denisious

Apologies in advance for my writing skills which are mediocre.

So we have the following time frame. Arrival in Yangon December 2nd at 8pm - Departure from Yangon December 9th at 5:30 pm.

This gives us just a bit of time and we would like to visit both Bagan and the elephant camp. Is this too much?
We have received tentative itineraries from a few agencies and they are all the same with approximately the same cost, it seems we are spreading ourselves too thin though... I'm not sure how stressful it will be with the internal flight, after all the international flights to get us there.

Would it be more cost effective to have the agency help with just the transfers to every place and have us book our on hotels and find drivers/guides on the spot? Is this easy?

Are there any recommended private guides/drivers for Bagan and Yangon?

Another question I have is regarding the cost of ballooning over Bagan, is it cheaper to book it once in Myanmar? Will there be availability given that it is the high season?

Finally, and thank you for bearing with me thus far, are there any favorite restaurants you can recommend in Bagan and in Yangon?

Thank you for any insight we are very excited to be going to Myanmar for the first time

BertieLawson

Hi denisious,

Firstly I am just going to disclose that I do work for a tour operator in Myanmar - but I hope that I can give objective advice nonetheless!

7 days is not a long time, but still enough to have a lovely trip.

Which elephant camp were you considering? By far the best one is the Green Hill Valley Elephant Camp outside of Kalaw, near to Inle Lake. If you can get to go here, I would highly recommend it. Many of the other elephant camps in Myanmar are a little suspect. There is another one outside of Bago near to Yangon called Win Ga Baw Camp. There are some bad reviews of this camp on TripAdvisor, but I know for a fact that they are working with elephant welfare specialists to improve the livelihoods of their elephants and how to better interact with tourists. It is good for conscientious tourists to visit so to keep the pressure on them to improve their standards.

To save time - and if you have the budget - I would recommend flying. The coaches are comfortable but the route to Bagan is long and quite dull.

Hotels are the easiest thing to book yourself. Some Travel Agents can get you better prices, some cannot. Coaches you can book when you are here. For guides, to ensure you get a good price and a good guide, I would recommend going through a travel agent.

It will not be cheaper to book the balloon in Bagan - I would recommend doing this asap online. I know for a fact that there are already waiting lists for all three balloon companies in Bagan over the Xmas New Year period.

For restaurants:

Yangon: Root (Wa cuisine, great cocktails), Green Gallery (Thai - book in advance), Pansuriya (cultural hub, Burmese /Shan), LinkAge (social enterprise.) For fancy dining: Shwe Sabwe or Rau Ram.

Bagan: Sanon - great social enterprise, brilliant food. Sharkies - western cuisine mainly, but ingredients sourced from Myanmar, expensive but good; The Moon Restaurant by Ananda Temple - vegetarian.

Hope some of this helps, have a great trip!

thursdaysd

Please do NOT visit any elephant camp that allows its elephants to be ridden. (It looks like Green Hill Valley allows rides.)

See: http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...s-168996-2.cfm

That is a short trip, but if you fly you can certainly see Yangon and Bagan.

BertieLawson

Green Hill Valley Elephant Camp is a retirement camp for elephants. They are incredibly knowledgable about the welfare of their elephants, the family having worked with them for generations. In Myanmar, there are many many elephants (hundreds) that are now being retried from the timber trade. They need to go somewhere, and they need to be looked after - and they are expensive. Going to an educational camp like Green Hill Valley is one way to learn about and help elephants.

The rides at Green Hill Valley only happen when the oozies (Burmese mahouts) deem that the elephants are up to it. They are incredibly short, maybe 5 minutes, and take place without a howdah. I do not believe these rides in anyway harm the elephants. Either way, more focus is placed on learning about the animals, and feeding them. The money spent at the camp goes to their welfare.

We have to support camps like this that are looking after elephants. If we just make a blanket ban, there is no way that these elephants can be provided for in a healthy, sustainable manner. We should support good practice when we see it. And of course, shout against bad practice when we see that too.

thursdaysd

Given the methods used to train elephants, the fact that a family has worked them "for generations" is not a recommendation.

HtetPaing

For your questions, 7 day is ok to explore Yangon & Bagan.

For Elephant camps, Green Hill Valley is the best in Myanmar. But will need to give one day from Bagan and will be pricey as it's only accessible by private car.

You are advised to book hotel yourself and use travel agent for ground works like domestic transportation and sightseeing. It won't be so much different if you do yourself. But more convenient and hassle free.
Hiring car on the spot/at your hotel could be ok and the hotel will also charge about the same as travel agent adding some commissions but it's not easy to get a good guide when you hire on the spot. Because guides only work with travel agent, not hotel, but cars do. There are a lot of good guides in Yangon and Bagan who are normally freelance and work with travel agent. But if you would like to know, I can point out some who are old service in the industry.

