Yes, I saw that, Thursdays. Alas, things don't seem to get any better in Burma.

Hanuman: Like the Massage service in the hotels around Inle lake.
It was US$1 for an hour. I felt guilty and always tipped them more.

Thanks for the dining guide, Hanuman! I know you ate at Le Planteur in Yangon, did you eat at any of the other mentioned places in Yangon or Bagan?

Knowing you, I would think you would want to take one day away from Yangon to add to Bagan.

Hanuman makes a very good point about having wipes for your feet. Watch out for monkey and bird poop and other things at which I didn't dare look to close.

I didn't really enjoy Mt. Popa that much, but then I'm not usually interested in temples.

The best food I had was in the places the tourist is warned against. At my guide's local eatery in Taunggyi there was no refrigeration and some of the food was room temperature. No menu, you just looked in the pot to see what was cooking that day. But it was where I learned I really like pickled tea leaves and chatted with the locals(with my guide as interpreter). It was really one of my best meals in Burma. Food was generally plentiful but bland. The lake fish was some of the best fish I've ever had, till I learned where it came from and what they were fattened with.

A lot of times monasteries serve as the social safety net for the community. You might consider making merit and visiting one. One tradition for the locals is on their birthday they may to go to the orphange supported by the local monastery and serve a meal to all the inhabitants.

we had two very good meals at L'Opera on the outskirts of yangon....its a cousin of the one in bangkok

We tried a few local restaurants in Bagan for lunch and we just pick the nearest or the most convenient since we were touring or going somewhere. The restaurant at the Aureum was good and in our experience one of the better hotel restaurant in Myanmar. The breakfast was very good as well with plenty of choices. Note that we did not get charge(corkage) for drinking our own wines and champagnes in their restaurant and it was the same thing in Inle and Yangon at the Planteur.

In Inle we did have a good lunch at a restaurant on stilts. The owner of the resort(Inle Princess) told the boat driver to take us there(while touring) and then took care of the bill for us!

Yangon was our last stop and the food that we found were ok but nothing really spectacular.

From our trip we did not find any exceptional dining experience in Myanmar and we were hugely disappointed that we could not find the famous large river prawn there. There were all exported to Thailand!

Some small hotels built by the British on the hilltops in Kalaw had pretty good western food, not outstanding, but acceptable considering this is Myanmar.
Servers were pleasant and sincere, not the commercial type.
Pine Hill Hotel and Kalaw Hotel were two of them.

I am so glad you finally committed to visiting Burma (using the British names is my little rebellion against the regime). In Rangoon Shwedagon Pagoda is not remote but worth as much time as you can spare. Its one of those places you feel the aliveness of Burmese Buddhism. Late afternoon put golden light on the shrines and by closing time you can watch the brigade of groups of young women sweeping the marble floors.
The Rangoon monastery Ja Kat Waing houses some 750 monks; arrriving just before lunch will allow you to see all the young monks lining up for lunch and chat with them in the dining hall. You can walk the grounds and absorb the atmosphere, perhaps find a meditation spot.
My notes say we took a 6:30 am flight from Rangoon to Pagan. If you can spare an hour or two, between am and pm shrine and stupa viewing (they are all you hope for and more) the local village of Myen Ka Ba is worth strolling through; the villagers are most welcoming.
I agree with all Craig's comments on Inle Lake and thought Kakku very worthwhile and was to me special. The village of Indaing on the Western shore of the lake is not only a characterful village but contains a complex of shrines and stupas of interest. There are many monasteries around Inle, some with outstanding Buddha images; unfortunately, I didn't record the names of them. If you're doing a private tour, you could request a meeting with a meditation master, lama or reincarnate lama for study and inspiration. I've found these encounters precious.

'Apply some thanaka (yellowish white substance organic medication} on your face.
Tourist can use it as suntan lotion.
Get a longyi (Burmese Sarong) with Huyat phanat (Burmest slipper and mingle yourself in downtown Yangon.'

Well, Kathie - if you take the above advice, you can be sure to stick out like the proverbial sore digit. Maybe it would be easier to just buy a neon sign that says 'Really Dumb Tourist' and stick it on your head.

I'll be interested on your take on Kakku. The inner sanctum has been virtually destroyed by a rich Korean benefactor who has covered the entire thing in bathroom tiles. I reeled away horrified.

