The Inle Princess Resort is a large resort with lovely, spacious grounds and a very nice looking spa. The rooms are huge, but there is no TV in them. To me the major drawback was that most of the individual bungalows do not have a lake view, and that is a priority for me. So I guess if I return I will return to our smaller, much more downscale Paramount Inle Resort.

Next stop was a village on the lake that makes rice flour snacks and noodles. This is done in each villager's home or workshop, and it is the type of snack/noodle that is brought to the 5 day markets to sell to others. While we were ambling through the village, we poked our nose into a workshop and the family making the snacks invited us in to watch the process. This was truly a family affair.

The Mom and grandmother were making the rice flour into a thick batter and were pressing it through a sieve to make the noodles. Another family member was putting the batter into a pastry bag and was squeezing out pretzel shapes onto a huge cookie sheet.. The cookie sheets were then passed to the Dad and daughter who had seperate fires going, with oil filled woks bubbling on top of the fire. Dad was frying noodles and the daughter frying donuts.

After watching for a while as we said our thank you and were about to leave the Dad motioned to the son to bring us some snacks to taste. Who could refuse such a lovely gesture, although if this offer were made by an anonymous seller in a market we might have. The snacks were delicious, tasting a lot like Pringles, and we did not get sick. DH and I were so taken that the snacks were offered as a sign of genuine friendliness and not because they wanted us to buy anything.

Shelley- you are correct. It was a last minute thing. As a consequence, we gave Santa Maria a free hand in booking whatever they could for us. Some things were fully booked. I will go into more detail in a TR, but nothing turned out really bad. Min Thu was available, so that was really great, and Balloons Over Bagan got confirmed, so we enjoyed that. In fact, you've inspired me to write it down before I forget everything, so I'll try to start this weekend.

susncrg-Glad it all worked out. I'll be watching for your TR.

In order to get from Inle Lake to Mrauk U, our next destination, we had to fly back to Yangon, overnight in Yangon, fly to Sittwe and take a 6 hour boat ride from Sittwe to Mrauk U. We had the option of taking an early morning or afternoon flight from Heho to Yangon. We chose the afternoon flight because we wanted to spend more time on the lake rather than in Yangon.

We had a late breakfast and spent the morning at the hotel, relaxing on our balcony and watching the boats pass by. ( We had enough time to do another half day boat ride on the lake, but we felt we had seen enough and wanted to just relax.) We left the hotel at 12:30 by boat, were met at the jetty by a prearranged taxi and were dropped at the Heho airport at about 2PM for our 3:30 flight.

The Air Bagan flight took 2 hours, first stopping in Mandalay before landing in Yangon. On the Mandalay to Yangon portion of the flight we were served a very tasty light luncheon, which turned out to be our main meal of the day.

Because our flight to Sittwe was originally scheduled to depart from Yangon at 7am, and because our flight from Heho was scheduled to arrive in Yangon at 6PM, I thought it was pointless to go into Yangon only to eat dinner and sleep. We decided to overnight at the airport, feeling we could sleep until 5am and still be at the airport to make our 7am flight.

Between the time we reserved the Seasons of Yangon Hotel at the airport in early Dec.. and the time we actually got on the flight, the departure time of our flight to Sittwe changed about 6 different times. It changed from 7am to 8am to 11:15am to 12pm to 1:50 to finally taking off at 2pm. In hindsight we did not need to overnight at the airport for a 2PM flight, but we did not know this when the reservation for the hotel was made.

The Seasons of Yangon Hotel is a 3 minute drive from the airport. The hotel picked us up at the airport and dropped us off there the next morning, and this plus breakfast was included in the rate.

The hotel is a 120 bed former Ramada Hotel which had about 15 rooms occupied the night we were there. Our room was large, clean and well air conditioned, but definately needed an updating. Our waiter at breakfsast, who had worked there for the past 10 years, told us that because the hotel pays so much in taxes to the government, there is no money left for upgrading. Frankly, I don't know how they stay open with such a low occupancy rate.

Because they have almost no guests, the also have no dinner service. You could get fried rice or a tuna fish or fried egg sandwich, but I was not desperate enough to test those waters , so we passed on dinner. Thank goodness we had eaten on the plane. And we had our granola bars, and candy that we had purchased at the 5 day market, so we were ok til breakfast.

