A note on place names:
I have chosen to refer to the country as “Burma” as that is the name the Pro-democracy groups in the country prefer. I have opted to use the traditional name for Rangoon, though the current official name is Yangon. SOme place names have many alternate spellings, and even signs within a locality will use different spellings. I have tried to use commonly used spellings, but in some cases have given alternate spellings.

Practical Matters:
The only up-to-date guidebook available at present is the Lonely Planet.
Taxis: Taxis do not have meters, so negotiate a rate before you go. In every case, the rate quoted by the driver was reasonable, usually in the 2000-3000 kyat range for destinations in Rangoon (US2-$3).

Money:
The local currency is the kyat (pronounced “chat”). You will need local currency to pay for taxis, meals in non-hotel restaurants, purchases from markets, etc. You will need US dollars to pay for hotels, transport (air, rail, bus) and admission fees. You can exchange dollars or Euro for kyats. Don’t use official exchanges such as those at the airport (which offer artificially low rates), but exchange at Scotts market or stores. The best rate when we were there was 1000 kyat to the dollar in Rangoon. Outside Rangoon, the rates aren’t as good, but we were able to get 960 kyat to the dollar in Bagan. Banks are not allowed to exchange money for visitors. Technically, private citizens in Burma are not allowed to possess foreign currency. Even those private citizens who are allowed to accept foreign currency (such as taxi drivers from the Rangoon airport or horse cart drivers in Bagan) are often hassled by the government as they try to exchange dollars. For small vendors, exchanging dollars is a problem. If/when they can exchange them for kyat, they may be harassed and they will not get a good rate. Vendors often ask tourists to trade them kyats for the dollars they have previously accepted. Do the vendors a favor and only use kyat when you purchase. If you have extra kyat, do trade them kyat for dollars.

The national bank has a policy of not accepting bills that have even the tiniest tears or are dirty or have ink on them. Thus, places that accept dollars such as hotels and travel agencies are very particular about the currency they accept, as if the central bank won’t accept a bill, it cannot be exchanged. Their only recourse is to find a visitor who will exchange an unacceptable bill for an acceptable one. We opted to get all new currency, which was much appreciated by the hotels, travel agency, etc.

Take enough US currency to pay all of your expenses in Burma. Take a variety of denominations, so you will have exact change for hotel bills, for instance. $100 bills will get the best exchange rate when you are buying kyat. Note that kyat are worthless outside Burma, so spend it before you leave the country. You can only change kyat back to dollars if you have an official receipt , which you will not have as you will have exchanged money on the black market.

Credit cards:
Because of the sanctions placed on Burma by most of the world, Burmese companies cannot accept credit cards. You will find places that accept credit cards with a 5-10% surcharge, as they use Thai or Singapore companies to process the charges. The Strand was willing to take a visa card for a 5% surcharge, the Hotel @ Tharbar Gate was willing to do so for an 8% premium. No American Express cards can be accepted anywhere.

Making air reservations:
We were unable to find a way to make our intra-Burma flight arrangements outside Burma. Even our usual Bangkok agent was unable to purchase tickets for us. We opted to use Santa Maria Travel, which has been highly recommended by number of people we know. They were helpful and responsive. Note that the airline schedules you find online may have little to do with when planes arrive or depart in Burma. The local travel agencies seem to have an “in” and know when the flights are actually scheduled. Few flights are non-stop, as planes often fly in a circular pattern.

Making hotel reservations:
We tried to make hotel reservations over the web whenever possible, so we could pay via credit card in advance. We succeeded in one case, for Inle Lake View Resort, but the other two hotels quoted us the best rates directly, so we opted to pay them in cash. Note that email within Burma is often unreliable. If you do not get a response within a couple of days, email them again.

Internet access:
Internet access is unreliable within Burma. Connections are ofaten slow outside Rangoon. Many websites are blocked by the government, including all email sites. The locals have found ways to work around this by using proxy sites, but not all email sites are accessible with the proxies. We were unable to use our email anywhere within Burma. G-mail was accessible via an easy work around while we were there, but be aware that this is an ever-changing situation as the government blocks proxy sites as it learns about them, and locals find new way to work around the government blocks.

Rangoon Bound

We flew from Seattle to Bangkok on United in Business Class. The Seattle to Narita leg had the old seats, and the Narita to Bangkok leg had the new lay flat seats. The new seats get my seal of approval. However, United has discontinued champagne in business class, serving instead California sparkling wine, which, in my opinion, in no way approximates champagne. But perhaps that’s the price we have to pay to get really good business class seats.

We arrived in Bangkok near midnight, and checked into the Novotel at the airport. We had gotten a good rate on Agoda ($138 including tax and service) by booking several months in advance. The Novotel is comfortable and very efficient at getting us from the airport to the hotel and back again.

In the morning, they dropped us at the Thai first/business class entrance, and Thai personnel handled our luggage and got us checked in quickly and comfortably and through the fast-track passport control. I always appreciate the excellent service of the Thai personnel, but it’s especially appreciated when we are in a jet-lagged fog.

Our flight from Bangkok to Rangoon on Thai Air was on time. Cabin service was good, and, of course, they serve real champagne.

Arrival formalities at Rangoon:
We had received our visas from the Myanmar embassy in Washington DC quickly and efficiently. They do require an inordinate amount of paperwork, including a job history form. They also require Fed Ex to and from the embassy. Our passports with the visa affixed was received a week after we sent it off.
Before we landed, more forms were distributed, duplicating much of the info we already provided on our visa applications (copies of which the embassy had stapled into our passports). We dutifully filled these out as well. Passport control was fairly routine, though everything seems to take longer in Burma. They removed all of the paperwork from our passports, leaving just a pink form in the passport. Do not lose this pink form!

Rangoon:
There are baggage handlers who found our luggage (it’s all outside) and brought it to us. They took our baggage receipts and gave them to guards in order to exit the baggage claim area. There is a taxi desk, we told them we wanted to go to the Strand, and that we needed to make a short stop at Santa Maria Travel (in order to pay for our in-country flight tickets and Balloons over Bagan tickets). The cost was $10, and the baggage handlers loaded our suitcases into the ramshackle taxi. Virtually every taxi in the country is a wreck. Large chunks of the interior are missing, the back portion of one front seat, a door panel, etc. I’m not sure if any of the windows worked. Of course, there was no air-conditioning. The driver spoke good English and offered useful information.

We had arrived on “National Day” which is a holiday, so many things including Scott Market were closed. Of course, that is where we intended to change money.

Santa Maria Travel is difficult to find, and located on a street where there is no parking. But the intrepid taxi driver dropped me off, and he and Cheryl drove around the block until he located a place where he could park briefly. I went to Santa Maria, and gave them a stack of crisp US currency in exchange for the tickets. I told them I need to exchange some money, but Scotts market was closed, and they agreed to exchange $100 at a rate of 1000 kyat per dollar. This was the exchange rate I was aiming for, so this worked well.

Driving though Rangoon is a study in contrasts. Some areas are very rundown and dirty. But there are wide major streets and boulevards as well as narrow, crowded lanes. There are lovely swaths of green as well as expanses of grey. There are two lakes within the city, one natural and one man-made. The city is entirely cut off from the riverfront, once its life blood. There are huge mansions as well as tiny apartments in tall cement buildings. The old area along the Strand, once the center of Rangoon is now grey and dirty, though the Strand Hotel and the British and Australian embassies still stand in adjacent blocks. There are a number of old colonial era buildings along the street, some now used for government offices, others standing vacant.

We love cities, so decided to stay in the middle of the city, the Strand Hotel, in order to explore it. The hotel is an oasis of calm, cool, clean in the midst of a hot, sweaty, gritty city.

We arrived at the Strand ($200++ a “promotional rate” on their website), and were whisked into the lovely lobby while the bellmen dealt with our luggage. We were seated in the lobby and brought a cool glass of watermelon juice. The GM stopped by and introduced herself. After relaxing for a few minutes, we were escorted to the elevator, where our butler took over, taking us to our suite and having us sign our check-in papers.

The suite was lovely. We had a corner room, so it had lots of light. There was a bottle of prosecco chilling in a wine cooler, and a basket of tropical fruits in the sitting area. The service at the Strand is absolutely superb. You have 24 hour butler service, and every Strand employee is glad to be of service to you.

After enjoying our suite for a while, we decided to go out to explore. Sidewalks are hazardous. Great chunks of concrete are missing or displaced, some water-main covers are missing, creating hole a foot or more deep. Drivers seem to have the right of way, even in crosswalks. Pedestrians do seem to have the right of way on sidewalks. On the other hand, the traffic is the most orderly of any city that size I’ve seen in SE Asia – Singapore excepted. Horns are rarely used and drivers are not aggressive. Traffic flows smoothly, even when the streets are crowded.

Staying in the center of the city makes getting to attractions quick and inexpensive (though taxis are inexpensive overall). The other option is to stay a bit away from the center of the city. The Governors Residence is the other place we considered (more about this on our return to Rangoon).

It was beastly hot in Rangoon. The whole country was having warmer than normal temperatures, and it was about 40 degrees centigrade (near 100 Fahrenheit) in Rangoon when we arrived. We decided to go to lunch at Monsoon, a restaurant recommend by a number of recent travelers. Monsoon serves a variety of SE Asian cuisines. We had a nice lunch. The food was ok, but by no means exceptional. There is a crafts shop upstairs which is supposed to have high quality crafts. We saw nothing that we had an interest in buying.

