Our Burma itinerary is just about worked out:

11/24--arrive early evening Yangon/the Strand
11/25--half-day tour Yangon
11/26--6:15 a.m. flight to Heho/drive to Kakku/Lake Inle--Princess Garden (wait list for Inle Lake Princess although the Princess Garden gets wonderful reviews and there's a definite appeal to staying in a small intimate guest house like this)
11/27--11/30--Inle Lake
11/30--late afternoon flight to Bagan/ Tharabar Gate
12/1-3--Bagan
12/3--Mandalay/Rupar Mandalar
12/4--Pyin Oo Lwin day trip
12/5--12/15--Pandaw River Cruise
12/15--Yangon--arrive about 1:30/The Strand
12/16-Yangon
12/17--8:30 flight to Bangkok??????

So, my questions:
1. We have 2 1/2 days in Yangon all told. Is that plenty--considering the first will be w/jet lag?
2. Is Bangkok "closer" to Burma culturally so that HK offers more of a contrast?
3. Does taking the afternoon flight to Bangkok, do an overnight in Bangkok--and then fly to HK in the a.m. of the 18th thus providing the extra time in Yangon make sense?

It's really losing almost a full day in transit from Yangon to Hong Kong that is making me question our present plan! (All flights between Yangon/BK/HK will be Air Asia).

And that's it. Many thanks for clarifying thoughts.

1- Yes

2-Yes

3-You can see the main sights in Yangon in one full day. After that, I would put the time into seeing Hong Kong, a city where I could easily fill 4 or 5 days with interesting sites and things to do. How many days are you planning there?

IMO Bangkok does offer a big contrast to Yangon and is more interesting than Hong Kong. Bangkok is both 1st world and 3rd world!

Shelley and Pook, your responses are EXACTLY why I've been stymied in making a decision! I've heard the same from friends who have traveled to both--

IF we leave on the 12/17 Air Asia 8:30 a.m. flight to BK--and take the late afternoon, I thinkit's 4:40, flight to HK, we'll have four full days in HK. We lose one entire day in transit with this schedule--which is what started me rethinking it.

Maybe I'll look into Thai Air for flights BK/HK to see how their schedule works and what the fare is--as well as if it also leaves enough time to make the transfer. From what film will and others responding to his recent post said, it sounds as if one needs at least three hours to transfer in BK??? And it wasn't clear to me about the terminal changes for low cost airlines......

IMO, Bangkok is a more interesting city than Hong Kong, and I'd spend more time there, though I always enjoy Hong Kong as well. But Bangkok is my favorite city in the world.

Minimize your time in Yangon, spend more time at Inle. At a minimum, you want two full days on the lake - one for Sankar (southern part of the lake), one for the main part of the lake. Do NOT just take the tourist circuit of the main part of the lake - choose your stops. I'd offer the Inle Lake View as an alternate hotel for you.

Kathie,

We'll be at Inle Lake for four nights and 3 1/2 days (11/26--11/30). I was very careful to do that--I may put us on the wait list for Inle Lake View (it's already fully booked for our dates, also, I believe)--but the reviews and some of the Fodorites who have stayed at the Princess Garden have praised it and its owners to the heavens.

I remember your saying BK is your favorite city--we may toss a coin!

Ah, good job, I missed how many days you were going to be at Inle.

The good news about Hong Kong vs. Bangkok is you can't lose - they are both wonderful cities. Remember, you'll be back.

Yangon is an excellent city to visit. I went recently as was really surprised at the long queues at the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok. Not only tourists waiting for visas but a lot of foreign business men. Things in Myanmar seem to be looking up!

I guess we'll just have to muddle our way through this decision--and from what all have said, there's no real downside to any choice.

I hope you're right about our being back, Kathie--but our list is long and I've started to realize that we just may not make it back to some of the places we've had the good fortune to visit.

And yet more questions:

1. I'm wondering whether the drive to and stop at Kakku takes too much time--5 1/2 hours (and is quite pricey--$152). I wasn't sure what you--and others thought about Kakku after reviewing some of the TRs--or whether it would be a better use of our time to arrive earlier at Inle Lake and have more time there.

2. And I'm somewhat unsure about the day in Pyin Oo Lwin. It sounds very pleasant, and we'll be stopping at the ancient cities with the Pandaw Cruise, and I haven't found another day trip in the area that appeals....unless anyone has any other suggestions.

Still on the fence re: Bangkok or HK, but we have time to make that decision.

