yangon, mandalay,or bagan???
 

thinking of 3-4 nights in november. any thoughts on which town(s)?

Yangon if you want to see a great temple; Bagan for archeology and Mandalay for crafts and people.

All are interesting -- really depends what your interest is. If you want to meet people, avoid Bagan.

is mandalay anything like ubud?

You are really trying to cover the map with your upcoming trip!

Note that the air connection between Bangkok and Burma are mostly to Yangoon. There is supposed to be a once or a twice a week flight to Mandalay on Phuket Air. I don't know whether that plan ever got off the ground (so to speak).

Mandalay is not like Ubud.

Mandalay is not at all like Ubud.

if you are only going for a few days i would concentrate on yangon and surroundings...

do you need a driver? i can suggest one..

you will miss a lot up country but by trying to see it all in such few days you will waste too much time i think

whats a better cambo. bagan-yangoon or bagan-mandalay?..

which is the cheepest for transportation?..

I've seen some air-hotel packages from bkk too yangoon for less then 9000 baht.

Gloriaf.. actualy I thought I could of stayed at my frainds perants house in yangoon but after reading your post I think it may bring them some problems.. my fraind PHONE says it's OK and i have a feeling he would send enough money for his perants too pay the police off but know I don't think it's worth it..

thanks

orgy7: If you can stay with your local friends, by all means do it; it would be a very rewarding experience. Unless they are on the government's watching list, they are unlikely in trouble just because of a foreigner's visit.

Purely by chance, I got to know a local family in Bagan. They invited me to their home for dinner in a nearby viliage. They had a large family of more than 10 people living together. They were poor but life went on all right. They had enough trouble to bring food to the table. Politics was really the last thing they would care to think about. Does the government worry about what they do with foreigners? I don't think so.

Most new guest houses are privately owned, some have just a few rooms. All foreign guests would have some sort of contact with the local private owerners. I stayed in guest houses in both Mandalay and Bagan. In Bagan, the guest house was owned by a young guy who worked very hard day and night. The manager was a woman in her 30s' with a nice voice, singing all the time. We chatted often while my staying there. I jumped in once one evening while some of them bought food and beer and all had a good time in the reception area.

What I am trying to say is that outside politics, there are a lot of normal lives and activities going on with ordinary folks. Life there is not all a horror story.

In fact, there are many stories behind stories. In my LP book, there are descriptions about how the military government forced residents in old Bagan giving up their homes overnight. Go find the true, complete, unbiased story behind it. It is interesting.

Today's Myanmar is very much like China 20 years ago. In fact, Chinese influnence is now everywhere in Myanmar. As the Australia archaelogist said, China couldn't be happier with the US economic sanction towards Myanmar - China is literally taking over the country economicly.

I hope Myanmar is doing well in the coming years, whichever way they are heading. Very lovely people. They deserve it.

You won't have any problems staying with friends. Just follow their lead in terms of conversation regarding politics. But I should also add that I was there 4 years ago and things could have changed since then so it might be even easier.

Gloria