There is a great historic walking tour in the area around the Strand, but it was so hot, we decided to save it until our return to Rangoon.

In the evening, we went off to Shwedagon Pagoda. This is the premier sight to se in Rangoon. The pagoda was still being repaired from damage done by the hurricane Nargis, so parts of the pagoda had bamboo scaffolding and some of the golden surface was covered while being repaired. We arrived before sunset, paid our $5 admission fee, and rode the elevator up. Once you are at the pagoda level, you can see the surrounding buildings and the marble walkway around the pagoda. Sunset is a lovely time to visit. Many people are there, circumambulating the pagoda, making offerings, meditating, or pouring water over Buddha images. We saw only a few western visitors. We did see military men in their fatigues, boots and riot shields visiting, an odd contrast to the calm of the crowds at the pagoda. We spent a couple of hours there, just enjoying the atmosphere.

Wow, Kathie. You sure you don't want to go into the travel guide business? This is fantastic! I'm printing and saving the 'essentials' section for when we eventually get there (hopefully in the next few years.)

Can't wait to read more! You've really done a tremendous job of setting this all up.

Kathie - how fascinating this is. Glad you were finally able to make your childhood dream come true....

Thanks for the encouragement.

Early the next morning we saw a stream of people crossing the street near the Strand. The workers in the city, vendors and laborers, they had arrived via a ferry from across the river. Many carried items on their head, some had hand carts. It was like a scene out of the 19th century. What a contrast as we later drove toward the airport and notice two theatres, one playing the Michael Jackson movie, This is It, the other playing Angels and Demons.

Off to Inle Lake:
Our flight to HeHo was early in the morning. Our hotel rate at the Strand included breakfast, and we had a lovely meal of Eggs Benedict before heading for the airport. At the airport, an employee took our luggage and tickets and got us checked in. No passport or any kind of identification was required. Security procedures were lax to non-existent. While the international airport looks fairly modern and efficient, the domestic terminal is rather run-down. Flight announcements consisted of a man waving a signboard with an airline name (but no flight number) on it.

Our Air Bagan flight to HeHo was on time. It stopped first at Mandalay, then flew the short distance to HeHo. They served a “breakfast” which we declined. Upon arrival at HeHo, the baggage guys quickly found our luggage and took it to the waiting van. Santa Maria had a representative waiting for us. We had arranged a car and driver with Santa Maria to take us to Kakku on our way to our hotel at Inle. Given our limited time at Inle, this was our only opportunity to visit Kakku.

Kakku is a group of nearly 2500 stupas in an area that has only been open to tourists since about 2000. It is in Pa-O lands, so an admission fee of US$3 per person plus $5 for a Pa-O guide is required. This is arranged at an office in Taunggyi. Our Pa-O guide was excellent. As we drove through small villages, she talked with us about the Pa-O people. We were able to see people as they went about their daily lives and ask her about what we were observing.

The initial sight of the stupas at Kakku is dramatic. There, amidst the rolling fields is a forest of stupas. As you approach the site on foot, you hear the tinkling of the bells from the hundreds of “umbrellas” atop the stupas. It’s very atmospheric. We walked among the stupas, the only visitors (though we had seen a van load of visitors there earlier while we were eating lunch). As you walk among the stupas, you can see that most of the stupas have been “restored.” Visitors from many countries have paid to restore stupas. The initial “restorations” were really the building of new stupas on old foundations. More recent restorations have used existing elements of the ruins to rebuild a stupa from the remaining elements and reproductions of those elements.

The drive from the airport to Kakku and onward to our hotel at Inle Lake was about five and a half hours long over rough roads. It was an exhausting drive, but I was glad to have had the opportunity to visit Kakku.

Wonderful stuff, Kathie, thanks! You're rapidly moving Burma up the "must revisit" list...

Inle Lake View Resort:
We were relieved to arrive at our hotel, the Inle Lake View Resort. This is a lovely place, with views out over the lake from our room and from the dining room. We were in an upper floor junior suite. The room was lovely with hardwood floors, large windows to the view of the lake and a balcony with lounge chairs. The junior suites have a nice-sized sitting area. Bathrooms are well-equipped and very clean. There is no air-conditioning, just a ceiling fan, which was adequate when we were there. I understand it can get quite cold at night, but the weather was warmer than usual when we were there.

We met the owner/general manager of the hotel and learned the story of the resort. It was developed by a woman who is from Rangoon. She was at the age where she was ready to go to the University when all universities were closed in 1988. She went to work in the travel industry, eventually owning her own agency. When the universities re-opened, she opted to continue her work in travel rather than go to the university.

Being in the travel industry, she felt she knew what was needed: an international standard hotel at Inle Lake. She sold her travel business and purchased the land and engaged an architect to help her plan the resort. She built the resort with local materials using local labor. She did this without government involvement, which means she cannot count on the government for electricity or water, for example. She has a water purification system so even the tap water there is safe. The resort has its own generator which functions when the unreliable public power fails (many times each day). Her priorities were to create a resort of international standards with a sensitivity to environmental concerns and offering opportunities to locals for jobs and economic development.

The resort has been built in stages. There are two individual villas and a series of superior rooms plus the lobby/restaurant building that were completed first. The 8 junior suites, arranged in two buildings were built more recently.

She had a Swiss General Manager, but with the downturn in tourism after the violent end to the demonstrations a couple of years ago and Hurricane Nargis, tourism declined. As she put it, she could let one ex-pat go or 30-40 locals, so she chose to let her GM go and she came up from Rangoon to be the GM.

She has plans for further development centered around providing a quality food supply for the restaurant. She plan a farm near HeHo and also hopes to begin breeding milk cows to be given to local families. The families must feed the cows only vegetarian foods, and in return, she will buy the milk from them for use at the resort. AT present, she imports all of the milk they use to ensure a safe supply.

There is a nice restaurant and the food is quite good. Everything is safe to eat, as much of the produce is grown in the resort’s gardens, and everything is washed in purified water. Craig had complained about the expensive European set menu, but that is now gone. The menu is a la carte, and there are both Asian and European dishes to choose from.

The staff was wonderful. They are all locals trained by the resort. They have on-site housing, going back to their villages when they have a few days off. For many of the staff, coming to work at the resort was the first time they had running water and electricity.

We loved this place and would stay there again. We paid US$180 per night including tax, service and daily breakfast.

Very much enjoying your report Kathie, looking forward to more, and green with envy, but still wondering about the ethics of visiting Burma.
Your account is forcing me to re-consider.

Kathie, just a note to say how much pleasure I am taking in reading your report and how helpful it is for my own upcoming visit in March.... We are also staying at the Inle Lake View, but at the Savoy rather than the Strand.

Carry on, please!!

"As a child, I saw a photo of the temples at Bagan rising out of the peach-colored mist at sunrise. I knew I had to go there."

You romantic fool! Great opening line. A novel to follow?

Kathie, great report so far...

I'm glad the Inle Lake View Resort's owner fired the GM instead of the other employees. The GM was kind of a jerk - even if I didn't say so in my trip report. Nice to know that the restaurant menu has changed as well...

I get the impression that Kakku was kind of special but maybe disappointing also. Perhaps that is what you expected based on previous reports...?

I do look forward to more - this was such a special place for us and it's wonderful to see it through your eyes...

Love your report Kathie. Very informative and thank to you I get to "revisit" the country again through your report.

Great reporting Kathie as usual! Will file this one as a primer for a future Burma trip. Can't wait to hear more and to see Cheryl's pictures.
Welcome home!

Aloha!

Thanks to all of you for your comments.

Leigh, I will have more to say about the decision to visit Burma. As you know, I struggled with this issue for many years before going.

Eks, I think you'll love the Inle Lake View. It's really lovely. And I love what the owner is doing in terms of supporting the locals and protecting the environment.

degas, no question, I'm a romantic. But Bagan also seems to inspire that in people.

Craig. I felt I was prepared for Kakku, so didn't feel especially disappointed by the rebuilding of so many stupas. The sheer number of the stupas is amazing, and the atmosphere is special, with the tinkling temple balls in the deep quiet.

Pook, I'm glad to take you along on our journey.

Thanks, HT. Cheryl has been working on her photos but one of her computers crashed this morning. She's hoping to get them on the website some time next week. So many of these photos are really stunning.

Touring the Lake:
The hotel arranges boats and will help you plan an itinerary. They have maps of both the main lake and the southern lake, and can make suggestions if you need them or simply follow your instructions. They were very helpful in figuring out how much we could fit into a day, and how to cluster the places we wanted to visit. The boatman speaks only a little English, but the staff will lay out for him the itinerary you have chosen for the day. You can modify it as needed by pointing to a location on the map or saying no to a stop previously planned. The boatman is sensitive to the needs of the photographer and slows or stops the boat as needed for photography.

We really wanted to see the southern part of the lake, so opted for that our first full day. The trip to the southern part of the lake takes time (Lonely Planet says it takes three hours each way, but I guess our boatman was speedy, as it took us 2.5 hours each way) and is more expensive ($75) than day trips on the main part of the lake ($35). The boats are pretty comfortable; you sit low in the boat on seats with cushions and arms. We wanted to get out on the lake early and aimed to start each day about 6:30.

It is quite cool in the morning on the lake, especially as you are moving along in the motorboat. We both brought windbreakers with hoods, and hats that served to keep us warm in the morning and the sun off our faces in the afternoon. We also brought gloves as recommended by fellow Fodorites, but as the weather was warmer than usual, the gloves were not needed. We used SPF 30 sunscreen and I reapplied it a couple of times each day, and still got a little burned. The sun is very strong and there is also the reflection off the water. Boats are equipped with umbrellas, and I used one from time to time in an effort to protect myself from the sun.

