I'll start by giving some hotel and restaurant reports. First, a bit of background. We spent over three weeks in Burma in 1999. This five day trip was to reconnect with some people we met during that trip (especially our guide) rather than sightseeing.

We stayed at the Savoy Hotel and we liked it very much. Booked a suite and connecting deluxe room which meant that we had a two bedroom, 2 1/2 bath suite with a very large living roomj. Price was $170 and included breakfast. Rooms are simply furnished but very pleasant. Hotel is German owned and managed. Alexander, the manager is very friendly and helpful. Staff is outstanding. Very warm and very efficient and they have excellent English. Hotel only has 34 rooms. Nice swimming poool, two restaurants -- one Italian and one international. Nice bar. Restaurant, room service and bar is open literally 24 hours a day. Hotel has a very colonial feel to it. Limited tv. VCR in room as well. Unlimited free bottled water and free clothes pressing. I would definitely recommend this hotel but don't expect 5 star. I'd put it more in the 4 star category. We went to see the Governor's Mansion Hotel (Pansea) which is on an entirely different level. Much more deluxe and looks really lovely although we did not see the rooms. However, it is also much more expensive -- or was when we were looking at hotels. In any event, I would definitely recommend the Savoy.

There are many new and good restaurants in Rangoon. One of the better ones is Monsoon which is in a lovely house and has two floors. Both floors are designed with a colonial feel. They have a huge menu -- burmese, thai, vietnamese and cambodian. Everything we ate was excellent and we ate there twice. More details on this and other restaurants etc later.

hi---i can't remember the savoy...where is it??

anxious for more info

bob

We loved the Savoy also for all the reasons Glorialf stated. We felt it was very good value for money and the service was really nice.
The location was very convenient for us as it's the closest hotel to Schwedegon...practically just outside the back of it. We were able to view the pagoda at sunset, leave for dinner at a great Thai restaurant across the street from the Savoy and then return to Schwedegon after dark, when it's generally only visited by locals. A completely different atmosphere.

is it a rather unattractive block type building?....sort of like a college classroom building?? like a russian built type place....

our driver stopped at a hotel and this may have been it....we stayed in the car...

No, Bob. The Savoy is a lovely colonial style building set in pretty grounds around a pool.

Great start, am looking forward to more.

Bob, probably would have better staying at the Russian hotel instead of staying in a car.

=D> mrwunrfl

Gloria, I know you said that you liked the location of the Savoy very much. What did you think about the Pansea's location?

its a good location ccc in the diplomatic enclave, such as it is...

Except to go back to the Shwedagon we did virtually no real sightseeing during our five days. Rather we learned a lot about how people actually lived and worked. We went onboard a cargo ship that was being loaded and saw how people live on board; went to the railroad station; went to the post office which is where people must go once a month to pay electric and phone bills; went to lots of markets etc; went to see where marriage licenses are sold and where legal documents are typed. Also went to several art galleries, the National Museum and spent a lot of time talking/ Had dinner one night with our guide, his wife and children; had lunch another day with his niece; went to visit the home of his sister and had dinner one night at the home of the couple who run the tour company.

When I get home I'll write more details but there are definitely some things to know about travel in Burma these days. Perhaps the most important thing is that the government has not allowed a new car in the country in six years so cars are in pretty bad shape. It's true in Rangoon but is supposedly even worse in the countryside. The reason is absurd -- they have to give a certain amount of gas for every car and with the increase in gas prices they want to reduce the number of cars in the country so they've issued this new law. It is only one of the stupid things they have done.\

People seem to speak much more freely about the government than they did in the past. Seems that the feeling is that if you don't join the opposition party you won't be bothered.

Internet acess is there but yahoo, aol etc is banned. However they do have acsess to news which they didn't have six years ago.

Our embargo is definitely hurting the people but not the government. And american goods are readily available via thailand and china. We also heard from two different people that Cheney and Haliburton have money in Burma via a circuitous route.