As it stands, you have 3.5 days at Inle Lake which I think is enough time to do it justice. (This is what we had at Inle and by the last half day we just relaxed at the hotel because we felt we had seen everything we wanted to see.) Having said that, and as much as we enjoyed Kakku, we felt Indein and Sangar looked similar and gave us a similar feeling to being at Kakku. So if you wanted to save some money, I think you could skip it. As far as Mandalay goes, we loved the main produce market there, and there are some other interesting things to see in Mandalay city. (See my TR). We did not go to Pyin OO Lwin, so I can't comment on that.

Thanks, Shelley. It's both the TIME and the money! My concern is that after only one day of kind of "down time" in Yangon after our very long trip, we have to be up at 4:30 a.m. for the 6:15 flight to Heho and then the 5 1/2 hour trip to Kakku/the time at Kakku/ Inle Lake . Perhaps it was you who wrote that you might not have stopped at Kakku had you seen Indein and Sangar first??


I'll check your trip report to see your explorations in Mandalay city.

It's all the fine tuning that's tricky !

We felt InDien, Sankar, and Kakku were different enough from each other we're glad we saw all three. (Indeed, it wouldn't have occurred to me to cut one!) Sankar isn't just the one stupas-in-the-water site, but refers to the whole southern part of the lake.

On our first trip, we got into Bangkok at midnight from Seattle, spent a few hours at the airport hotel for a shower and a nap, then flew to Yangon first thing in the morning. We had that full day in Yangon and flew to Heho in the morning. We were tired, but well able to enjoy Kakku and our arrival at our hotel. Read the section from my first trip report on this.

Now we are people who never get templed out, so consider your level of interest in temples/stupas.

Kathie, I had reread your first trip report before posting--and know from your TRs and other comments how much you and Cheryl enjoy temples...what I didn't realize was how soon you left for Kakku/Lake Inle after arriving....

When we were in India, I was very surprised at how much I loved going to the various temples--more than my husband--he did too--just not as much as I did.

Maybe not having to pay for everything beforehand is giving me too much time to try to tweak things!

We've decided on Hong Kong--and have five free nights on Hyatt points; I believe we only have enough points for the Kowloon Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui. In some posts from several years back, several posters said it was very out of the way--or was that for the Hyatt in the "new territories?"

It is the Hyatt Regency Sha Tin that's out of the way. The new one in Kowloon is very convenient.

The Hyatt Regency TST only opened about 2 years ago, so I don't think you could have been looking at really old posts. It is very well located. TST is the tip of Kowloon, that is the part with the views. Really try to get a view room. While I am not of fan of Kowloon, if you have a view room, then it is a good place to stay. I would prefer this over the Grand Hyatt which does not have views which are as good, and is just a bit isolated on the tip of Wan Chai.

The Hyatt in Shatin (the New Territories) is also relatively new, but is not that well located for a first-time visitor. It has several advantages for someone who has been here before, however, one of which is its really lovely water and mountain views. It’s also close to the 10,000 Buddha’s temple (and equally interesting crematorium next door), an excellent branch of the history museum, the horse race track, a famous pigeon restaurant, and best of all some really lovely countryside which includes great walks and hikes, a bike path along Tolo Harbour, and one of the very best ferry rides in Hong Kong (2 hours but worth every minute, you can go on shorter versions like to Tap Mun. Hikes can be added).

While you have not been to Hong Kong before as far as I nkow, as you have 5 nights, you might actually consider staying 2 nights in Shatin. Hard to say. You might look at them both and see. While the Hong Kong skyline view is something, and it is hard to give up, this hotel has some advantages too. They have a good spa and several good restaurants (as does the TST hotel). Of course it’s a pain to move, etc. It would certainly show you a more local area (albeit a “local” area of close to a million people…..)

While I don’t think you would have been unhappy with Bangkok, I do have to say that Hong Kong in December is perfect weather. It’s what we wait for all year. Temps in the low 70s, sunny, low humidity and typically no rain. Christmas decorations are up all over town (including on the skyscrapers). The one downside is that the air pollution is usually worse in the winter; although you can certainly get some very clear days. But the generally great weather does make up for a lot. (Raining and thunderstorms for about the last week, and fog. Not a good week to be a tourist here…..)

Also, with 5 nights, you could spend 1 night in Macau. There is a Grand Hyatt there.

Cicerone, thanks for your considerate response. Looking at the Hyatt site, and then reading some of the reviews on Trip Adviser, it was a bit confusing to determine which Hyatt was getting the good reviews--and which wasn't. I thought the Kowloon Hyatt was very new and am reassured to read what you have to say about it.

Grand Hyatt on HK Island is rated #17, TST one #22, Sha Tin # 29. All are fine hotels. What matters is location.