I loved being out on the lake; we were seeing people live as they have for generations. In the early morning it is misty, and the photos Cheryl took look at this time of day look like they were done in black and white. We loved watching the leg rowers as they spread their fishnets or dropped the fish traps into the water. We also saw people beating the water with bamboo poles to drive fish into nets or traps. Others in boats were pulling aquatic plants from the bottom of the lake to fertilize the floating gardens. We saw people working in the floating gardens, and even saw a section of a floating garden being moved from one part of the lake to another. The lake is the primary route from village to village, and we saw school children on their way to school in boats. We saw produce, pottery and other things being transported via boat. People were very friendly and smiled and waved to us.

We headed toward the southern part of the lake. This area has been open to foreigners only since 2003. You have to stop on the way to get a permit and pay an entrance fee ($5 per person) to the Pa-O and pick up a Pa-O guide ($10). You will later pass a checkpoint that will make sure you have the proper permit and guide. Again, we had an excellent guide.

Each time you get a permit to enter a previously restricted area, it is a reminder that you are being tracked by the government. Your name and passport number is recorded each time. Of course, you are also tracked by where you stay, as every hotel and guest house must submit a complete list of all guests, with their passport and visa numbers, citizenship to the police every night.

We were really looking forward to seeing Sankar (also called Samka). This is a grove of ruined stupas, some rising out of the water, others scattered along the shore and farther inland. When the lake is high, you can float through a cluster of stupas in your boat. As you can imagine, this is lovely, silent, atmospheric. Just one stupa has had some restoration work done on it, the others are in a lovely state of decay. There is a ruined wooden monastery as well as a newer wooden monastery. We visited the monastery and spoke with a monk via our guide, as the monk spoke little English. There are only a few monks there. The monks have a generator and so have electricity at times. There is no electricity in the village. There is a tv at the monastery, and the whole village comes to the monastery to watch soccer games. We walked through the nearby village and were invited in to observe part of a wedding celebration.

I love being able to visit again through your eyes. My Pa-O guide was the best of my entire trip. Can't wait for Cheryl's pics.

enjoying reading this as a reminder of our limited trip several years ago...

Perhaps this is a good place to offer some definitions. I’ve been writing about stupas. Stupas are solid, often bell-shaped monuments. They are also called chedi or zedi. You cannot enter a stupa. A monument you can enter is usually called a pagoda in the area around Inle Lake, but is more often called a temple in Bagan, though some are called pagodas. In Thailand or Laos, this would be a wat.

At Sankar, we entered several old pagodas farther from shore than the stupas. All contained Buddha images, all in the sitting position called “Subduing Mara” or “Calling the Earth to Witness,” but in every case, rather than touching the ground, the Buddha’s fingers are touching a tiny white elephant. Every Buddhist country I’ve visited has some interesting Buddha story variants. The story referenced here is that of a white elephant appearing to the Buddha in a vision when he was being tempted by Mara (a demon). I expect this story is related to the story of the Buddha’s mother having a dream of a flying white elephant that foretold her giving birth to the Buddha.

In Burma, Thailand and Laos, the white elephant is considered sacred. All white elephants belong to the king. Indeed, wars were fought between Burma and Thailand over the possession of white elephants. In Burma there are stories of stupas and temples being built where a white elephant stops for the night; this is likewise the story of the location of Doi Suthep near Chiang Mai.

Most Buddha statues we saw around Inle Lake had the white elephant; nowhere else did we see this image.

Our next stop was on the opposite shore of the southern part of the lake, Takhaung Mwetaw Pagoda (called Tharkong Pagoda in the Lonely Planet). It was here that we saw the only other western visitors during our trip to the southern part of the lake, a couple from Maryland. This is another groups of stupas, some in their original state of decay, others restored, as well as a pagoda with Buddha images. Our Pa-O guide told us that they had learned from the errors at Kakku, where foreigners were allowed to come in and build new stupas on old bases. Here, they are trying to do some real restoration work, utilizing existing elements of decaying stupas, and reproducing missing portions. Some of the stupas have a pale red-orange color to them, where they ground up the crumbling old brick and used it to reproduce missing or destroyed sections of a stupa. Here, as at Kakku, the people paying for the restoration of the stupas are almost all foreigners.

After this, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant on stilts over the lake. These are places to remember about food and water precautions. None of these restaurants have electricity; food is cooked over a flame. At the hotel, the man helping us with our itinerary reminded us to only eat hot food here. We did so and were fine.

Veteran travelers to SE Asia, know to carry toilet tissue along, and certainly the area around Inle is a place you need to be carrying your own. When we used the facilities at this restaurant, it appeared that there was toilet paper in the bathroom… but looking closely, it was a roll of crepe paper!

We would have been fine heading back toward our hotel after this stop, but our guide wanted to take us to a Pa-O pottery village. We stopped and watched a woman make a series of 5 vessels from a single lump of clay on her wheel. Cheryl got a video of this, and will post it on You Tube. The pottery here was utilitarian, meant for local use rather than as souvenirs for tourists.

Now we headed back to the main part of the lake, almost a two-hour trip to where we dropped off our guide and another half hour or so to our hotel.

I loved all of the time on the water, watching the fishermen and the daily life along the shore or in the villages on stilts over the lake. It had been a very full day.

avidly and gratefully reading your report...

Fantastic!!

I have printd off your report for my husband to read (he dosen't do computers!!) and this is my strongest weapon so far in convincing him that Burma should be our next trip. I can't see how I can fail with such quality ammunition - thank you.

Thanks for the encouragement.

We arrived back at our hotel tired, but not exhausted like yesterday. Riding in the boat is more comfortable and more relaxing than the long car ride. I had gotten more sun that I would have liked. Despite all the sunscreen, I had a little burn on my arms, and I had forgotten to put sunscreen on my ankles and feet until the afternoon.

Over dinner, we laid out what else we’d like to do and decided it could be done in two half-days. Our half-days were long, as we were on the lake at 6:30 am and got back about noon. This would allow us to spend dome time relaxing at the resort the next afternoon.

Our priority for the next day was Indein/Inthein. We had another lovely early morning on the lake. We had carefully avoided the 5-day market that was at the Ywa Ma (the floating market) the previous day. But our boatman decided to take us though the area today. (This is the only time the boatman’s lack of English was even a minor problem. The guy at the hotel had told him we didn’t want to go to the floating market the previous day. Indeed, the Pa-O guide said something about the 5 day market at the floating market the previous day and the boatman loudly said “no.”) He just took us though the market area, but it was crazy, even at 7:15. Vendors in boats grab your boat and try to sell you gee-gaws. How this is considered a great experience is beyond me. There were German tourists standing in a couple of boats taking photos with huge cameras. I just wanted to get out of there. I was in the space for exploring another stupa forest in silence. Anyway, our transit through the floating market was mercifully short.

To get to Indien, your boat has to go up a stream to get to the village. We arrived at Indein at 7:30. The people in the shops in town were just beginning to set up. You walk through the town to the base of the hill where there is a covered walkway up the hill. Locals point the way. The covered walkway is nice, there are stalls under the cover of each side of the walkway. At 7:30, the first vendors were just beginning to be set up.

There are two places to leave the walkway to see stupas on the way up. The first is off to the right side where several picturesque decaying stupas are overgrown with jungle-like greenery. We walked through these, then back to the walkway. The second place is higher up the hill and off to the left. There you can walk through the ruined stupas, and can see that higher up the hill there are a few “renewed” stupas, painted white. As you go higher, you can see increased numbers of stupas painted white, and even painted gold. We returned to the walkway, headed to the top when we heard familiar starins of music. The workmen painting a stupa were listening to a Burmese version of “A Whiter Shade of Pale.”

At the top of the walkway, you enter a pagoda, tended by two monks, the Shwe Inn Tain Buddha Pagoda (one more variation of the spelling). Around the pagoda are over a thousand stupas. We walked among the stupas, seeing that the majority at the top had been reconstructed and painted in white or “gold” paint. Again, most of the renewed stupas were paid for by foreigners, many Europeans, a few from the US, and a number from other countries in SE Asia. It was lovely and quiet and we had the place to ourselves.

When we were ready to return, we started back down the covered walkway. We stopped and made a few purchases. The crafts here were high quality. Maybe 25% of the stalls were set up by this time. We were remarking to each other how delightful it was to have the place to ourselves as we left the walkway. At that moment, two visitors rounded the corner ahead coming toward us… then more and more. It was 9:00. By the time we got back to the boat there were a close to a dozen boats there. A little later, and our experience would have been entirely different.

Our next stop was the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda. This pagoda holds the holiest Buddha images in the area. These images have been covered with so much gold leaf, that they are no longer recognizable. Annual at the pagoda festival, these images are transported around the lake in two golden boats, one in the shape of a duck, the other in a dragon shape.

Our last stop for the morning was In Phaw Khone, a silk-weaving village in stilted houses over the lake. The silk weavers are fun to watch, doing such fine work on looms made of bamboo and often lashed together with rope. The weights consist of stones in large metal cans. The unique product here is lotus fiber. By breaking the stems of lotus, a fine fiber can be pulled out. The fiber is spun into thread, which can then be woven with silk to make shawls or scarves.

