Last minute trip change...Laos, Thailand or Burma?

We did a 12 day trip to Myanmar last month and used Santa Maria. I posted a trip report about it here and if you do a quick search you should find it. The trip was great and I imagine that SM could arrange something for you quickly. I would shoot them an email and see what they say.

Your post is what gave me the idea, plus the other trips to Burma going on now. Did you take one of their own itineraries or design your own?

www.theangkorguide.net seat61.com/thailand what I might do.

also www.kohtao.com perhaps great for beach...

Qwovadis- Thanks, but our Cambodia post trip is still on, so we will be going there after Vietnam.

Sorry to hear about the cancellation of the Laos part of the trip. It's always a dissapointment when you think you have things planned and then they do not go the way you expected.

I went on the OAT trip to Vietnam last Feb., and if your trip runs the way ours did, I think you won't be disappointed in the trip. We thought it was fabulous and would only have changed a very few things which did not go as well as we had expected.

We are going to Burma for 3 weeks this year. We have used Santa Maria to book the trip-our own itinerary,choice of hotels, ect. They are very nice to work with, but their email is not alweays working, so if you don't hear from them in a few days, email them again. Also, you'll have to make a decision fairly quickly because you need a visa to enter Burma, and it took 3 weeks to get ours back. Also, if you go to Burma, you'll need to add the cost of that to your trip insurance, if you have taken it out independent of OAT, so you'll be covered in Burma.

I think combining Burma with Vietnam is a good idea. You can fly Air Asia from Bangkok to Yangon fairly inexpensively. Alternatively, you coud easily duplicate the OAT extension that was cancelled to Laos.

Have a great trip to Vietnam.

Burma,Burma,Burma
Just the most interesting country. Much more to see and do than Lao. I still like Lao, its a very nice place and we have spent a lot of time there over the years but Burma has so many "wow" factor places that it is hard to beat as a destination.
Also Burma seems set for a bit of a boom so it may be best to get in early. That may sound like a TV sales pitch but it is probably close to the truth.
We used Shan Yoma tours ( http://www.exploremyanmar.com/) for our tour and both the price and service was excellent. We dealt with a young lady at Shan yoma (Ms Yi Yi Khin) who was excellent to deal with. We had a comparative quote with Santa Maria too.

I second Burma/Myanmar. You can get a visa at the consulate in BKK. Usually can do this overnight - if it is not a weekend.

Someone on Lonely Planet said the VOA is working again for a particular TA. You might check their boards on Myanmar and see. If you are in the US, I believe you might still have time to get one from their consulate in the US.

Thanks all. I have emailed Santa Maria and hope to hear back. If it's a go, I assume their general itinerary for a quickie overview trip would do, but if you have suggestions for a 9 night itinerary that you think would be really good, I would be happy to hear suggestions.

We basically used a standard tour that Santa Maria put together. We dropped one location (golden rock) in favor of spending more time in Inle and adding a trek. If we were going again, we would drop Mandalay. I wanted to skip this location based upon what I read on this forum...but my husband really wanted to go. Afterwards his comment was--skip Mandalay! So if you are short on time...I would cut that location. But be sure to hit Bagan, Inle Lake and of course a day or so in Yangon. The trek was also great.

I had good luck with communication with Santa Maria. They ended up arranging our visas and that worked well. If I recall, it did take several weeks for them to get the paperwork taken care of. They were responsive with email...except for one period of about a week when Zaw told me he was out of the office. Once he was back, things were worked out and all went well.

Burma is fabulous (posting from Yangon), but you'll need to do some research pronto. Plan just two locations plua some time in Yangon. I'd recommend Inle and Bagan. There is so much tp know about Burma and travel there, start reading the LP = a ne edition is gue out in Dec - all the other trip reports here and take alook at my Burma reading list (which I should updat).

Good luck. Burma is welcoming th largest number of travlers ever, so reservations can be ahard to ome by.

I would go with Bagan and Mandalay. But then again I love the history of the ancient cities. I know others may disagree with Mandalay but different people like different places and viva le difference.
Bagan is undisputedly one of the best sites in Asia, possible one of the best in the world.
I would also recommend a second quote, if not from Shan Yoma then from another company.

As Kathi said get in quick or you may miss out.

Kathie- I agree that a few locations would be best given our short amount of time. Both Inle and Bagan sound good. I also noticed though, that everyone speaks so highly of the U Bien bridge. Too much?

U Bien bridge is nice...but for us --it didn't compare to the sunsets over Inle and at Bagan. My two cents is that it isn't worth adding Mandalay. Stick to Bagan and Inle if time is an issue.

