Is Myanmar worth a visit?

by **arjay** » May 31, 2012, 1:05 pm

I was wondering is Burma/Myanmar worth a visit? Does anyone have any experience of visiting the country? If so, - how did they travel there, where did they stay, what did they visit, etc?

by **KB_Texas** » May 31, 2012, 1:24 pm

I was wondering the same thing. Might be a chance to visit there and you would be welcome?

by **bamakmak** » May 31, 2012, 2:51 pm

I went into Burma three years ago for a day visit. Crossed the border north of Chiang Rai at the town of Mai Sai.

In Burma, it was your fairly typical town, not unlike most places you find in Thailand. There was an interesting Buddhist temple there and doing merit was slightly different. For example, you are given a small basket that, when opened, released a song bird.

The street vendors were the most persistant of any I have encountered in this region. A polite "no thanks" or simply ignoring them does no good.

The only unnerving aspect of the venture was, after paying your fee at the border and filing out the one-day visa, the border officials KEEP YOUR PASSPORT. You are given a temporary "permission to enter" card and, upon leaving the country, are given back your passport.

Overall, I was happy I went.

by **Laan Yaa Mo** » May 31, 2012, 6:32 pm

Burma is definitely worth a visit. I have gone there 3 times, once in 1975, once in 1982 and once in 1991. These were the days of one week visas only plus one could only visit Rangoon, Mandalay, Pagan, Maymo and Inle Lake in the Shan States. Burma, at that time was very primitve (backward) but the people were quite friendly though desperately poor. I had one flight attendant from the Kachin State ask me to marry her to get out of the country, and one manger of a posh hotel in Rangoon who wanted to get him out of there.

At that time, one brought in a bottle of Johnny Walker Red, 555 cigarettes, Johnson's baby powder and ball point pens. Normally, you were stopped at the Rangoon airport by high-ranking army officials and offered enough money in kyats to pay for your trip. Sometimes you could make more by holding onto your stuff and selling it in Mandalay.

With all of the Chinese investment in Burma, I would think things have changed a lot. Mandalay was a quaint Burmese city before, now I have heard it is a Chinese city.

Now you can venture into the Shan, Kachin and other states. The reason why Mae Sai and other places in the Shan State will have a familiar feeling to it is that they are populated by Shans, who are Tai Yai. Their language and culture is the same as northern Thailand. The region used to be under the control of Chiang Mai for many centuries. By the way, the sip-song-panna region of Yunnan, China and the Ahom area of Assam in India are also culturally northern Thai.

The people were very friendly. I expect Burma to open up in the near future, and it would be fertile ground for retirement. For the moment, however, don't treat the women there like you (many farang ex-pats and tourists) do in Thailand.

The Shwedagon and Sule Pagodas are must sees in Rangoon, and Pagan is great for history. Go to see the 'tit' pagoda in Sagaing, across the river from Mandalay. Maymo is a former hill resort for British civil servants and is still serviced by horse-drawn stagecoaches.

by **BobHelm** » June 6, 2012, 1:08 pm

Great information Uncle...as we have grown to expect.

From reading the press I gather that certain areas are still rather no go as far as tourists are concerned due to armed conflict in some areas....but I guess that the same could be said about the far South of Thailand. It rarely seems to impact on the rest of the country.

I also saw that Aung San Suu Kyi has suggested that things are going right way, but there is still a very long journey ahead as well.

The new Government at least look like they want to encourage foreign visitors, which is always a positive sign. They have just started to Issue Visas on Arrival at the Yangon International Airport. That is a pretty dramatic step forward for visitors...

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world ... 625088.htm

So, maybe now is exactly the right time to visit the country, before it gets too much like everywhere else & still has surprises to see..

by **Prenders88** » June 6, 2012, 2:15 pm

Burma has huge potential, so many tropical Islands in the Indian Ocean that have not been ruined like Phuket.
Easy entry with a visa on arrival, and hotel development going on at breakneck speed, TAT must be worried.
It will also have an impact on Burmese workers being exploited in Thailand doing all the dirty jobs, they will stay in Burma in the future.

by **bluejets** » June 6, 2012, 2:41 pm

bamakmak wrote:The only unnerving aspect of the venture was, after paying your fee at the border and filing out the one-day visa, the border officials KEEP YOUR PASSPORT. You are given a temporary "permission to enter" card and, upon leaving the country, are given back your passport.

Same happened to me so I refused to go. Reported it to the Australian Embassy who said "good move" and they wanted to know all the details. Nothing ever happened about it though as far as I am aware. Never heard back from them.

by **KB_Texas** » June 6, 2012, 3:59 pm

Right...in the US we are told NEVER to leave the passport behind. If this is required, I will not visit.

KB

by **maaka** » June 7, 2012, 6:28 am

doing the old Johnny Walker runs in a noisy old DC3, those were the days Laan Yaa Mo..

Today there is still alot of unrest between the Govt and monks in the Shan state, and also with the ethic Zo people, so one needs to be careful, even though the Burmese Govt is supposedly bringing change, it struggles to recognise the various ethic tribes, and groupings, that make up 40% of the population, and it doesnt take to kindly to monks that are anti government..if you are planning on going anywhere near the tsunami hit areas, I would make sure I was up to date with my jabs and shots, and take alittle first aid kit, as things got pretty messy down that way..

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