At this point, we headed back to our hotel. We had a nice lunch and had a leisurely afternoon, enjoying the lovely resort.

Staying at a resort on the lake (rather than in Nyaungshwe) isolates you from other dining options, but we were quite happy with the food at the resort and felt the prices were reasonable. The Inle Lake View Resort was beautiful, quiet, and had lovely facilities. There are no accommodations of this standard in Nyaungshwe. Yes, the price for a boatman was higher at the resort than in than in Nyaungshwe, $75 vs. $55 for the southern lake trip and $35 vs. $25 for a whole day, but we still felt the prices were quite reasonable

While we had originally thought we could get a morning flight to Bagan to give us an additional half a day of the temples, the only flight to Bagan leaves HeHo at 3:45. So on our last day at Inle we had time for a half a day on the lake before going to the airport to catch our late afternoon flight. We started the day with a stop at the 5-day market at Mine Thauk. When we arrived before 7 am, the area was full of boats, though none of them held tourists. It’s always fun going to markets. We are especially interested in looking at all of the beautiful produce. There are, of course, also items for tourists, but the market is mostly a local market. As we were leaving, the next set of travelers arrived. It pays to be out on the lake early.

Next, we paid a visit to the Jumping Cat Monastery. We wanted to see the lovely old Buddha images at the monastery, and we had another reason to visit as well. Two weeks before we flew to Bangkok, Cheryl’s beloved cat, Bangs, died. She was 19.5 years old, and Cheryl had her since she was 6 weeks old. It was a difficult loss. I decided one of the things we could do on this trip was to stop and make a donation to the Jumping Cat monastery in memory of Bangs.

It was at the Jumping Cat Monastery that I learned about Obama’s speech at ASEAN. A monk there had listened to it on the BBC. For the monk, as for many other people we spoke with, the speech was a beacon of hope.

Again, we were fortunate to be there early. A couple of visitors had just left, and there were no others visitors during the duration of our stay. A boat pulled up just as we were leaving.
From there, the boatman took us to his village. We walked though and saw women processing different kinds of beans and corn. We had seen so much life on the lake, it was interesting to see life in a village on the shore.

Back at the hotel, we finished packing and had lunch. The hotel had arranged a car to the airport at our request. We had made this request via email before we left home. Note that you want to have this transport arranged ahead of time… this isn’t a place where you can just call a taxi on the spur of the moment!

It takes about an hour to get to the airport from the hotel. At HeHo, a man took our tickets and got us checked in. There were no assigned seats on the flight (only the flight from Rangoon to HeHo via Mandalay had assigned seats). He also asked for our passports, and two men at a desk labeled immigration spent an inordinate amount of time looking at our passports. Given that there are no international flights into HeHo, I wonder what the purpose of the immigration desk is.

They weighed our luggage, 50 kilos, which is over by 10 kilos. The man at the airline counter tried to tell me something that I couldn’t understand. Finally, he had someone else tell me that our bags were overweight, but they weren’t going to charge us. They had weighed our luggage at Rangoon and despite weighing almost 50 kilos, they said nothing. The flight was to Mandalay where we dropped off and picked up more passengers before flying on to Bagan.

Cheryl has uploaded a video of the potter in the village by southern Inle Lake.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y03UChFgbK4

Kathie, I am curious as to whether this is the same pottery village where we handed out pens to the school children. Does this look familiar?

http://craigandjeane.smugmug.com/Travel/Myanmar-Burma-2007/3736104_dbfji#214717957_BsUUa

Great report. Thank you very much.

Thanks for a most enjoyable report.

Craig, no, the village in your photos is not the same one we visited. The one we visited was not far from Sankar.

I hope to have the next section of this report posted this afternoon.

Thnaks everyone for the encouragement.

Bagan

As at other airports, when we arrived in Bagan, men found our luggage for us. We had to produce our passports and pay $10 per person admission fee to the Bagan Archaeological zone right there at the airport. Then we went to the taxi stand and arranged for a taxi to our hotel, the Hotel at Tharbar Gate. The cost for a taxi is 6000 kyat to Old Bagan. A guy jumped into the front seat next to the driver and proceeded to talk loudly and endlessly (does the guy even breathe?) right into Old Bagan. He wanted to sell us his guide services. He didn’t wait for an answer; he just kept talking. The thing he said that I liked most was “You need a taxi! How else will you get from your hotel to Old Bagan to see the temples?” I thought about pointing out that we were staying right at the Tharbar Gate, but I decided not to state the obvious. So I just smiled and said, “We’ve already made arrangements.” Those were the magic words. He stopped talking and we arrived at our hotel.

The hotel is larger than I expected. We opted for a suite, which means our room is a 10-minute walk from the lobby. The suite is huge… a big living room, a big bedroom, and two bathrooms. And best of all - there is a little private terrace in a garden with a table and two chairs and a pair of loungers.

We were scheduled for Balloons over Bagan in the morning, and they were to pick us up at 5:45, so we went to bed early.

Up early, we were ready for our Balloon ride. The phone rang. It was the front desk. The Balloon ride had been cancelled because of strong winds at the altitude the balloons fly. We were disappointed, but it seemed like we might be able to get rescheduled.

The classic way to visit the temples is via horse cart. The horse carts are covered to protect you from the sun (and you need it!) and are pretty comfortable. Some people rent a bicycle. This isn’t the greatest place to bicycle. The sun is very hot and the roads are dust/dirt/sand. The bikes they rent are narrow-tired street bikes. We saw people pushing their bikes through the sand a couple of inches deep in places. Other than early in the morning and late in the evening, the bikers mostly looked miserable. Tour groups go from temple to temple in big buses, and a few tourists use a car and driver to get from one temple to another.

I went to the front of the hotel to arrange for a horse cart driver. It was still dark out. I spoke with a man, outlined what we wanted (three days, starting at sunrise, back at noon, then out again at 3 until sunset), and asked if he could do it. He said certainly, he could adapt to any schedule we liked. We arranged to meet him after we had some breakfast.

There is a sort of lottery for horse cart drivers to determine who will be #1 at each of the Old Bagan hotels. Our driver had won the lottery, and we felt like we had won the lottery – he was great.

I’m sure you all know that horse cart drivers provide transport and know who has the key for temples that are locked. They should know which temples are most popular for sunrise and sunset, so they can steer you to a different temple with a similar view. They usually don’t know much about the temples; they are not guides.

Minthu did not fit this mold. He knows a lot about the temples. Indeed, he has many of the same books we have, including Paul Strachan’s book, Pagan, which is the best book we have found on the temples. Because we are so interested in the temples, we are pretty knowledgeable, but he had all of the info we read (and more) in his head. He charges 15,000 kyat or US$17 per day, currently the standard price for a horse cart.

Contact info: Minthu, Horse cart #54, minthu.bagan@gmail.com

We got into the cart and headed off to see the temples at sunrise. We let him set the itinerary for the morning. He took us to a temple that had just a few other people there. We climbed to the top and looked out over the plains of Bagan, the temples peeking though the mist. It looked just like my memory of the photo I saw as a child. It took my breath away. We stood and watched the changing light on the temples as the sun rose and watched the mist change from pink to peach to gold.

When we got back in the horse cart and started down a dusty lane to another temple, it struck me that I was really at Bagan. At that point I thought that if all we did was ride around in a horse cart all day, soaking up the atmosphere, I would be content.

We spent our three full days going to temples every morning and every afternoon. We took about a 3-hour break at mid-day. Mostly, we let Minthu choose the temples. There were some we requested and let him fit them into the schedule. He is an excellent storyteller and told us many stories illustrated in the murals or the carvings. He also understands the Buddhist iconography (which is different in each Buddhist country we’ve visited).

Minthu offered the option of some other activities, visiting villages, Lacquerware workshops, a village festival etc, but we wanted temples. We knew we had limited time there and wanted as much time as we could in the temples. The only places we went other than temples were the Archaeological Museum and Minthu’s village located right in Old Bagan. We were not especially impressed with the museum.

General comments about the temples:

We met a woman from London while we were at Bagan. When I told her of my childhood vow to visit Bagan after seeing a photo she said she was here for the same reason. There is something about the temples of Bagan that gets to some of us.

There are somewhere between two thousand and four thousand temples on the plains of Bagan. The sight is just incredible. The temples are still there despite earthquakes, despite the Japanese using them for shelter during World War II, despite some ham-handed “restoration” on some temples by the government. While the smoke from the cooking fires of the Japanese soldiers has obscured the murals of some temples, others are well preserved. UNESCO has consulted with the Archaeological Department on how to clean the murals without damaging them.
Many of the temples we visited we were the only visitors. We never visited a crowded temple. There are a number of very popular temples, but Minthu would take us in a different entrance or take us at a different time of the day so we mostly had the temples to ourselves. Our first sunset, Minthu took us to a temple near the popular one for sunsets. We had the same view and only two other people at the temple, whereas we could hear and see the crowds at the popular temple.

You are required to take off your shoes before entering any of the temples. Imagine visiting the temples at Angkor barefooted, climbing those huge stairs. That’s what this was like. In a fair number of the temples there are interior staircases. We were grateful to have a flashlight to see the uneven steps. This is a trip that is hard on your feet.

Many people ask about how Bagan is similar to or different from Angkor. The temples in Bagan are generally smaller, but there are so many more of them. Angkor has both Buddhist and Hindu temples. Some started out as one and were changed to the other, so there is a real mix of Buddhist and Hindu in the temples. In Bagan all but one of the temples is Buddhist. There are a few other temples with some Hindu gods represented in the carvings or murals in addition to the one Hindu temple still standing. The Angkor temples overwhelm with size, the Bagan temples overwhelm with sheer numbers.

