We spent a couple of nights in Mandalay at a hotel call The Rupar Mandalar Resort. Nice pool there but about a 5 - 10 minutes taxi ride away from the centre of town or the Manadalay palace.

IMO the longer you can spend around Inle or Bagan the better. We were not impress with Mandalay.

FYI: http://www.ruparmandalarresort.com/

I think that whatever little time you may get in Inle Lake would be worthwhile. As Craig says 3 nights would be better than two, but two is better than none. I spent four nights and still wasn't ready to leave. You will enjoy your stay regardless of how long you are there. If you can swing it, I would definitely spend more time in Inle Lake and take away time from Yangon or my least favorite city Mandalay.

Yes, the Princess is farther away, so book the Lake View.

Thanks, everyone! Again!

Hanuman: I had looked at this hotel, (Emeraldl Land Inn, linked below) but cannot ignore advice from my man on the scene in SE Asia. I will ask travel agent to get me quotes from Rupar Mandalay, too. It seems as if a taxi is needed from both hotels to the palace and center, so it makes no difference--might as well stay at the nicest place..

It looks like Mandalay is unavoidable, because the Pandaw docks around 2pm and there are no later flights to Heho. If you can think of any alternatives to get to Heho the same night, that would be great...overland? I would rather skip Mandalay but see no way to do this...


http://www.emeraldlandinn.com/

Eks,

I posted a link for a map of Chote Chitr restaurant - have you seen it?

Roads in Myanmar are some of the worst in the world. Apart from chartering a plane I think you'll have to hunker down for the night in Mandalay.

I'm not sure if the Rupar Mandalar is consider the nicest hotel in Mandalay and personally I would only give it 4 stars the most but it's(was 2 years ago) new and the GM was Thai.

If you're only staying there so that you can catch a plane the next morning then perhaps some other hotel closer to the river or airport might be better. Please consult your TA as I have no idea what the other hotels are like.

Forget the drive - I did it from Inle to Mandalay and it took most of a long day, arriving after dark. I didn't think Mandalay was that bad - did a trip by boat to Mingun, and visited a couple of temples in town. My notes say "beautiful wood carving" in Shwe in Bin Kyaung. Ate quite well at the Golden Duck, and spent an evening at a marionette show.

Yes, I have just now seen the map. Good work. The new password is "l..ky p..l" Delete all cookies after reading this.

We will be fine in Mandalay for one night--I think we can dig up something interesting to do..

I suggested both of those hotels to Sonny at Gracious Myanmar and will see what he comes up with....

Thursday: Thank you for those recommendations. I would bet that I will be salivating for local food after being on the ship for so long. I know that the food is not so great in Burma, but surely there are tasty things to be found somewhere...??

Inle lake is pretty much only a cruise in the area to see the leg rowling fishmen, floating farms and a local town.
Message in the hotels used to cost US1 for an hour.
I felt guilty and usually tipped them more.
There were also long neck tribe in the area.
They might be related to the long neck tribe in Mae Hong Son, Thailand at one time.
The country is still not much exposed to tourism.
Unlike China, there are much fewer tourist traps in Burma.
One of the places would be the marionette stores in Mandalay.
Offer them 40% of the asking price.
For the little stores in Bogyoke Market, lowball to 60% is about right.
Burmese precious stones are the best in the world.
Tourist usually get the junks.
In some of long bus rides in Shan State, the travellers would pass by some small hotels in the mountain built by the british.
They had good western meals.
Shanghai is too crowded, Hanoi is boring.
Spending a couple more days in Burma might not be a bad idea.

We ate at one of the restaurant along the river one evening and the food was only so so.

eks - food in Myanmar was highly variable, both in type and quality. I was in the ninth month of my RTW trip when I got to Myanmar, and getting tired, so no TR and a rather sketchy journal, but it looks like a fair amount of Indian-style and Chinese-style food. But also steak and fries and red wine (Yangon), pizza (Inle Lake), v. good duck (Mandalay) - and duck restaurants also seemed to specialize in prawn tempura. A couple of puzzling references to “hot cashews”, and one to “v. v. tough beef”, followed by good veggies, liver and kidney (Mandalay).