I'd also stick with Bagan and Inle. Going to Mandalay to see Ubien isn't worth it with your short time. Bagan and Inle are really wow experiences. At Inle, don't take the tourist circuit. I did a blog post on what to see at Inle: www.travelindependently.com/recommendations-for-inle-lake

Thanks Kathie. I will read the blog. Unfortunately I'm doing this while out of town, and driving all day for several days so can't do much research until I get home. Santa Maria answered my emails in a very timely way and once I told them I would rather limit the areas to visit, they sent an amended generic itinerary that I will pass on for suggestions when I get home. Your friend Min Thu sounds very interesting and if I could get his contact info, I would really appreciate that.

I hope you can get Min Thu for your time in Bagan. He has increasing numbers of fans, so scheduling may be a matter of luck. minthu.bagan@gmail.com

BTW, his brother drives a taxi and can do airport transfers for 6000 kyat each way... much cheaper than the travel agency!

I agree that with your limited amount of time I would go for Inle Lake and Bagan. I spent 5 days in Inle Lake - could easily have spent another couple of days - had 5 days in Bagan - 4 would have been better. I'd have to say that Inle was my favorite spot - just so many things to do and places to go. Definitely go to Sankar if you go to Inle Lake and speak with the doctor in the hospital there - really really interesting.

Well...it's starting to pull together. Min Thu is available and his brother is available for airport transfer. Santa Maria is quoting hotels for the 3 locations of Summit Parkview in Yangon, Bagan Thande and Paradise Resort in Inle. Comments on these?

I'm so glad that you can use Min Thu and his brother in Bagan.

I haven't stayed at any of the hotels you mention, hopefully, somone else can comment.

Your trip is really coming together.

Bagan Thande is excellent, right on the river. There are various rooms, we stayed in one of the little cottages towards the pool and it was just right.
The transfer fees with Min Thu's brother are around the same as charged by our travel agent.
When we arrived at the Bagan Thande in the afternoon Min Thu came and visited us to plan the next day's itinerary. If you can try and arrange a sunrise visit, it is well worth the little extra and the early rising. We were able to do the sunrise tour with Min Thu and still get back to the Bagan Thande in time for breakfast by the river. Later Min Thu took us for the day tour. The breakfast is excellent, however there was one person taking pieces of fruit from the breakfast to give to Min Thu's horse, Su Su. My wife says she knows nothing about this.

lol, gmoz.

We stayed at all three hotels last month on our trip --using Santa Maria. They all were fine--- and I wrote about them in my trip report. The hotel in Bagan is really wonderful. Quiet--peaceful and they have a great pool and riverside location. We loved it! The Inle hotel is also very nice. We snagged a great room on the front side of the hotel so we could sit in the late afternoons-early evening and watch the boats and fisherman. It is a bit noisy--but all locations will hear the boats and you will be up early anyway. The Yangon hotel is fine. Nothing special--but it was clean and the view is spectacular at night!

Gmoz - should I take a bag to breakfast for fruit ?
Gailmo- thanks for the reply. I don't know whether to just stick with those hotels then, they sound OK, or check out some others mentioned on this forum. I guess that's not too important in the grand scheme of things. After wrestling with the AirAsia site...and I do mean wrestling! It took at least 5 tries to get the whole ticket sorted out as the site kept tossing off my forms and doing other weird stuff...I now have airline tickets and am thinking of having Santa Maria do the VOA for me. Now I feel like I am really going to do this! Yay!

Santa Maria did a VOA for us too. My husband was still in the US and I was in Hanoi-thus I decided it would just be easier to have them arrange our visas. We each scanned our passports and sent them the required information and they sent back some very hard to read documents which I printed out and presented to the airline people when we checked in. There was some head scratching, but Vietnam Airlines accepted them. When we arrived in Yangon we stopped at the visa window and they pasted our visas into our passports. We were the only people who had done this on our flight.

The other good aspect of having them do a VOA for us was that I had some issues with my Vietnam visa and needed to get a new one in Yangon before I returned to Hanoi. This would have been impossible since we were on the road most of our time in Myanmar. Since Santa Maria had my passport scan, they printed it out and arranged with the Vietnam consulate to issue a new visa for me to re-enter Vietnam. Phew....I was sooo happy that they could do this for me!

One more comment about hotels. How long will you be in Yangon? If you are there for several (2-3) nights, you might want to look at other hotels in that location. The Summit Parkview is ok...but the rooms are nothing special. We spent minimal time at the hotel--so it was fine. If you are there longer and plan on "hanging out" at the hotel some, you might want to investigate other places. AGain, we were happy with the place...but of the three you mention, I would place this one at the bottom of the list.

I'm such an oddball here, but if you're a photographer, U Bein is not to be missed. One of my favorite memories!! And now on canvas in my office and on the front of my photo book. Love it!

susncrg be careful about the bag at breakfast. We didn’t know but the Burmese think some people are very frugal and don’t want to buy lunch so they take the fruit at breakfast to eat for lunch. The Burmese call these people "Banana tourists".
So while Su Su may appreciate the fruit your reputation may suffer.