There is no “Dawn Rooney” for Bagan. The best book on the temples is Paul Strachan’s book, Pagan, which is long out of print in the US, but readily available in Burma. We found another useful book in Bagan, A Guide to Bagan Monuments by Min Bu Aung Kyaing.

Balloons over Bagan saga: When we got back to the hotel for lunch the first day, we had a message from Balloons over Bagan that they were full for the next day and couldn’t fit us in. We were ok with that, we were having such a wonderful time at the temples. But the next morning when we went out to get in the horse cart and saw the balloons hovering over the temples, we both felt a pang of disappointment, Later in the day we got a message from Balloons over Bagan that they could get us in the next day, as they had a couple cancel. We were delighted. Our third morning there, we were picked up by the Balloons bus and got all the way out to the launch site before they cancelled the flight. I respect that the pilots are so careful. As they pointed out, there are no emergency medical services in Bagan (talking with Minthu, it was clear there are very few medical services at all).

So, I can now report to you what happens if you are not able to fly. If you purchased your tickets directly from Balloons over Bagan, they will refund your cash at their office in Bagan. If, like us, you purchased your tickets from an agent (we got a nice discount by buying through Santa Maria), the agent will refund your money. We were going back to Rangoon for a couple of days at the end of our trip, so could get our money refunded then, but I asked what happened if someone is just transiting Rangoon on the way out of the country. In that case, your agent will meet you at the airport between your flights and refund your money. In our case, Santa Maria came to the Strand and brought us a cash refund.


Tour groups: Most visitors to Burma travel in a tour group. We encountered a number of groups at Bagan, all from Europe (German, French, Swiss). You can easily avoid the groups with some help from your horse cart driver. We were never at a temple with a tour group.

One late afternoon, we saw bullock carts all decorated. We asked Minthu about them. He said that high-end tour companies like to arrange something “unusual” for their guests so they will rent bullock carts to take people to a temple to see sunrise or sunset. The bus brings people to a spot not too far from the temple, and the people get into the cart and ride maybe 10 minutes to a temple, then are brought back to the bus the same way. Minthu told us that bullock drivers are paid 3000 – 4000 kyat (US$3-4) to do this; the tourists are charged $30-$40 each.

The weather in Bagan was about 10 degrees warmer than usual, so it was quite hot at mid-day. While Bagan is very dry, we did encounter mosquitoes. We were bitten both at Bagan and at Inle.

Hotel info: The Hotel at Tharbar Gate has a dynamite location, right at the gate. The hotel is nicely decorated, very atmospheric. There is a swimming pool (much appreciated in the heat) and the restaurant tables are next to the pool. Public areas are attractive. The restaurant had either a buffet or a set menu available every night. The food from the a la carte menu was better. I had a hard time finding any booking service that books this hotel, so I emailed the hotel directly in order to reserve. The suite was $260 per night including tax and service and full breakfast.

Wow, sounds like Bagan was everything you expected it to be and more. Can't wait to see the photos...

Kathie,
Finally have internet. Loved your descriptions and report. Am still working on Mandalay before I get to Bagan.
Am leaving Bangkok on the 4th for NYC.

So glad that Bagan lived up to your dreams! And thanks for such a lovely report.

Your Bagan days with Minthu sound like heaven. I am so glad to hear that your childhood dream was so beautifully realized.

What a great report Kathie. Thanks for this.

Thanks everyone. It was a fabulous trip. I'm hoping to finish my report tonight. Cheryl is well along with the photos.

Having lived thru this saga of integrity and planning for over one thousand years, I'm SO delighted that everything has worked out. Dogster takes personal pleasure that Les Kathies followed some of his paltry suggestions to great result. See, told ya so!

Amazing report, great detail.

So, I'm hoping for the tag now on how you feel about all that soul-searching - having finally made it. Next time, go for a month. You may find even MORE shades of grey - where once there was only black and white. I'm very much looking forward to your first conclusions!

I think you might have the bug. It took me three trips of one month each to even begin to understand. There'll be second conclusions, third, fourth... ahh, what a delight to read.

Back to Rangoon

After three very full days in Bagan, it was time to leave. We had stayed in Bagan four nights, hoping for an extra half day at the temples, but the flight schedules precluded that. So we crammed as much time at the temples as we could into our days.

We arranged a taxi to the airport early in the morning. The flight from Bagan to Rangoon was the only non-stop flight we had within Burma. As usual, someone took our tickets and got us checked in. The weighing of our luggage consisted of a guy lifting three of our suitcases and nodding to the agent at the desk. Again, there were no assigned seats. When it was time to enter the boarding lounge, we passed through “security.” A man behind a desk looked at each person’s boarding pass and checked it off on a handwritten list of all of the passengers!

The flight was delayed fro an hour due to “weather” though there was no sign of bad weather when we got to Rangoon. Again, our luggage was located for us, and our taxi driver was waiting for us.

Back at the Strand we were greeted as honored guests. We were assigned the suite we had previously that we loved. We were exhausted after all those days of non-stop touring at Inle and Bagan. We settled into our suite and decided the most strenuous thing we wanted to do was lunch. We had visited the beautiful J’s Irrawaddy Dream store in the Strand and picked up a card for the restaurant they have by the lake, so we went to lunch there. Frankly, it was a disappointment. The food was merely ok, though the setting on the lake was nice.

We rested and read in the afternoon and ordered room service. What a treat to have our butler deliver our food. He was really into being a butler and that made it even more fun.

Rangoon was still very hot, though not as hot as our last stay. We wanted do walk along the river, so got up at sunrise and headed out. There was a steady stream of people crossing the street, having come from across the river. We had seen this on our first stop in Rangoon and wanted to explore. We quickly discovered that there is no walk along the river. The only way to get close to the river is to take the foot ferry across. We only discovered this by blundering around a while. Anyway, we covered some ground that we hadn’t on our first stop, and the sidewalks were no better. By this time it was already getting hot.

We’d met a woman in Bagan from London and we’d agreed to meet for lunch in Rangoon at her hotel, The Governor’s Residence. Unfortunately, she had to fly to Bangkok early, so we wouldn’t be able to get together. We decided to go to lunch there anyway. Our butler made reservations for us, we climbed into a rickety cab and headed to the embassy district. This was an entirely different Rangoon than we had seen before… huge stately homes set on green lawns with beautiful trees and flowers.

The Governor’s Residence is lovely. It was previously the home where the Governor of the Kayin state stayed when he was in the city. Lush green grounds, a big swimming pool, it felt “not in Rangoon.” It was so much cooler where there was shade and water and trees. As we approached the restaurant, we were greeted by “You must be from the Strand.” We were seated on the lovely verandah and had a wonderful set lunch… some of the best food we had in Burma (the equal of the Strand). After a long, leisurely lunch, we were shown the rooms, which are quite nice. It’s would be a great place to stay to relax.

Back to the Strand, we spent time doing some writing and reviewing photos. We had decided to just rest and enjoy being at the Strand, which is what we did.

The next morning it was back to the airport for our flight to Bangkok. Everything went smoothly and as we had become accustomed to until we got to passport control. The line was short, but it took over half an hour to get through it. The employees examined every page of every traveler’s passport. They were taking notes (on what?) and then asked a series of questions everyone had answered on the visa application and on both the entry and departure cards “What is your occupation?” was one I remember.

Finally, we boarded our Thai Air plane for Bangkok. It had been an amazing trip.

I will finish up with my reflections on visiting Burma.

I'm awaiting the grand finale! Can't wait to see what you thought about the whole experience.

Fantastic Kathie!!!! Just love it. Wish I had a speck of the ability you & the likes of the Dog have to write reports. Mine are like science reports just the facts! One question can you just summarize your itinerary for me. I think I have it but would appreciate the confirmation. Burma is definately up there on our list but like you we have struggled a little with the "should we or shouldn't we" questions & other destinations have kept us happily occupied but....it is high on the list. Thanks again Kathie.

great reading

First, a short recap for Jules and others.

Our itinerary:

A half day and one night in Rangoon

Two full days and two half days and three nights at Inle Lake

The full days and three nights at Bagan

A day and a half and two nights in Rangoon.

Because out time was short, we were very focussed in Inle and in Bagan and saw a tremendous amount in a short time. It was so hot in Rangoon and we were tired enough from our travels that we used our Rangoon time mostly for relaxing. We had a great visit to the Shwedagon Pagoda. I would like to have done some shopping in Rangoon, but really only ended up looking. Given our limited time and our specific goals, I felt like we had about the right amount of time in each place.

Reflections on Visiting Burma

I spent almost twenty years delaying a trip to Burma because of the terrible junta ruling Burma. I respected ASSK’s request that travelers boycott Burma.

So have I changed my mind about Burma and its government? Well, as dogster says, I can now see shades of gray where I once only saw blank and white. Having heard people’s personal stories only reinforces my view of the brutal military regime. So my perspective on the government has not changed. I am more convinced than ever that the junta is basically evil.

But I am not as convinced that the boycott by travelers and the economic sanctions have been effective tools against the government. The generals just keep getting richer and richer while the people get poorer and poorer. The natural resources of the country all belong to the generals. A number of people told us that all teak in the country belongs to the generals. It’s a similar situation with the ruby and jade mines. The government does not invest in infrastructure that would benefit the people, but instead spends its money on building a new capital out in the jungle with facilities for polar bears and underground tunnels in case of nuclear attack. You and I traveling or not traveling to Burma has no impact on that.

