Booked for Burma. Having second thoughts... Help!
 

Hello

I have stumbled onto this forum after having my Burma trip almost booked. Love how recent the information is! Hoping to find some answers as I am now wondering if I should go ahead with the trip. I read that there is practically no connection from Burma to United States via e-mail and certainly not by cell phone. I booked the trip without thinking about it, based on my wonderful experience traveling through China and Malaysia and other less developed countries like Egypt or Ukraine, where my blackberry worked flawlessly even in remote areas (in the middle of the desert!). Of course now I know that Burma is another world due to gov. restrictions on communications (dah:) )

I am planning 2 and a half weeks's trip in early-mid December. My work is such that people need to be able to connect with me for a quick consultation if there is an emergency (they turn to pop up when least wanted or course!) Would be a great relief to know that I could check in at least every 3 days or so via e-mail, or they can reach me through calling my hotel. Does anyone, who has been there recently, know if I can count on being able to send an e-mail using for example Gmail from a hotel or internet cafe? Or signing into a web site that hosts our e-mail account if gmail is not accessible? Is there a WiFi connection in hotels and I can log in using my iPad? Or am I crazy to even think of bringing it along? What about providing people in US with phone numbers of hotels I will be staying in and trusting that the hotel staff will notify me if someone calls or leaves a message? Will anyone even get through via land line from US? Can I call US from some place there? Or should I just expect not be able to connect with anyone in US for the entire trip? Planning to be in Yangon, Bagan, Mandalay and Inle Lake.
I have dreamed of going to Burma for so long...and prefer not to have to switch to another destination (although can still re-book the flights without much penalty if I rush)
Many thanks.

i would not count on having regular or any service, but you might call their embassy and ask

My daughter was there in July and surprisingly was able to access her email quite a few times.

I'm tempted to simply say that your work can get along without you for two and a half weeks and that it will be good for you and good for them. That's true, but it isn't what you asked.

You will be able to connect to the internet periodically (usually outside of Burma business hours). None of the connections will be secure. The connections were so slow, we couldn't use our personal VPN, and my email account got hacked as a result. Some places you will have an easy time connecting, others not.

BTW. do not connect to any US financial account while in Burma. If you do, your internet access to the account with be cut off, and you'll receive a nasty letter from your financial institution about the economic sanctions.

I would not cancel my trip in any case. You actually have reservations - something lots of people are struggling with. Burma is changing very rapidly - see it now.

I was in Burma for 3 weeks in Jan. and found that emailing and receiving email was a hit or miss thing. Sometimes it worked fine and other times I was not able to email or access my email. Inle Lake was particularly bad and Yangon was pretty good. I think the key is to keep trying. If you are staying at first class hotels, I think you should be able to get phone messages. Wish I could be more definitive, but I can't. What I can be pretty sure of is that you will have a great trip. Burma is fantastic and definately worth the inconveniences one must put up with while there.

Things are changing very quickly. We are in the UK and in contact with colleagues Yangon daily. There are sometimes You should be able to access your emails in all of the places you are going. Most higher end hotels have wi-fi and we have had numerous skype calls via an i-phone with no problems from all those places. As with travelling anywhere with unsecure connections, just be careful and consider changing your passwords when you get home.

Have a great trip!

I greatly appreciate all your replies! Truth is, I needed to hear that I must go now and just make it a priority over work in my life. It's not that work is a priority, but I will see quite a few raised eyebrows when clients (and terribly worried family!) hear I am choosing to travel to such an isolated area when there are other choices (and I did consider Vietnam & Laos, but Burma is where I want to go). I am glad to hear that I may get e-mail access here and there and the need to watch out for hacking. I will have more questions pertaining to the trip itself later, but will post in a new topic. THANK YOU!

Yes, do it now, change will no doubt be rapid. One of my big regrets in life is that I didn't take up an offer to extend my stay in Burma in 1980 at the government's expense. Back in those days there was one flight in and one flight out per week. I was at the airport waiting to leave at the end of a week long tour when an announcement came over the loud speaker that they needed a volunteer to stay in Burma for a week because a woman of "ill repute" had been identified arriving off the aircraft and they wanted to turn her around on that next flight out. How I wish I'd been the one to raise my hand during the minute or so it took someone to volunteer. Such an interesting country to visit now, but boy, you should have seen it 30 years ago!! :) Don't delay.

Great story, Janz. Have you been back since? The infrastructure is little changed from 1980... or 1950.

Hi Kathie, no I haven't but have always wanted to. I'm actually taking my 11 yo daughter travelling for 4 and a half months starting in December. After southern europe have planned to spend 2 weeks in China and 4 weeks in Vietnam. After reading this thread I'm just starting to research on a week long detour across a border...or two. :)

Sounds great. I'd choose Burma over VN any day. And I'd opt for at least two weeks in Burma. I have a couple of Burma trip reports here - just click on my name. Photos at www.marlandc.com