Breakfast was a limited buffet, but very good and freshly prepared. It included juice, fried rice, breads and fruit, plus eggs made to order. We then relaxed in our well air conditioned room until 11am when we were brought to the airport for our 12PM flight.

This flight to Sittwe was the only flight I really was concerned about.. I wanted to get to Sittwe as early as possible as we had a 6 hour boat ride to Mrauk U from Sittwe , and I did not want to be on the river after dark. In addition, Zaw told me that the government would not let boats depart for Sittwe after 4PM. So it was crucial that we get to the jetty and leave before 4PM.

As originally planned, our 7am flight would get us to Sittwe at 9am and the boat would get us to Mrauk U at 3PM. Perfect. Unfortuanately for us, this is not how it played out.

We arrived at the airport at 11am for our flight at noon. We sat and waited for our flight to be called. No announcement at 12, 12:30, 1:00. As the minutes ticked by I wondered if we would be able to get to the boat by 4PM. Finally at 1:50 they announced the plane had arrived and we would be boarding. It finally took off 2 hours late.

Isn't that the way it works - the only flight that you are worried about leaves late? Our experience as well.

Our flight landed at 3:40. We were met by a representative of SM and a SM driver which I had prearranged because I thought that time might be of the essence, which it was. The SM rep, took our passports and expedited the processing of them. The driver looked for our luggage as it came off the plane, and we and our luggage were hustled into the waiting car. For 15 minutes we sped through and around the traffic in Sittwe to the jetty where our prearranged boat awaited us. Our luggage was loaded onto the boat and we left the dock at 3:55.

We had a very large fishing boat with a crew of 3 to oiurselves. The ride on the boat was smooth and scenic from 4 until 7. We experienced anther beutiful sunset, and took loads of photos.After sunset, the ride in darkness, became a slightly harrowing. It was pitch black because there was no moon and it was disorienting when you can't see the shore line.

There was a young boy in the front of the boat holding a big search light where he could look out for sand bars or obstruction in the water. He would call back to the captain directions so the obsacles could be avoided. At one point I thought we had run over a sand bar as I heard scraping along the bottom of the boat. It was not the most relaxing boat trip I've been on, but we did finally arrive in Mrauk U at 9:30. We offloaded ourselves and our luggage in the dark. Walking across a plank of wood in the dark from the boat to the shore was a feat I will always remember.

We were driven about 15 minutes to our hotel, the Narawit Hotel and arrived there just before the dining room closed at 10PM. We had a quick dinner and a beer, both good, and went to bed, totally exhausted, but looking forward to our first day of sightseeing at Mrauk U..

Whew! You made it!

We are reading, I tend not to chime in as I have gotten "gun shy" from a lot of aggressive responses,....BUT I am reading and really enjoying and learning from your report. I am glad you had a great trip.

Kathie, we made it but it was an extremely frustrating and somewhat stressful day. When in the planning stage of our trip, if I had known that our flight was scheduled for 12 noon, I think I would have added a day to the trip and overnighted in Sittwe so we could have done the boat trip the next day in daylight. Or alternatively, I would have added a third day in Mrauk U. If we had missed the 4PM deadline for leaving the harbor and had to wait until the next morning to leave, we would have had only one full day in Mrauk U, and I would have been upset to have spent so much time and money getting to Mrfauk U for such a short visit.

spitz-I am glad to know you are enjoying my TR. And please don't let the aggressive responses dissuade you from chiming in and participating. Most of us are able to disagree with other posters in a respectful and non aggressive way. So please feel free to chime in and participate..

Shelly, the trip to Mrauk U is long and difficult and the incessant rescheduling of flights make it worse. Friends who were in Mrauk U at the same time we were lost a day there, as their flight out was moved earlier and the boatmen said they had to leave a day earlier (and spend a night in Sittwe). A couple we met there had to move to an earlier flight out of Sittwe because the flight they were scheduled on had been consistently running late and they had to make their Silk Air flight. We were lucky not to lose time in Mrauk U, but like you, we were stressed trying to get to the boat on time.

I am really enjoying this detailed report. If I ever go to there i will have plenty of great references. Your pictures are beautiful.

Thanks lincasanova. I'm you're enjoying the report and photos.