The people continue to suffer. A goodly amount of their suffering is economic. One man we spoke with said he thought the people wouldn’t care who rules the country as long as their lives were better.

When I decided at long last to go to Burma, I knew one of the ways I could help was by spending my money with locals. We did that. And we tipped generously, trying to spread our tourist dollars as widely as possible. I was impressed that visiting the areas of the hilltribes that have signed cease-fire agreements with the military government can benefit these ethic groups not only though employing individuals, but also by putting money into the coffers of the tribes who can then spend it to improve the lives of their people.

I keep recalling a conversation with a man at a restaurant over the water near Sankar. He asked me about the Great Lakes – are they fresh water or salt water? Fresh water, I told him. He nodded. I said that Inle is much more beautiful than the Great Lakes. His reply? “But we have no electricity and no doctors.”

My conversations with people after Obama’s speech at ASEAN reminded me how important it is for the people of Burma to know that people outside their country care about them, are aware of their plight.

In the last few years there has been more division in the National League for Democracy over the tourist boycott and even the economic sanctions. Reading the opinions of some of these people has been useful as well. See, for instance, The River of Lost Footsteps by Thant Myint-U and Ma Thanegi’s afterward to Native Tourist. I still have the utmost respect for ASSK. But I now understand that her way is not the only way. Will opening up the country more for visitors and foreign investment make things better for the people of Burma? I don’t know the answer to that, but I do know that the boycott and sanctions have not had their intended effect.

Thank you so Kathie much for taking the time to post so much detailed information about what sounds like an incredible trip. I'm leaving for Burma in about 3 weeks, so all of this is quite helpful and I've been looking forward to reading it. We're only going to Yangon (3 nights) & Bagan (4 nights). I feel like I should have so many more questions!! But the Burma trip reports on here have been extremely helpful.

It sounds like a detailed agenda for visiting the temples in Bagan isn't as necessary (as it was in Angkor, for example). Would you say that's true? I made an attempt at writing one out awhile ago but it got overwhelming as there are just so many temples and it's hard to get a sense of where they all are in relation to each other.

Do you think it would be worthwhile to try to "reserve" your Bagan horsecart driver in advance... or is that not really possible based on the system they use?

And I guess lastly, could you make any recommendations for restaurants in Bagan (lunch and dinner)? Or other affordable Yangon restaurants in addition to Monsoon?

Hi John, have a wonderful time in Burma. I agree that it isn't as necessary to have a detailed agenda for the temples in Bagan as in Angkor. The number of temples is really overwhelming. And some very interesting temples aren't named and are not in the books. Have you been able to locate Paul Strachan's Book, Pagan? If not pick up a copy in Yangon or Bagan.

I do think it would be worthwhile to arrange Minthu in advance. Advance arrangements with a driver are respected. But if you just show up and say you want Minthu, that may be more difficult.

For a special meal in Yangon, I'd recommend The Governor's Residence or the restaurants at the Strand. In Bagan, there are two restaurants between the Hotel at Tharbar Gate and the gate itself that are supposed to be good. Frankly, we didn't do as much "local" eating as we usually do. Overall, the Burmese food we ate was ok, but rather disappointing for us (who love Thai, Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian foods).

Be conscious of making yourselves open to listening to the people you meet and you'll hear some fascinating and often, heartbreaking stories.

It is impossible I think to plan in advance the temples in Ba when I went to gan. There are so many and they are breathtaking.

The best meal I had was on my last day when I went to Nyaung U and ate Indian at Aroma 2. It was probably my best meal in Myanmar. Will try to finish my trip report as soon as possible. Also had a couple of decent lunches in old Bagan, at the vegetarian restaurants.

The Hotel manager made a list for me to show my horse cart driver on the various pagodas to see. I think we managed around 40+ or so in 2 days.

It realy seems that all the horse cart drivers are knowledgable, and yers they do have a priority system.

Bravo, Kathie. Fodor's should pay you!

Your afterword is an illustration of why it saddens me that Americans don't travel more. Estimates vary widely, but possibly between 15 and 25 percent of Americans hold passports (and that number has jumped wildly in the last couple of years because of the new passport requirements for Mexico and Canada). That's dismal, especially when you consider the small numbers of people that travel beyond North American/Carribbean countries, and the recent influx of immigrants, for whom a passport is de rigeur.

You can't really have a sophisticated understanding of the world without experiencing it, and even one trip, as Dogster suggests, allows only a narrow glimpse through tourist eyes.

Thanks again Kathie and Nywoman.

I echo the thanks.

I have a question for Kathie: Am I understanding correctly that the Ywa Ma market is to be avoided no matter which day one is in Inle Lake area? What would you suggest as the opportune time to set out for a lake excursion?

Thanks for all the encouragement. LAleslie, I have no illusions that I know the "truth" about Burma, but I do have a different prespective as a result of visiting. Like you, I'm appalled at how few Americans travel.

eks, For me, I would avoid Ywa Ma at all times. Others may feel differently.

I liked setting out at 6:30 each morning. Breakfast starts at 6, so you can have a little breakfast before heading out on the boat.

L'Opera rest. outside downtown yangon is very good

The 'Reflections' entry was very well written. I came to a very similar conclusion after my visit. Still amazed that visting Burma was one of my best trips ever in spite of the political and economic woes.

Thanks, Femi.

The photos have now been posted. Check them out:

www.marlandc.com/Burma

i've only looked at a few but they are fantastic....

any GTG pics??

is there a way to do slide show on that site??

Working my way through these photos slowly because they are very absorbing. Thanks to Cheryl.

Bob, Cheryl does have some gtg photos. She said she'll post them of flicker when she gets a chance.

To view the photos as a manual slideshow, just click on the first photo on a page, then click next until you get through the whole page.

Mary, I will convey your thanks to Cheryl.

Kathie, these are really fabulous photos - I've looked at much of Bagan and Inle Lake - they bring back fond memories.

Nice photos Kathie. Thank you and Cheryl for sharing them and, like Craig, they bring back a lot of memories of our trip there.

Thanks for taking the time and trouble to write a great report Kathie - very good indeed. I'm very pleased you enjoyed yourself.

Kathie, tell Cheryl that I have gotten thru the pictures. They are great and I was a fraid to skip any as I would miss a really great one...and they all are. There are several that are really outstanding.

Was the "mist" in Began due to moisture, or smoke from cooking fires etc? Do you feel you really missed an esential event by not being able to do the Balloons?

Looking forward to the GTG pictures. Let us know when they are up.

Wonderful photos and it sounds like you enjoyed Burma as much as I did!

Karen, the mist is truly mist rather than smoke.

We were disappointed that we couldn't get up in the balloon when we saw the balloons the one day they flew. We had such a marvelous time in Bagan that I don't have the sense we missed anything. If/when we return, we might try again.

We really enjoyed Burma.

i just looked at more and they are maybe the best i have seen on this forum....that brownie hawkeye is still kicking out great pics...

Thanks, Bob, I will convey your comments to Cheryl.

Just catching up here. Thanks Kathie and Cheryl for the wonderful report and pictures. We are now thinking of doing a little Burma with Thailand next November.....

Aloha!

Wonderful! I had time only for a brief look and will return. Rangoon has changed a bit since I was there last in the 80s--all those new Japanese cars!! Thanks so much for posting these...kudos to Cheryl.

"new Japanese cars" eks, the cars were almost all wrecks. In the US, they would have been junked years ago. Instead, these falling apart cars cost about US$20,000 in Burma! Yes, we saw a very few newer cars, no doubt the property of diplomats or the generals.

Items for gifts or bartering: I've just located the list I made while in Bagan. Bagan was the only place we were asked for specific items. Unfortunately, we had none of them, but next time...

Women want lipstick or mascara (Minthu said that while Burmese cosmetics are available, they are low quality and the women are always interested in good quality cosmetics). Next time I'm taking along all of those cosmetic samples I usually toss!

T-shirts, especially with US place names. One horse cart driver proudly told us that he has a t-shirt from New York and one from Boston. So you might take a few t-shirts along as gifts for guides.

Caps with place names or logos. Cheryl has a visor she bought at Royal Flora a few years back - everyone wanted that thing! But other cats, especially with place names are highly valued.

Personal care items. Children asked for a number of things (I don't advocate giving to begging children) including shampoo. I would have help my business class amenities kit from my transpacific flight and given it away.

Coins from your country. Several horse cart drivers showed us they have a collection of foreign coins... often just a half a dozen. But these are symbols of the outside world. Children love foreign coins, though they will trade you coins for kyat if they can.

Next time I'll take a number of such things along as gifts or to barter with vendors for inexpensive items at the temples.

At least they have "7 eleven", ha ha, there now!

Kathie,
This is where I will truly differ with you. Burmese women are not used to wearing make up. They didn't even know what lipstick and mascara were until the tourists came. I saw only one young girl made up and it was not attractive. The women in Bagan kept on asking "present for me" and when asked what, they said lipstick not for me for my mother.

The only real begging, except in cities where the elderly or poor women with babies who asked for money was in Bagan by the women vendors. I was told that the reason for this is that the French guide books advocate bringing gifts.

Actually the begging for gifts by the women in Bagan marred my visit, because it was so annoying, and so taken for granted by them, that tourists should give gifts.