Remember Kathie, your interactions with people will be almost exclusively stage managed - no matter what you think. You will ALWAYS be the foreigner. Luckily Burma is so rich in temples and monks and stuff you won't notice the first time.

The only hope you have is in wandering WITHOUT a guide in Yangon... which means you need to stay Strand or Traders. Actually Traders is the best located... but it ain't in the Raffloberaj style. I see you've found the hidden great rates at the Strand. I didn't find it sterile - just relentlessly EMPTY.

But no Pandaw cruise...?

Should I wear the longyi and Burmest slippahs to dinner at the Planteur?

Do you think wearing the "really dumb tourist" sign would be overkill?

Here is more on the restaurant:

http://leplanteur.net/

Kathie, we booked the balloon ride ahead of time through Santa Maria to avoid being disappointed - on the day we were there, all three balloons were full.

In Yangon, Monsoon restaurant was our favorite.

Dogster: Tourist wear pants and sneakers on the streets in Yangon. Locals wear longyi and slippers.
Putting on longyi and slipper is to remove the dumb tourist neon sign.

Thank you! I will wear only longyi and slippahs so to blend in better. It will be very hot in late February....

Cat,

The dogster is a 6'8" strapping blonde surfer from Bondi beach, Kahtie looks like a blonde Viking and my boss Eks's real name is Elizabeth Taylor. No matter how you dress them they will not look like the locals!

lol Cat.

We-e-e-ell, maybe yes - and maybe no...

In my limited experience of Asia - and Burma in particular - the sight of a very large, very white, very fat and foreign tourist waddling around in a lunghi, slippers and the inevitable stupid hat would draw nothing BUT attention - and some considerable hilarity [politely, behind their retreating back].

But I think your suggestions are well-meaning, so don't I'm making fun of you.

I wish I could dress like a local and blend in, I'd LOVE that - but I'm much, much too white to be able to do it. I think tourists generally look a bit silly when they try to 'go local'. It's not just about the clothes.

We are ALWAYS 'the foreigner' in Asia. Always visible in a street full of friendly brown faces, towering head and shoulders like a lumbering white giant in the crowd. Some of us are fatter than an entire Burmese family. We look old, we look ugly, we look very, very large.

Oh, maybe that's just ME... lol.

Sorry Kathie to divert your thread. To get back on topic, think of all the above as Dogster's Fashion Tips for Burma. Please post pictures of your adventures in lunghi and slippers when you return.

LOL!

As always, dogster, I am enjoying your posts.

I do know that everything one does in Burma is observed and managed. I don't usually have long conversations with my seat mates on flights, but had a 4 hour talk with a guy on a flight from IAD to Seattle years ago. It turned out he was the son of some professional colleagues and now worked for the World Bank. Burma was his territory. He had great tales to tell. He couldn't, of course, go anywhere without his "handler" though he was allowed into areas where tourists were not allowed. Everything was carefully orchestrated. The story that struck me most was his story of staying at place at Inya Lake. After dinner, he wanted to stretch his legs so went outside to take a walk along the lake. He said he got as far as the lake, perhaps 20 meters when a spotlight hit him. He waved, turned around and traced his steps back to the hotel.

I don't normally use guides in a city. I have no illusions about seeing "the real Burma" but I do like to have some interesting interactions with locals - ones not mediated by a guide or translator. Usually, I find these kinds of interactions with locals in markets or craftspeople selling their wares or locals at wats. My thoughts about Rangoon were to take taxis as needed. I figured if I stay at GR, I'd just have a taxi drop me off where I want to be and wander as I wanted. Is this a realistic?

Robbie, I appreciate your comments.

Femi, thanks for your assessment that we should add a day to Bagan. There seems to be consensus from those who know us. It validates my sense that we need longer there. And we will plan to make merit at one or more monasteries while we are there.

Thanks to everyone for restaurant suggestions.

Alas, dogster, no cruise this time.

I had lunch at both Sunset Garden(excellent) and Eden BBB in Bagan and also enjoyed Monsoon in Rangoon. The AP hotel was incredibly quiet with maybe only 2-4 other guests but the GR and Inle Princess were somewhat busier in Feb. The boat ride to Indein village on market day was spectacular and I was able to have a couple of short conversations with various locals there.

Dogster: :)