I've added the photos from Inle Lake. They start with #190.


http://shelleysmyanmarfavorites2012.shutterfly.com/?role=-1

The Narawat Hotel was the most basic of all of the hotels we stayed at. We had a large, clean, well air conditioned room with a small private patio outside. The major drawback was lack of service. The staff were friendly enough, but they lacked the ability to get anything done that a tourist would expect from a front desk. They were not able to call a taxi because they had no phone number for a taxi service. They were unable to give 1000 kyat change for a 5000 kyat purchase. They were unable to fix the phone in our room, so our wakeup calls became a knock on the door rather than a phone call.

Despite this, we would stay there again if we returned to Mrauk U. The room was basic, but decent enough. The location was perfect. It was within walking distance of the major temple group and the main town. And it had a decent restaurant on the premises.From our exploration of MU, there was little else to chose from that had all of these qualities.

For our first day at MU, we had an early breakfast and left the hotel at 8am. With guidebook in hand, we walked about 10-15 minutes to the main temple group. We paid our $5 historic zone fee, and visited the main temples which are all within walking distance of one another.

The temples in MU are different from those in Bagan. Many are bigger and more fortress like with long, winding corridors. Some contain very old Buddah statues. They are also surrounded by villages, agricultual land, and watering holes, so the landscape around the temples seems more active and alive. You see villagers going about their daily activities in the midst of the temples in MU, which you do not see in Bagan.

In Bagan, most of the temples are inactive, so you see no activity around them except for some people trying to sell things, mostly to tourists. There are a few temples that are used for worship, but for the most part, the temples in Bagan are not used by the locals.

It gets very hot in the middle of the day in MU, and there is no shade around the temples, so we returned by foot to the hotel at about 1:30 to rest. At 3:30 we set out again by foot, in the opposite direction, to explore the town and the palace wall ruins. In town we bought some soda and beer to stock our in room refrigerator. We returned to the hotel around 5 and ate dinner at 7:30.

The dining room served decent food at reasonable prices. We had Chinese food both nights and it was good. Thy had a good selection of beer, so DH was happy. There was zero ambience in the dining roomand the service was slow, but friendly. We met several other tourists from Germany and had a nice conversation with them about their experiences in MU.

The following day we wanted to explore some major temples that were not within walking distance of our hotel. We had the choice of taking a horsecart or renting bicycles from the hotel. We asked our Dutch neighbors who had just spent a week in MU what they recommended and they said bicycles.

So after having them adjusted for our height, and after getting directions from the desk, we rode for about half an hour to get to Kuotang Temple, a large temple with lovely, intact, murals and sculptings inside. We spent a couple of hours here.

On our ride back to the hotel, we stopped at several smaller temples. We also climbed up a small hill to an open air temple ruin, with a large Buddah at the top of the hill. The view of the surrounding agricultural area was very scenic. We also rode through several small villages were we were greeted with smiles and waves.

We returned to the hotel at noon and rested til 3:30 before riding off to explore in a different direction. We rode back to the temple group near our hotel, as I wanted to get some photos in the afternoon light which I had not gotten the previous day. We also rode through the village behind this temple group and observed the daily life there-children getting out of school, women hauling water from the watering hole to their homes, and small markets along the road selling various agricultural crops to the villagers. If you are comfortable riding bikes, I think this is a great way to explore MU.

After returning the bikes to the hotel at about 6, we rested a while, had dinner at the hotel restaurant, and went to bed. We asked for a 4:30 wake up call the next morning as we had to leave the hotel at 5. I asked the dining room if they could provide us with a breakfast box as we were leaving before breakfast was served, and no food would be provided on our 6 hour boat ride back to Sittwe. They willingly obliged and gave me the breakfast box to put in our refrigerator to take with us the next day.

I just finished looking at your Inle photos - wonderful! You got some great market photos.

I'm glad that walking and bikes worked out for you at Mrauk U. The Princess was so far from everything it was hard for me to tell whether it was do-able.

Shelley

Have read every word of your trip report and then went back and read it again, making notes along the way. So, there ARE people reading about your trip. I am going beginning of December and am arranging a tour thru Santa Maria, as per Fodorite recommendations.