I brought Smiley stickers which the children enjoyed as witnessed by the hordes that congregated when I put them on their hands or faces. I also bought food for children and adults.

Fanny, I'm not so sure that our positions are so far apart.

Only in Bagan did I experience women asking for lipstick or mascara. And they were not begging, but asking to trade their merchandise for items. Most of these women were wearing lipstick, so I assumed (perhaps incorrectly) that they wanted it for themselves.

I don't encourage begging, and offer this list as items one might want to bring to give as a gift to someone who is helpful to them (a horsecart driver or a guide) or for barter.

One of my favorite Burma stories is from a dear friend who visited Burma back in the days of the 7 day limit, perhaps 25 years ago. They were in a market in Rangoon, and were asked what they had to barter. They couldn't imagine what they had that people would want, but eventually came up with the first class kits (leather, full of nice toiletries). In return they were able to bargain for two lovely hand-made masks. They also had a batch of buttons that read "I (heart) Colorado" they had brought along for a professional group they accompanied to China which they gave away to people in the market. As they strolled the market, they began to see Burmese people walking toward them wearing the buttons they had given away! The buttons had already be traded two or three times!

Kathie, I'm afraid your last post has dragged me out of the woodwork, too. I really can't let this go by.

This is a wonderful report. I don't want to divert it or besmirch your integrity - but I truly don't understand why you would do this 'gift' thing, this 'tipping generously', this 'T-shirt and hats with logo' thing.

You've made a neat list of the usual chant of 'shampoo, stylo, lipstick, T-shirt... that besieges ever tourist in Bagan. With the greatest of respect, this is not about need, this is not about 'women want...', this is nothing at all to do with symbols from the outside world. That is how you interpret it.

Think about the source of your information. How many people did you meet - that you weren't paying? Did you ever get the feeling that you were told what you wanted to hear? Maybe you were taken for a ride in more ways than one.

I'm sorry Kathie, but in my humble, three trip, 90 days in Burma opinion, this really IS a case of 'a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.'

I'll leave it at that.

You could well be right, dogster. I well recognize that my time in Burma was limited. I don't typically post about something like this unless I hear it a number of times. And in this case, we also spoke with a couple of locals about the items people we asking for. Perhaps my memory of my friend's story about bartering for goods in Burma colored my perceptions.

Again, let me be clear my list isn't meant to say "take these things and give them away to everyone you meet" or "give these to beggars" but is a list of items we were asked for. I do not give things away to children or to beggars, but I do believe in giving small gifts to people (like a horse cart driver) who do something special for you. And I do believe in the value of bartering. We did not do so this trip, as we didn't have any of the items asked for.

I do tip generously (everywhere) but I was especially conscious of doing so in Burma. You may think it's a bad thing. i know that some people, especially those coming from non-tipping cultures think it's a bad thing... I've especially heard this from Aussies. But coming from a culture where service people are very poorly paid and where tips make up a large part of their income, I am aware that I can make a difference in the lives of those who perform services for me by tipping generously.

And did we meet and talk with people we weren't paying? Yes, we did. Do I think that either those people or the people we were paying were a representative sample of the population? No.

Did I ever get the feeling I was being told what I wanted to hear? Of course. About this? Not particularly. I went to Burma with the expectation that my old friend's experience of bartering for goods would be long gone. So I was surprised at the things people were asking for and that they would be delighted to barter.

So I pass on this information for what it is worth. To you it may not be worth anything, and you may even feel it is damaging.

Caveat emptor.

Hi Kathie,

This was a wonderful trip report and has really given me encouragement for my upcoming trip at the end of January. You seem to have had a wonderful time - I hope I have such good experiences. I have printed out your report so that I can go through it carefully. I have already emailed Minthu to see if he can take me around Bagan for the 3 days I am there. I took your advice and had an agent in Burma do most of the bookings for me eg hotels, flights and the majority of the tours. I will let you know how it all goes. Once again thank you for putting me at ease and am now looking forward to the trip instead of feeling "trepidation" at the thought of it.

Wonkyknee, I expect you'll have a wonderful trip! I'm glad that my experiences can inform you planning. And I do hope Minthu can take you around Bagan.

wow have things changed in just a couple of years....when we visited we were never asked to barter for anything, nor was there begging of any kind.... of course we were only around yangon which might make a difference...

Bob, we saw very little begging, one or two beggars in Bagan.

The bartering issue is an old one in Burma. I know several people who visited during the early days of Burma opening up when they could only stay 7 days and had to be on a group tour. At that time what the Burmese people wanted was Western goods, as they were unobtainable in Burma. Vendors in the market asked for western goods in trade for their crafts.

There was quite a black market then. The tour guide told people to buy a bottle of Johnnie Walker and a carton of a particular brand of cigarettes at duty free in Bangkok, and the visitors would sell them (at the Rangoon airport, in the taxi, to hotel employees) and get enough kyat for their whole stay.

The most common request we got from vendors in Bagan was to exchange the US$ they had received in payment for goods into kyat.

i think maybe we were asked to exchange cash too but not sure....our driver did take care of lots of $$ exchanges for us as i remember--- at great rates

Three videos are now posted on you tube

Weavers on Inle Lake: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7pY8HhkMbo

A Pa-O wedding, Sankar Village: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITDVrxPc5ww

In the boat on Inle Lake: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zkzgzz4gbI

Kathie what a wonderful and informative and very thoughtful report this is. I too have been wondering for the past six years should I/Shouldnt I go. I have just read a great article in Lonley Planet about the pros and cons of going and what to do if you DO decide to go, which you talked about here as well. I am convinced and ready and excited to go in December. Thanks again and I shall print off this report as well.

One question Kathie, you talked about being barefoot Can you wear socks? My husband has a really hard time walking barefoot, actually he has a hard time walking without shoes as he has a foot problem, but socks might be okay.

live42day,

Yes you can wear socks and what we did was to buy the cheapest kind of socks available and throw them away after each use.

Hanuman had told me you could wear socks, and I'd heard it from several other people as well. I never saw anyone wear socks in the temples while I was there. And Hanuman is right - you would want to throw them away after a single use!

live42day, have a wonderful trip to Burma. It is really a special place.

I've found it works welll to bring a few pair of "temple socks", actually thick tennis socks. When I'm done using them, I wash and dry them and give them to a anyone who would have use of them.

You are not allowed to wear socks in the temples, I tried but was told to remove them.

i would point out too that socks on some ground, specifically marble, can be very dangerous....

we often carry temple socks in other places

I think I read in Craigs report that you can not wear socks. Too bad

Clearly, people have had differnt experiences of this in Burma. Hanuman and his family wore temple socks. We didn't see any, didn't try. Nywoman was told no temple socks. See what you experience, live42day.

Kathie - that is a wonderful report. We went to Burma a few years back and did exact same itinerary. Having traveled in several Asian countries, Burma is like no other. Rangoon is jsut stuck in time. Bagan has the most amazing temples. Thanks for bringing back some beautiful memories.

Thank you for a wonderful ,sensible report!!!
Going there in January and will put all your advice to good use...

Enjoy! It's an amazing place.

Kathie if you don't mind I have a couple of questions for you. We are getting together our trip for Burma & I thought I would contact your horse cart driver. I got a reply from him which is great. My questions for you before I reply to him if you don't mind. He is quoting his price in US$ for a day starting from sunrise until sunset with a break in the middle. I will ask him this but I get the impression he is wanting payment in US$ now? I understood you paid in kip? His price is a bit higher than you & others have quoted the amount is not the problem but it is that old problem of is he expecting me to "bargain" him down a little. You & Cheryl seem to have a similar travel pattern to us (we were 10 days in Siem Reap & never bored!) so I suspect if you worked well for you he could be good for us too. He is saying that he is not only a driver but also a guide & to that is good but we don't really want a guide telling us all sorts of things all day long. Do you know what I am getting at. Anyway would appreciate your opinion. We may end up just playing the lottery & seeing who we get when we get there! Thanks J

I don't believe he is asking for payment in US dollars now... that's hard to do to Burma! We found the prices for horsecarts were standard, no variation among the drivers.

He will take either US$ or kyat. If his US dollar price is higher it might just be inflation or it might be the difference in exchange rate. Info from people on Thorntree indicates that the US dollar isn't buying as many kyat as it was when we were there.

While Min Thu did give us lots of information, he isn't a motormouth guide. We had a good amount of quiet time (which we like). He was very responsive to our needs. You may remember that we didn't use a guide at Angkor, but we really enjoyed having Min Thu at Bagan. We had studied Dawn Rooney (and others) before we got to Angkor, so knew a lot about the temples. It's much harder to get good info on the temples at Bagan in advance. Also, some of the very interesting temples are not listed in most guidebooks. He knew where there were incredible frescos to be seen, for instance. We had outlined our must-see temples, but quickly opted to have him choose. We would go back over our list each day and ask him about any we hadn't seen. We opted not to go to any of the far temples, as there were so many temples easily accessible by horsecart, but next time we will ask him to drive us to some of those. His brother is a taxi driver, so he has access to a car.

You certainly can play the lottery when you get there, but if you do, expect that the driver may not know much more than where to get the key for the locked temples.

Let me know if there is anything else I can help with.

Thanks so much for the info Kathie it makes my reply to him more "intellegent"!!! Also excuse my saying the currency is Kip!! Don't know where that came from! So much for my response being intelleigent!!

I am glad to hear he is not a motor mouth you know where we are coming from. But we are happy to have someone to take a lead in showing us things we never knew about. As you say info is hard to come by.

