WinterTravel

We are in the early planning stages of a trip to Myanmar for the end of the year (have been eagerly reading Craig's trip report). A European friend raised some concerns that we wanted to run by Fodorites to see if we should be at all concerned:

Friends of our friend planned a high-end trip to Myanmar for early this year. He indicated that they had to make arrangements to pay for lodging, etc... in advance (he said that credit cards were not accepted). The whole trip was essentially paid for up-front, and then several of the friends were inexplicably denied visas (all were European) -- those denied visas not only missed out on the trip, but they lost all of the money invested.

Does anyone have a sense of whether this should be of concern in planning a trip? Many thanks for any input...

Craig

We paid for our trip when we arrived so paying in advance was not an issue.

If you put down "Journalist" or similar occupation on your visa application, it could be denied. It would be interesting to know what the occupations are of those Europeans that were denied.

WinterTravel

Craig - they were all retired civil servants (and spouses). All had essentially the same former jobs, and yet some were granted visas and some not (with no explanation from the embassy). Have you heard of anyone else with this issue?

rhkkmk

we paid for nothing in advance....we were able to use credit cards both at hotels and restaurants and at some shops...

i'm thinking that maybe it was their travel agency that was inflexible...

have no ideas about the visas...

Kathie

Bob, you were in Burma before the financial boycott of Burma that cut off the ability of travel agents, hotels, etc to utilize US and European banking services. A few high-end hotels still take credit cards by running them through a parent corporation in Singapore, but that's all.

I have occasionally heard of people having visas turned down, usually because they put writer photographer or journalist on their visa application.

WinterTravel

Thanks Bob and Kathie. In planning our trip for later this year, should we be assuming that we won't be able to pay via credit card? How do the hotels, etc... take guarantees under the new financial restrictions? Are there other "wrong" ways to characterize one's profession on the visa form?

Kathie

You should assume you will not be able to pay with a credit card. However, some of the hotel booking sites can take a credit card for Burma hotels (asiahotels.com used to do that, check with them) because the website may be based in Hong Kong or Singapore, for instance.

Do inform yourself about the political situation in Burma, and make sure you are comfortable traveling there under the circumstances. As a foreigner you are not in danger, but your actions can put locals in danger (going into restricted areas, talking politics, etc.). You will also want to do everything you can to minimize the amount of money that goes to the government.

Craig

WT, To answer your previous question - I have not heard of anyone being denied a visa. As Kathie said, journalists, writers, photographers and thier ilk are not welcome in Myanmar.

Rather than trying to reserve hotels directly, I strongly suggest that you use a Myanmar-based travel agency. We used Santa Maria. There were no problems and the hotel prices were substantially lower than going direct or using hotel web sites. You do not necessarily have to hire guides from them if you are not into that. An agency can also take care of your internal airline reservations and provide a car and driver. The agency will collect the money for your tour when you arrive.

As for using credit cards, they are occassionally accepted but there is always a 7% surcharge to run them through a Singapore bank. We used US dollars or dollars converted to Myanmar kyats for all of our expenses.

glorialf

I've been twice and paid for everything before I left -- absolutley did not want to be walking around with a lot of cash. However, in both instances the tour operator did not require the money until I had gotten my visa and there was an understanding that my deposit would be refunded if I did not get a visa.

thursdaysd

I took cash dollars which my guide changed in the market in Yangon. I understand there is at least one higher end hotel in Yangon that will give a cash advance on a credit card if you spend a night there, but don't remember the name.

Lindsey

We prepaid all of our internal flights, hotels and guides through a travel agent in Singapore. I did not want to carry around a lot of cash, plus I wanted someone on my own turf with whom I could deal if anything went wrong (nothing did).
We took what we thought was enough cash to cover meals, tips and shopping but arrived at our last stop, the Inle Princess, running out of money. The owners of the resort happened to overhear us talking about our problem at breakfast the first morning and without hesitation, said "hey, don't worry, stop by our front desk and tell them we are loaning you some cash. Just send a wire transfer to our bank in France when you get home. How much do you need?" After I got up off the floor from shock, I asked if US$300 would be too much. It was in my hand in 10 minutes. I did not even sign anything....they just wrote down my name! I have never had anything like that happen before and when the plane landed on our return, I went straight to the bank before I even went home.