For ballooning, better book in advance as it's high demand in high season, your travelling period, and the price could not be cheaper when you book yourself, even you can miss due to availability.

For restaurant, what kind of food you want?

In Yangon, for Myanmar traditional food, I would recommend Aung Thu Kha Restaurant near Shwe Dagon Pagoda, less expensive and very local but safe to eat. For high class, Taing Yinn Thar Restaurant.
For western foods, Sharky Restaurant, Rangoon Teahouse, Monsoon are really nice.

In Bagan, for both traditional and western food, I would like to recommend newly open restaurant - Mimosa in New Bagan for good taste, service and price.

If you don't visit Elephant camp and got extra time, I would like to suggest you to take the train between Yangon and Bagan, which will take around 18 hrs but will give you good experience, nice scenery and truly taste of Myanmar.

Htet

thursdaysd

I am a big fan of train travel, in Asia as well as elsewhere, but I would not sign up for that particular train, especially on such a short trip.

You might read the info on that route here: https://www.seat61.com/Burma.htm

denisious

Thank you HtetPaing for your advise. The train ride sounds wonderful but a bit long for our time frame. We have altered our tickets so now we have 9 nights in Myanmar.

We arrive at 3pm in Yangon on December 2nd
and depart from Yangon at around 5 pm on December 11th.

I originally thought to spend 3 nights in Bagan instead of 2 in Yangon but think we might get templed out. We also like cities in general and I am beginning to think there is a lot to do in and around Yangon.

I am now thinking of spending our nights as follows:

Yangon
Yangon
Bagan
Bagan (balooning on this day)
Kalaw (should we add a night? am thinking this is undeveloped and unspoiled)
Inle
Inle
Inle
Yangon

Any thoughts? Should we spend one more night in Kalaw? should we spend one less night in Inle? I know all this is subjective of course

Kathie

You are trying to cover too many places in too short a time. I'd suggest you cut Kalaw and spend that night in Bagan. Remember that two nights somewhere is just one full day; it takes three nights to get two full days. I wouldn't recommend any less than three nights in any of the places.

I would suggest that you take a late afternoon flight to either Inle or Bagan right after arriving in Yangon, spend three nights there, then move to the other location for three nights, last, return to Yangon for three nights. This would give you two full days in each of the three places you want to visit.

Be aware that the ballooning is often cancelled, so no guarantee you will be able to do it. Do buy your tickets but know how to get the refund if the weather does not cooperate.

denisious

thank you Kathie,

I'm afraid since Kalaw has the elephant camp which is a must visit for us we can not miss it. I realize a lot of people spend a long time in Bagan and we may still be enchanted and wish we had more time there but I do think Inle lake will present more interest to us due to the local life vibe (which is preferable to temple after temple) apologies if this sounds rude for the temples I am just judging on what we usually prefer.
I actually had my qualms about spending so much time in Yangon but it seems there is a lot to do in and around Yangon.

....How would we know the refund procedure for ballooning is? Should our travel agent tell us this?

Kathie

Your travel agent should tell you about the refund process. Are you buying the tickets from the agent? If so, your agent will handle the refund.

Have you done any reading about elephant camps? I would suggest that you do. It may discourage you from visiting one in Burma. There are good elephant camps in Thailand.

Just one day in Bagan would have been a major disappointment of me, but if you have little interest in temples, that might work for you. I'd take a day away from Yangon to get another day in Bagan.

denisious

Thank you Kathie , you have persuaded me so now our itinerary will be as follows:

Yangon
Bagan
Bagan
Bagan (balooning on this day, agent says it is the only day available, hmm)
Kalaw
Inle
Inle
Inle
Yangon

I am thinking If and when we return to Myanmar we will have a chance to revisit Yangon.

So far we haven't scheduled any tours/guides but now HtetPaing has me thinking we may want to prebook a tour on our first day in order to get one of the good guides.
Any info on tried and true guides as well as appropriate rates will be much appreciated.

Kathie

I really don't think a guide is necessary. I have never pre-booked any tours. Are you thinking of a guide for Yangon? We obtained a list of historic buildings from the Strand Hotel and did our own walking tour. The one place you want to see for sure is Shwedagon Pagoda. Just take a taxi there.

denisious

I was thinking more about a guide/driver in Bagan and a guide/boat tour in Inle lake. I think we will wing it as usual but we have the tendency to waste a lot of time when left on our own devices

Kathie

At Inle Lake you certainly need a boatman, but if you've read your guidebook, you don't need a guide. Likewise, in Bagan, you will need some form of transport (I prefer a horsecart), but you don't necessarily need a guide.

I'd recommend that you do as much reading as possible before your trip, which will prepare you for what is available in various places. I think of tours as bing for pope who have done no preparation work ahead of time. If that is you, you may want a guide. But you can wait until you are there to hire one.