BTW: where would you recommend we change money to kyats? Lonely planet says not to change in the airport, but I am not sure our hotel (2-3 star ones) will have the resources to change $$ for us

Lonely Planet's advice regarding not to change money at the airport is not up to date and is incorrect. The best place to change money into kyats is at Yangon Airport where I got the best or equal to the best rate in Myanmar. Mandalay and Inle Airports also have money change booths, but the rate was less than what I got in Yangon. The official rate is reset every day, so that could have affected the rate. in addition, you could change money at Scott Market in Yangon. The rate I got at the money change office in my hotel was equal to what I got at the airport, so if you are near the Summit Parkview Hotel, you could change money there as well. I do not recommend changing money from people who may approach you in the street and offer you a slightly better rate than the official rate. There's too much room for scams, IMO.

Yes Shelly, if anyone reads my report you will see that I got ripped off our first day in Yangon exchanging money on the street. Completely our own fault!

Getting from Mrauk U to Yangon took almost a full day of travel. We left our hotel at 5am, and started our boat trip at 5:30. It was dark out for the first 1.5 hours of the trip, so we missed the scenery closest to Mrauk U, which is supposed to be very nice, as this is where the river is narrowest. At 7:00 we experienced a beautiful sunrise and from there on we had a somewhat scenic trip, as the river got wider and wider, and we got farther from the riverbanks.

We reached Sittwe at 10am. By 10:30 we were at the airport awaiting our 2 PM flight. Sittwe airport is a tiny, one unairconditioned room airport, so it was rather tedious waiting for our plane to take off. There are a few very small tea rooms just outside of the airport, but there were too many touts "inviting" you to come into their establishments to make it relaxing, so we just sat on the steps outside the airport until our flight was called.

We arrived at Yangon airport at 4:00, took a $10 taxi ride to our hotel and were back in our room at the Summit Parkview by 5. We asked for and got our old pagoda view deluxe room at the hotel, (I requested this when we left the hotel, 2.5 weeks prior), so I was a happy camper. I thought about going for a swim in the hotel pool, but decided instead to relax in our airconditioned room until dinner at Singapore's Kitchen. When we returned to the hotel at about 9, there was a trio (guitar, violin, and keyboard) playing in the lobby which were quite good. We listened to them for awhile before going to bed.

The following day was our last full day in Myanmar, and was in the itinerary as a "just in case day". I wanted a backup of one day before we flew out the following day in case our flight from Sittwe was very delayed or cancelled. Since that did not happen we had a whole day to kill in Yangon.
Before we left Yangon 2.5 weeks ago, we had seen all of the major sites that I wanted to see. I had to stretch for what to do on this day. The temperature was expected to be 94 degrees, so I eliminated walking around.

We decided to do the circular train ride to fill the time. This turned out to be an unexpected highlight of our time in Yangon (maybe because I had low expectations to begin with). It was both entertaining, informative and pcturesque.

We took a taxi to the train station, presented our passports plus $1 dollar for each ticket, and got on the train at 10:15. For the next 3 hours, we rode slowly around Yangon, first through citified areas, and then into the agricultural areas. At each of the many stops, locals got on and off the train with their goods and produce. At times the car was packed with people and goods, but it was a great opportunity to see and speak to the locals who were curious about us, and very friendly. There were great photo opps during this ride and I took many photos of the scenery, people, and markets.

After 3 hours we arrived back at our original station. On departing the station I noticed a large department store, Ruby Mart, across the street. I was curious as to what was on offer at the store, so we stopped in. What a surprise to find an upscale store in the middle of Yangon. It was the Neiman Marcu of Myanmar, with a food court and food department as well as clothing, houseware and souvenirs for sale. The people shopping there were dressed in modern garb, and were mostly young and 20 something. I wondered who those people were and how they made their money. At on point I started to take a photo of a display, and security guard told me that no photos were allowed in the store. Were they protecting trade secrets of the store or the shopper's identity, I wondered.

Still following your trip report, Shelley. I've really enjoyed reading about things you've done that we haven't. Such as we haven't managed to do the circle train yet - maybe next time.

The trip to/from Mrauk U is really a major commitment of time (and frustration tolerance). I'm really glad we did it, but I don't know that I'd go back...

I thought the circle train was a wonderful way to spend half a day in Yangon. It's easy to do, cheap and interesting. I think you and Cheryl would enjoy it.

