Burma - Anyone visited?
Discussion
Planning a trip to S.E. Asia in October and quite fancy visiting Burma now before it becomes the new Thailand (if it has not already).
Any one been before? I have been reading up ref Visa etc, plan would be to travel to Bangkok and catch a flight into Yangon and spend 10-12 days in Burma before moving on, main place to visit is Bagan.
Thanks.
Any one been before? I have been reading up ref Visa etc, plan would be to travel to Bangkok and catch a flight into Yangon and spend 10-12 days in Burma before moving on, main place to visit is Bagan.
Thanks.
Who with Swerni if you don't mind me asking?
I am flying into Bangkok and will catch a flight to Yangon then trek about, I have a rough plan but would like to know any must see's / do's etc.
A friend spent a month there appx 18months ago and loved it, did the whole trekking around the world and said it was his favourite place.
I have some links / guides saved at home and will post the links.
I am arranging everything myself, me / partner / backpack / flight and off we go, cant wait.
I am flying into Bangkok and will catch a flight to Yangon then trek about, I have a rough plan but would like to know any must see's / do's etc.
A friend spent a month there appx 18months ago and loved it, did the whole trekking around the world and said it was his favourite place.
I have some links / guides saved at home and will post the links.
I am arranging everything myself, me / partner / backpack / flight and off we go, cant wait.
Visited in 2011.
It's never going to become the new Thailand, not in our lifetime anyway... Vastly different.
If you're traveling in-country I'd advise using flights as a means to move large distances.
Shwedagon paya is a nice visit in Yangon. Inle Lake was also nice. We did a few days trek from Kalaw to the lake which was brilliant but not for those who like any form of creature comforts.
The islands are under control of the 'government' so unless you're in the country for a long time they are not worth visiting. Even if you do visit them, the last I heard was that 1 or possibly 2 were set up for having people stay there but the rest are under strict control. There was no party scene.
Bagan and Mandalay are also worth a visit. In 2011 a lot was still out of reach to backpackers without a guide watching your every move.
At that time there was still what we could only work out to be classed as a sense of paranoia in the Burmese people. Understandably so I guess.
Lots of beautiful sights to take in but be warned that people are all too quick to make the snap conclusion that just because a country has been isolated from trading with the rest of the world for several decades that it's more of a 'pure' experience to go before there is a macdonalds on the street corner in the capital. I understand this to be a complete fallacy. Travelers/tourists tend to forget that the living conditions and infrastructure for the majority of the people who reside there is pretty f
king miserable and the change will most definitely help them.
It's always nice to have a choice, right? Yangon for example was (still is?) a decaying hole in 2011. Not all of it, but large downtown parts of it. Doubt it's changed that much since then.
Apparently there are over 2 million Burmese working in Thailand. You ever been to koh Phangan or Koh Tao? See all those Thai's serving food in the restaurants, most are in fact Burmese. You fill up with petrol anywhere in the Bangkok metropolitan region, chances are it's a Burmese person who fills the tank. Read up on why they ran. Also read up on the military elite of Burma.
There is also a way to travel in the country to try and avoid or at least mitigate putting money into the hands of the oppressive regime that I believe still exists today, albeit in a toned-down, less obvious way. Such as doing your research on which hotels are not connected to the military or their families.
My best advise is to buy a lonely planet or rough guide - 2016 edition if there is one available. Burma really is the type of country where you need to make an educated decision on whether or not it's going to be a worthwhile place for you to visit.
It's never going to become the new Thailand, not in our lifetime anyway... Vastly different.
If you're traveling in-country I'd advise using flights as a means to move large distances.
Shwedagon paya is a nice visit in Yangon. Inle Lake was also nice. We did a few days trek from Kalaw to the lake which was brilliant but not for those who like any form of creature comforts.
The islands are under control of the 'government' so unless you're in the country for a long time they are not worth visiting. Even if you do visit them, the last I heard was that 1 or possibly 2 were set up for having people stay there but the rest are under strict control. There was no party scene.
Bagan and Mandalay are also worth a visit. In 2011 a lot was still out of reach to backpackers without a guide watching your every move.
At that time there was still what we could only work out to be classed as a sense of paranoia in the Burmese people. Understandably so I guess.
Lots of beautiful sights to take in but be warned that people are all too quick to make the snap conclusion that just because a country has been isolated from trading with the rest of the world for several decades that it's more of a 'pure' experience to go before there is a macdonalds on the street corner in the capital. I understand this to be a complete fallacy. Travelers/tourists tend to forget that the living conditions and infrastructure for the majority of the people who reside there is pretty f
king miserable and the change will most definitely help them.It's always nice to have a choice, right? Yangon for example was (still is?) a decaying hole in 2011. Not all of it, but large downtown parts of it. Doubt it's changed that much since then.
Apparently there are over 2 million Burmese working in Thailand. You ever been to koh Phangan or Koh Tao? See all those Thai's serving food in the restaurants, most are in fact Burmese. You fill up with petrol anywhere in the Bangkok metropolitan region, chances are it's a Burmese person who fills the tank. Read up on why they ran. Also read up on the military elite of Burma.
There is also a way to travel in the country to try and avoid or at least mitigate putting money into the hands of the oppressive regime that I believe still exists today, albeit in a toned-down, less obvious way. Such as doing your research on which hotels are not connected to the military or their families.
My best advise is to buy a lonely planet or rough guide - 2016 edition if there is one available. Burma really is the type of country where you need to make an educated decision on whether or not it's going to be a worthwhile place for you to visit.
Thanks Gents, I am not as interested in the city's, main reasons to visit are Bagan and Lake Inle.
With respect, I do not expect it to be 'pure' or different, for me it is an interesting country to see the changes (the plan would be to visit again in 5 appx years).
I really enjoyed Thailand and Cambodia and am aware of the generally miserable conditions that many people live in.
The plan would be to hire local guides in each place when / where required and as someone else suggested to, perhaps, take a mini drone for Bagan
I remember reading about the capital being moved from the coast inland and was it not where TG visited with the huge highways etc?
Please, any further suggestions / trips / hotels drop me a private mail or post them here, it seems there is some interest in Burma so why not keep a running thread.
I will post up some guidance from my colleague who spent some time there in 2014/5, very different from what you suggest DoubleSix, more in line with the other posters.
With respect, I do not expect it to be 'pure' or different, for me it is an interesting country to see the changes (the plan would be to visit again in 5 appx years).
I really enjoyed Thailand and Cambodia and am aware of the generally miserable conditions that many people live in.
The plan would be to hire local guides in each place when / where required and as someone else suggested to, perhaps, take a mini drone for Bagan
I remember reading about the capital being moved from the coast inland and was it not where TG visited with the huge highways etc?
Please, any further suggestions / trips / hotels drop me a private mail or post them here, it seems there is some interest in Burma so why not keep a running thread.
I will post up some guidance from my colleague who spent some time there in 2014/5, very different from what you suggest DoubleSix, more in line with the other posters.
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