Gloria,
Thank you for the recommendation of NyiNyi tour guide. He was our tour guide for one day in Rangon in December 2005. He was very informative and spoke very good English.

He had some very nice compliments about you and how gracious you were to ask him what he would like as a gift from you. He said he thought and thought about it, what does he not have in Myanmar. He said you sent him a World globe and an encyclopedia. That was very thoughtful of you.

Gloria,
My husband & I just returned from Myanmar (Yangon, Bagan, Inle Lake) last week. In our short 6 night trip, we managed to take 2500 photos!! The people & sights were incredible. Matter of fact, we loved Burma so much that we're returning this December.

I would like to thank you for all your advice and recommendations. Our trip wouldn't have been so smoothed without the advice, recommendations and trip reports I’ve read from Fordorees & Lonely Planet's "Thorn Tree" forum board. I thank you all.

Our travel agent, Mr. Sonny & his wife from Gracious Myanmar Travels (http://www.myanmartravelagent.com/) were outstanding in putting our package together!! They were fantastic in corresponding by e-mails, and with their assistances they prearranged our visa on arrival, internal flights, hotel, guide, and drivers for a very reasonable price. When we arrived in Rangoon airport, our guide was waiting for us in customs with our names on a paper. After a warm greeting, we bypassed 8 lines with 30 tourists in each line to an office located in the back to clear customs. We then proceeded to immigration where we once again bypassed the tourist waiting in line. Custom/Immigration only took 10 minutes!! I was told that most tourists have to wait approximately 45-2 hours to get through!!

Gloria, we stayed at the Savoy with your recommendations. I would definitively stay here again. There’s nothing negative about this place. The staff/bar was fantastic. Also, the Thai restaurant across the street was a treat…tasty.

I won’t bore you with the trip details, but would like to add that Bagan is a must. If you could afford the cost of a hot air balloon trip ($220 US), do it here!! The views are incredible.

Thank you again everyone.

Glad you had good experiences with Nyi Nyi and with Sonny and Gracious Myanmar. I highly recommend both. I have now used them both twice and couldn't be happier. Burma is an incredible country with wonderful people. It deserves and the people need more tourists.

Gloria, Please see my post requesting opinions on choice between Bali, Mayanmar & China for next travel destination. Would love to hear your views as I think you have been to all three places. Your postings on Myanmar got us interested. Thanks!

Gloria, you may remember that I've cancelled trips to Burma three times in the past, and am again considering whether to travel to Burma.

I'm wondering what kinds of info you had from people about the impact of the sudden move of the government away from Rangoon. I've heard stories of the hardships of people who were moved out of Rangoon and families being split as a result. (Comments?) I also found myself wondering whether people feel more comfortable taling about politics with the seat of the government moved away from Rangoon. Any comments you have will be appreciated.

Kathie-- everyone feels the move of the government is absolutely idiotic and some people believe that they will be moving back. First, even the rich hate it. We spent time with a very wealthy businesman whom we met at the airport in Bangkok waiting for our flight to yangon to depart (it was three hours late due to weather). He said that every time he needs to meet with a minister now he has to travel 300 miles for the meeting. Also, the government has told all embassies that they are to move to the new place by 2007. The U.S. Embassy was the first to say no but others quickly follwed. I never agree with our government's foreign policy these days but in this instance they were right. Also, a lot of the government officials don't want to move not just because of families but because the place doesn't have any amenities yet -- basic things like water and electricity. And little housing. The move itself was done because of astrology and also because of the belief that Bush is about to invade Burma -- the latter is widely believed by even educated people. We tried to tell them that Bush doesn't know where Myanmar is and since there is no oil they are more than safe. Of course, intelligent people also feel that the government has actually made themselves more of a target by leaving the city. Anyway it is another example of the stupidity of the government.

As to weather the people feel safer talking against the government with them out of the city, they say no. We asked. But there has definitely beenf a change in the last six years. People talked much more freely and were much less reticent about associating with westerners. Also the immigration procedure both on arrival and departure was 100 times more casual.

Gloria, thank you for your comments.

ttt for CFW