As far as Mrauk U goes, I agree with you-I am glad we did it, but probably would not return, although DH loved it and feels he would like to return someday. I always would rather explore someplace new, rather than return to someplace I've been. Having said that, MU is not a bad place to return to.

I loved the circle train. I am finally editing my video and relived my circle train trip with all the locals and thier produce and it was the hightlight for us in Yangon as well.
We were staying at the hotel beside the Parkview and would eat at the PV every day and used the pool and gym the entire last day we were there (for a $10 fee). I would stay there next time we really liked it.

live-I see your next trip is to Russia. We are considering that as well for the fall. Did you make your arrangements yourself or through a TA. What's your itinerary?

Shelly, any reflections on your trip to Burma that you'd like to share with us?

We also found Ruby Mart to be an interesting experience. In addition to the depts that you have mentioned, they also had a good variety of liquors and wines!

Great minds think alike eh Shelly. Yes we leave here in one month. I did it all on my own, fly to Helsinki for two nights then the train to St. Petersburg for five days. I booked two ballets and an opera on the net and also prebooked my two day Hermitage pass. I will hire a guide as we need them when we are there. I booked the hotels all on Booking.com. My husband is going this time with me, this was his choice actually.

We then take a train to Vladimir for two nights and arranged a guide for 1/2 day to take us to Suzdal. Train to Moscow and three nights there where we have a guide arranged for one day and the opera at the Bolshoi. From Moscow we fly to Turkey for two and 1/2 weeks.

I did research here on Fodors, trip advisor and other searches. I booked my trains on line with a both Real Russia Travel and Russiantrains.com

When are you going?

live-Your trip sounds wonderful. My Russia trip is just a thought at this point, probably for next spring, but possibly for the fall. I hope you post a TR. I spent 2 weeks in Turkey about 15 years ago, and until I started travelling to Asia, it was my favorite trip. I am sure it has changed a lot since I was there. The ruins were fantastic then, and I'll bet that some (especially Ephesus) are better now considering the ongoing excavation.

Kathie-I really don't have anything major to add about our trip other than it was one of the best we've had. The people are wonderful and friendly and I hope that the influx of tourists does not change them too much, although I suspect it inevitably will. My one regret is that we did not include Nigpali beach in our itinerary, since we were so close when we were in MU, and it looked really lovely from the plane.

Shelley: I just finished reading your report and thoroughly enjoyed it, especially MU, which I've failed to visit in 2 trips to Myanmar. I am a fallen Asia Board person and should have been cheering you along at each step. Since DH, at 74, has retired from SE Asia travel, I don't visit the board regularly anymore. I, too, worked with Zaw and benefitted from his recommendations. Any everything wonderful has already been said about our dear friend MinThu and his loyal SuSu.
Wonder where you're going next.
Robbie

Shelley -- I just read your thoughtfully detailed report from start to finish and I look forward to seeing your photos after this. Many thanks.

I am happy you both enjoyed my TR.

Robbie-I empathize with your DH's decision to forgo any more Asia trips. Those flights can be killers, and I guess you reach a point where you've had enough of the jet lag. I have not reached that point yet, but I know I will at some point. Are you now confining your travels to Europe and the US?

Our next big trip is in the thinking about/investigative stage. We are considering southern India, Russia and Indonesia, but if something else appealing materialized, we might go another route. I am actually trying to figure out a way to spend 2 months abroad next winter, but haven't come up with anything yet.

Marya_-I will be posing my last batch of photos covering Marauk U and the circular train as soon as I finish editing them.

Thanks so much for all the detail in your report, which I have now read twice! Hoping Zaw gets back to me so we can plan our trip for July, my tickets are on hold for one more day.

Sometimes it was 4-5 days before Zaw responded to my email. He may be out of the office for a few days touring with a client. If the tickets on hold are ff tickets, or at an especially good price, I'd get them whether or not you hear from him today. July is low season, and I am sure you will have no trouble getting good hotels and figuring out an itinerary.

This is the Burmese new year - the office will be closed for multiple days. The main celebration this year is 5 days, many places are closed longer. I agree with Shelly - get your tickets, I'm sure he it make it work for you.

Thanks so much, Shelley and Kathie, I didn't know about the holiday.