I have chosen to refer to the country as “Burma” as that is the name the Pro-democracy groups in the country prefer.

Kathie this report is excellent. I am really enjoying it. I have wondered about the name of the country for awhile now. Many say the name should be Myanmar because Burma is the name given by colonial rulers. But my Burmese students (many who are here in the USA on refugee status) always correct me when I say Myanmar and call their country Burma.

Min Thu (who is an excellent driver and guide with many useful local contacts) has emailed me to say that, due to current internet restrictions, he can presently more easily be contacted on his mobile no. which is: 09-2043573.

I hadn't been to Pagan in 33 years and like the rest of the Myanmar, it's changed, although in Pagan not necesarily for the worse. My partner and I also found Minthu, the intelligent, gracious, witty and knowledgeable guide/horse cart driver, outside the Hotel at Tharabar Gate entrance, and we couldn't recommend this gentleman enough or more enthusiastically. You will be very fortunate indeed if you can arrange for Minthu to show you around.

The Hotel at Tharabar Gate is very inviting and private and we had arranged to pay via a website when we reserved rooms there from Tokyo, so we didn't have anything to pay other than incidentals. I find that too many foreigners tend to get in the way of the things I came to see or savor, and the solitary negative aspect of this charming hotel is its popularity with group tourists.

We like good Indian food and found a place caled Aroma 2 in town; it's run by an energetic and affable Indian fellow and his family and he makes sure you are taken proper care of, and the food is just wonderful!

Ah, another happy customer for Min Thu! I'm glad to hear you had such a good time.

One of the hi lights of our visit to Bagan was hiring Min Thu, He's wonderful. He was everything we had hope for and more, Contact him ahead of time and he will meet you.We did not use it but he can also arrange airport transportation. minthu.bagan@gmail.com

I have been a lurker on this website for years - on my work computer where I was able to look but not sign in. So thank you Kathi for invaluable advice on southeast asia over the years.

We are planning a trip to Burma in January - which pretty much mimics this itinerary - though we are adding in a couple days in Mandalay.

I have tried to email minthu.bagan@gmail.com - and have not gotten a response. It has been a couple days. Is that normal?

I used Santa Maria Travel and found them to be very responsive...thanks for the tip.

Internet access in Burma is sporadic. If you don't hear back from Min Thu in a couple of days, try again. He and I have been in recent contact about our upcoming return trip to Burma in November.

We have just firmed up all of our reservations with Santa Maria. I'm glad you found them as responsive as we did.

Enjoy Burma!

I hope he isn't already booked the dates I need him. Hey - does Santa Maria require a credit card to hold the reservations? He hasn't asked for anything yet...just wondered how all that works? He is just finalizing all the rooms etc right now.

Also - does 260.00 per person sound right for the balloon ride in Bagan? I dont believe I saw a price in your write up. We are copying you and staying at the suite at the Hotel Tharbar Gate. It looked nice on the web

No credit cards in Burma. Once everything is finalized, Santa Maria will ask you to do a wire transfer to a bank in Bangkok. You'll pay the balance upon arrival in Yangon in crisp, unmarked US dollars.

Yes, that price sounds right. We saved a significant amount by booking through Santa Maria. Of course, we saved even more because our flights were cancelled - lol.

$30 a day for horsecart and guide was the going rate in 2009 in Bagan

$260 for the balloon ride seems right. I think mine was a little more, but don't remember.

I never did a wire transfer, paid Santa Maria when I arrived in Yangon.

Enjoy your trip.

Nywoman, Santa Maria started the wire transfer deposit the year after you and I went there.

We paid Min Thu $17 a day in 2009, but I'm sure it has gone up since then, especially since the dollar has fallen so dramatically against the kyat.

We paid about the same as Kathie, around $15, and for the balloon was around $250 pp.

Thanks to all of you - heard from Min Thu - all is scheduled. Kathie we also ran into hotels being booked in January - were able to work around it.

Min Thu has offered up securing a taxi service from the airport in Bagan to the hotel. Not sure that is necessary - but happy to give him the biz. Any thoughts?

I'm glad you got all of your arrangements worked out. And I'm especially glad you were able to engage Min Thu. It isn't necessary to have airport pickup, but nice to have. Min Thu will pick us up in November when we are there. His price is the same as a taxi price.

I was surprised that hotels were booked, but I guess it's the impact of the release of ASSK.

I'll be interested to hear all about it when you get back!

Hi Kathie
I am finalizing my trip and have gotten some quotes on transportation and such within Burma. Some of it sounds high...but curious what you think. I have just copied it from Zaws email.

1. Airport pick up service USD30
Yangon full day tour within the city USD60

2. Airport transfer from Mandalay airport to hotel USD30

3. If you do Mingun tour in the morning, there is sufficent time to visit a few places in Mandalay including Mahamuni Pagoda and to catch the sunset at U Bein
bridge in the evening. Otherwise, it is not possible to do both. Private boat to and from Mingun village USD50

4. Airport transfer from Mandalay hotel to the airport USD30

5. Airport transfer from Heho to Nyaungshwe boat jetty USD57

6. On 22 Jan, you are suggested to do normal boat tour on Inle lake (Without Inn Dein village) including floating gardens, Jumping cat monastery, Golden Buddha
and other highlights. Innn Dein village and five-day market is a suggestion on 23rd Jan. If you want to do some hiking on the morning of 24th Jan, you can ask
hotel reception when you check in. Actually there is no enough time to do hiking. I suggest you relax on the morning of 24th Jan.
Boat rental for normal tour USD40 / Five-day market visit plus Inn Dein village USD50
Boat transfer between Nyaungshwe jetty to hotel USD20 per way

7. From Nyaungshwe jetty to Heho airport USD57

8. Yangon airport to Strand Hotel USD30
Thanks in advance for your help!

The airport transfers that make sense to book IMO are in Mandalay and Inle. In both cases, the drive to/from the airport is an hour or more. We had our hotel book our transfer from the hotel to HeHo, and it was more money in Nov 2009 than Zaw's quote.

In Yangon, I see no reason to have an airport transfer as it is $7-10 getting a taxi in the taxi "line" inside the airport. Easy to do, not confusing and (remarkably) no scams. If you want a tour in Yangon, that's fine, but we didn't do it. You can use taxis to get you from place to place and it will be much less. Within Yangon, I see no need for a car and driver, but some people like to have it.

The trip to Mingun and U Bein sounds about right in terms of price. You certainly could get a taxi in Mandalay to do it for less, but for longer drives, I prefer a good car.

We had our hotel arrange our boat at Inle, and it's less than Zaw's prices, I think $25 a day. There is no need to use Zaw to get your boat and boatman at Inle. Are you staying somewhere that you need a boat transfer from Nyaugshwe? All travel agents will offer a boat transfer at Inle even if it is not necessary, as some people like the "romance" of arriving at their hotel via boat. Of course, there are hotels that do require a boat transfer. If your hotel requires a boat transfer, I'd let the hotel set it up. Also, I wouldn't do a "normal" tour of Inle, as it consists mostly of workshops and shopping. Read about the places, choose where you want to go. The highlight was the trip to the southern part of the lake, which will cost more and requires permit payment to the Pa O and a Pa O guide.

Have a wonderful time!

Kathie you are soooooo helpful. We are staying at the Inle Princess Resort -does that require the boat transfer?

We land in Heho at 9:10 am on 1/22...then leave at 2:55 PM on 1/24. Do you think that allows enought time to do the southern part? Originally we had planned to do that..but decided we didnt have enough time. We want to see the stuff listed above on 1/22...but his other ideas for that day are a silk weaving place, blacksmith and cheroot making...none of which interest me. Would it be too much to do what is listed...as well as Indein and 5 day market all on 1/22? then southern part on 1/23?

I'm not Kathie but the answer is yes a boat transfer is necessary for staying at the Inle Princess. About 30 minutes through the canal then the lake and then another canal.

All the places you've mentioned like the weaving, cheroot factory etc. are all tourist traps. I would spend the time at a morning market and Indien temple instead.

Hanuman is quite correct, of course. He and his family stayed at the Princess. Hanuman, did your travel agent arrange the boat transfer or did the hotel arrange it? And I'm assuming that the Princess arranged your boat and boatman, correct?

chichi, you'll have half a day on the lake on 1/22 and half a day on the lake on 1/24, as well as a full day on 1/23. Here is what I'd recommend: After settling in at the Princess, get out on the lake on 1/22 and visit some of the places that interest you: we liked the Golden Boats temple, we even stopped at the Jumping Cat monastery to see their beautiful collection of old Buddha images, and had a fascinating talk with one of the monks who had just listened to Obama'd ASEAN speech on the BBC that morning. The five-day market rotates through 5 different places. The one I would avoid - even on a non 5-day market - is the floating market. What a zoo! If you love markets, you could even get to two different ones - one on 1/22 and one on 1/24. I would go to the southern part of the lake, Sankar, on 1/23. Get out on the lake at dawn, and plan to go to InDien on 1/24. If you get there early, you'll have the place to yourselves.

I'm very interested in textiles, so we did go to the silk weaving shop. The extraction of lotus fiber and the making of textiles from it was fascinating. I've never seen this anywhere else in my 25 years or so of SE Asian travel. This was the only workshop we visited.

Kathie and Chichi,

Yes I informed the Inle Princess of our arrival time at the airport and they arranged for a taxi to pick us up. Once at the dock the boatman will be waiting for you and he will be your boatman until you leave.

Enjoy your trip!