The most interesting meals were probably a couple of “all-you-can-eat” lunches in Bagan. These involved an array of small dishes that kept getting refilled. But they were at very basic, local, operations. I also have a note about a place called Sunset Garden in Bagan as being very nice and very expensive - at least as compared to lunch!

Eks,

Latest intel on dining in Myanmar - http://www.airmandalay.com/pdf/GF0405_06.pdf

Duck restaurants that also often feature prawn tempura! Hmmmm. This is starting to sound interesting. I don't think I have ever been to a duck restaurant! Thanks, Thursday. You "know" me by now--I will do my best to investigate thoroughly. I don't care if the place is a street stall or a little fancy, as long as the food is good.

Hanuman: This is a start and we thank you. But we will require more intel regarding Yangon eating. Much more!

Travel agent has gotten back to me with the news that Rupar Mandalar is "over 300$US" and while it is a very nice place, they have "no service" and the hotel is meant more for "local business entertainment." !!


So we are going to go with Emerald Land Inn for our one night in Mandalay.

This place also looks lovely, if anyone is contemplating a stay in Mandalay; both hotels have pools.

http://www.hotelredcanal.com/hotel.htm

I would take advices from a typical TA with a grain of salt Eks. When I contacted some of the local agents in Myanmar they all had their own favourite reccomedations and they all criticise what was not on their "list". The Rupar was family run with good service and was no where near in that price range. I just check Tripadvisor.com and the only thing they have on the Rupar is from the forum: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic...-Mandalay.html

For dining advice see Kathie's post http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...p-to-burma.cfm

"I don't think I have ever been to a duck restaurant" - didn't you do that in Beijing? (Not that the Burmese duck resembled Beijing duck.) The duck restaurants seemed to be pretty popular with the locals. I spent New Year's Eve at the home of my driver (he was my driver because a woman I had met in Vietnam had virtually adopted him, and she was also in Yangon with me) and we were commissioned to pick up duck from a duck restaurant for the meal. The place was so busy we would have had to wait, so we took chicken (and the prawn tempura) instead.

Oh, Thursday, I am such a dolt! Can you imagine that I forgot the Beijing duck restaurants?
I guess I was thinking more in the context of SE Asia--and now I even remember a place that featured duck in Ubud. So just forget my silly comment above, please.

Hanuman: Thank you for that advisory. That is what good agents do--protect their handlers.
I had read the TA report and it sounded like a nice hotel. But the Emerald Land will be less costly and for one night it is not all that important.

Now that I have your attention: How soon do you think I should begin thinking about booking Bangkok-Yangon-Bangkok flights for next February/March? (I believe I will have to overnight in Bangkok after Inle Lake----routing will be: Heho-Yangon-Bangkok-Shanghai, unless I find a flight from Yangon to Shanghai which is unlikely). Travel agent does not seem to have the Heho-Yangon flight times yet....

Since you're connecting from BKK to PVG I highly suggest that you fly Thai only on the BKK - RGN - BKK sector and perhaps for the BKK - PVG sector as well. Flying Thai will allow you to check your luggage through to PVG from RGN. Book it as soon as you want but ask your TA not to issue the tickets until it's neccessary in case you want to cancel or change the dates.

eks - (lol on the duck!) - I booked my BKK-Yangon-BKK tickets in Bangkok three weeks ahead of the flight in Dec '04. Based on the number of people queueing for visas in the embassy Myanmar was quite popular at the time. I didn't have any trouble getting a seat, but you may not want to risk it.

Again another good tip from agent Hanuman. The problem is that I will have to overnight in Bangkok, though, because it does not look as if I can get from Heho to Yangon to Bangkok and to Shanghai in one day. If Air Asia comes in much cheaper for BKK-RGN-BKK, should I still consider booking Thai for that sector? Is Air Asia reliable?

Thai Flight to Shanghai leaves at 11am; since we will probably arrive in BKK the evening before, from Heno-Yangon, I think an BKK airport hotel is the place to stay..unless there are any nice hotels near, but not at, the airport..with pool, of course! ???? Any interesting restaurants out by the airport?

ps. Hanuman: I am quite certain that I read a trip report about your jaunt to Burma. And even saw photos. I understand that you have deleted these for security concerns. But could you post the link once more? I will delete asap after reading. Or perhaps it does not matter much, since those disguises you wear (re: pic in your profile) are awfully convincing.