I've been up in the air about choosing between Burma and Borneo so that's why I'm antsy about hearing back from Zaw. I know the weather will be better in Borneo in July but I'm worried about waiting too long before visiting Burma!

FromDC-Since you mentioned somewhere, maybe on another thread, that the heat can have a bad effect on your DH, I would caution you about going to Burma in July. It will be hot or very hot, and the heat will impact on how much you will be able to do. I don't know whether Borneo in July will be any cooler. I've never been to Borneo. If it were me, I would check weatherbase.com for average high temperatures in all cities you are considering visiting in both Burma and Borneo before making a decision on where to go.

Thanks for your informative report. I guess I am like many who read these reports sometime after they are written.We use the info but perhaps don't give the required feedback. Thanks for making the effort to share your experiences. We are tossing up between Burma and India next year (2013). Keep travelling and sharing. Cheers

ShellyK, My husband and I are trying to decide whether to visit Myanmar (Burma) or go back to India in Nov 2013. I enjoyed reading your report, it is certainly very helpful. Judging from your comments and others on this forum who have been to Burma recently, it appears to be a widely popular tourist destination so perhaps we should go before it becomes even more over run by tourists. I actually sent Santa Maria an email and I am hoping to hear back from them soon.
Thanks for sharing your experience!

natandmiriam and kikiv- Glad you both found my report informative and useful. It is interesting to me that you are both trying to decide between India and Burma for 2013. I've been to both and enjoyed both, but IMO Burma is a much easier trip to do. It is less populated, chaotic, and frenetic than India. If you decide to go to Burma I strongly suggest that you make your hotel arrangements thru a travel agency a minimum of 9 months in advance. Burma has gotten very popular and those trying to plan last minute trips are finding limited hotel availability.

Following your advice and Kathie's I contacted Santa Maria but have not heard back from them yet. How long did they take in responding to your emails? I have read that internet access is not always reliable in Burma.
We are planning on using our FF AA miles to get there and will book 12 months ( max allowed )in advance to make sure we get the flights we want but want to work on a preliminary itinerary/ price before doing so.

Sometimes it took 2 days for a response, sometimes a week. If you don't hear from them in 4 or 5 days, resend your email. There are several email addresses for SM listed on their website. I'd send to all of them. Hopefully, at least one will get through to them. Internet in Burma is unreliable and I am sure that SM is very busy with current bookings. I'm sure you'll have a wonderful trip.

I will make several more attempts to reach them. In the mean time I contacted Myanmar Shalom and was sent a cursory response, with a generic tour information sheet. It seems SM has a very good track record here and in TA and would prefer to work with them.
I suppose the agents are very busy this time of year so I will persist. Thanks again for your help.

Myanmar Shalom has gotten very good reviews from people who have used them and posted on Lonely Planet. I would not hesitate to use them if you do not hear from SM, but since your trip is planned for a long time from now, you do have the time to see if SM responds to you in a reasonable time.

Rereading your report as we begin the finetuning for our trip. on the cave - did you go to the ones in the Mekong outside Luang Prabang by any chance? If so was the one at Pindaya similar? Debating about going to them as it seems like a long drive and caves generally don't wow me.

I appreciate your specifics on the need for a driver versus catching a cab -- always a dilemma when planning and nice to save some $$ when possible and go with a taxi.

Do you recall about what you paid at Paramount Inle Resort? Its been very difficult to get a grip on costs of hotels. Thanks for you report and answers to questions.

I have not been to the caves outside of LP, so I can't give you any comparison. If it is any help in deciding, Pindaya is a very big natural cave that is filled with many bronze Buddhas of various sizes which are displayed along the walls of the cave. All of the statues are fairly new. If your not into caves or long drives, I'd skip it and put your time into something else, like Kakku. Of all the places we visited in Myanmar, this was the one I wished we skipped.

I can't remember what we paid at Paramount Inle but I remember thinking it was unbelievably inexpensive for what we got. I think it was around $60 for a "deluxe" individual stilt house. The room was definitely not deluxe, but the location was. One caveat-only accept this hotel if you can get an individual stilt house room. The motel rooms are in a separate building. There is no view and the walls between the rooms are paper thin. Don't expect the Inle Princess if you stay here. This is not a 5 star accommodation, but the location on Inle Lake is 5 star.