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. [email protected]

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 [email protected] - 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!

Thank you both so much....extremely helpful both of you! Hopefully I am almost at the end of my list of questions....