A great place for lunch in Bagan is the vegetarian Moon Restaurant. Just ask Min Thu to take you there.

Burma,Burma,Burma -- it is wonderful. Santa Maria in Yangon is great, very easy and professional. I would go gor Yangon, bagan and Mandalay, where you
Can catch moustache brothers comedy demo if they are still doing it at their house.

Bonnie, did you go to Inle? I think it's a don't miss. I enjoyed Mandalay, I was wowed by Inle.

Well, now open to more hotel suggestions as Santa Maria just emailed that the Summit Parkview is booked as well as the Bangan Thande

Oops! While trying to correct my spelling I mistakenly posted! Anyway, Santa Maria is now suggesting the Park Royal in Yangon and the Kumudra Hotel in Bagan, in a jr suite at the latter. I am willing to spend more if the hotel is really good, so any suggestions welcome, but we don't usually spend much time in the room if that makes a difference to your suggestions.

It is looking like evening arrival in Yangon, with the next day touring the city. Then flying to Bagan for 3 nights there. I will be touring with Min Thu and am considering Balloons over Bagan as a birthday present to myself. Then on to Inle Lake for 3 nights and fly back to Yangon and spend overnight, catching a morning plane back to BKK to meet up with our Vietnam group. Short, but a good "toe-dipping" into the country with a hope to be back. Any comments on the time split? Thanks.

Sounds like you have a wonderful trip lined up! I think of hotels only as a place to sleep. The joy of the country is in the people and the place so don't stress too much over finding hotels. Santa Maria probably will do a good job in finding something for you.

I also hope you enjoy Vietnam....I love the country and it people. Just be prepared for chaos!

Actually,question for Kathie.
I try to contact you on your blog but am not sure my message went through.It looked like the window"froze".Anyways,how was Mrauk Oo and the boat ride?I am leaving on January 19 and eager for your comments on Sittwe...

I think your itinerary is just perfect for the amount of time you have. I'd ask Santa Maria for other hotel suggestions.

cestgaston, I'm working on my trip report and will give lots of detail about the boat from Sittwe to Mrauk U. I'll give all the info I wish I'd had ahead of time! No matter which boat you take, Expect rustic. My answer is too long to post here, but I expect to have my report posted in the next few days.

Thanks Kathie.Can't wait

Hi Kathie. Welcome back to this side of the Pacific! Waiting expectantly for your trip report.

Stephen

The hotels in Bagan that we were going to stay in are fully booked ( Bagan Thande and Tharabar Gate) and Santa Maria had mentioned Kumudara as a replacement as I mentioned in an earlier post. In further researching it looks like Kumudara is in the new city and I would prefer the old city. So Santa Maria says rooms are available at the Aye Yar Riveerview resort. It gets mixed reviews on TA (but whoever knows with those reviews anyway). Looking for anyone who knows this hotel and has an opinion. The photos on TA were not impressive, but I don't know what the other hotels look like either. thanks for any help you can give.

I stayed there in 1984 when it was Irrawaddy Inn. I went back and had a look last year from the outside and coulsnt belive it was the same place. Min Thu assured me it was the same place. It loks good from the outside and right on river.
If the hotels are booking out fast it may be best just to take any one since you probably wont be spending all that much time in the hotel. Anyway this one looked good from outside and i doubt you will be disappointed.
The hotel has a website you can visit and get an idea of the standard.
http://www.baganayeyarhotel.com/index.php/accommodation

Thanks. I guess I will go with it.

Their site asked for a credit card. Since Burma is well known for NOT taking CCs, is this a govt owned hotel? Just wondering.

Even government hotels can't take credit cards. Maybe I should say that especially government hotels can't take credit cards. Some hotels will take a credit card and run it through Thailand, SIngapore or Hong Kong. When I made a reservation two years ago, one hotel asked for a credit card to hold it, but then specified that I couldn't use a credit card to pay for the hotel!!

I recommend Star Beans as a restaurant to go to for lunch. The owner is a chef (and actually comes from Min Thu's village). It is right next to Moon restaurant but a little further away from the road. The food is just great. I ate there almost every lunch while I was in Bagan.

Thanks Joan...I will look it up.

Another question for the itinerary. After reading people's comments about Kakku, I thought it might be interesting to do that before going to the hotel at Inle Lake, although the ride would be longer. I mentioned that to Zaw at Santa Maria and he said it could be done for a bit more money as the ride is longer. He had written the itinerary as going to Pindaya and the caves instead. For those of you who have experienced one or both of these, did you find them interesting, or would recommend one location over the other?

We opted not to viti Pindaya, but visited Kakku instead. We did it before going to our hotel on the lake. It worked out well for us.

Thanks Kathie. I will do some more reading on each. Anyone else have a recommendation on these sites?

We went to Pindaya. It was OK but I think Kakku would have been better.