Myanmar - A Two Week Tour
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| Yangon |
Myanmar is beautiful, fascinating and just opening up to the World.
If you've an adventurous spirit, you'll be wowed by Myanmar.
Our 2 week itinerary:
Yangon
Yangon is the main city in Myanmar and is set on a series of lakes and a navigable estuary. Historically it was an important trading centre for the British Empire, known as Rangoon.
Yangon's main place to visit is Shwedagon Pagoda. This was the most impressive temple complex that we visited on our tour, and we've been to a fair few! Take a good few hours to spend time here. Then, there's downtown Yangon. Spend time walking by the estuary and exploring the markets by the custom house. There's even a market zone for legal work.
A couple of days is enough here and I'd advise spending more time in Bagan. If you're feeling adventurous you can choose a dilapidated overnight train or an overnight bus to get there. We chose to fly, which cost about $100 USD and took an hour or so.
In Yangon, we stayed on a budget and chose Wai Wai's Place. It's definitely an excellent choice for its food and relaxed vibe. It was a little noisy outside but that was also part of our introduction to South East Asia - getting woken up by dogs, roosters and monks, is all part of living in this part of the world.
Bagan
If you've an adventurous spirit, you'll be wowed by Myanmar.
Our 2 week itinerary:
- Yangon - 2 days
- Bagan - 4 days
- Irwaddy Cruise to Mandalay - 1 day
- Mandalay - 3 days
- Ngapali - 4 days
Yangon is the main city in Myanmar and is set on a series of lakes and a navigable estuary. Historically it was an important trading centre for the British Empire, known as Rangoon.
Yangon's main place to visit is Shwedagon Pagoda. This was the most impressive temple complex that we visited on our tour, and we've been to a fair few! Take a good few hours to spend time here. Then, there's downtown Yangon. Spend time walking by the estuary and exploring the markets by the custom house. There's even a market zone for legal work.
A couple of days is enough here and I'd advise spending more time in Bagan. If you're feeling adventurous you can choose a dilapidated overnight train or an overnight bus to get there. We chose to fly, which cost about $100 USD and took an hour or so.
In Yangon, we stayed on a budget and chose Wai Wai's Place. It's definitely an excellent choice for its food and relaxed vibe. It was a little noisy outside but that was also part of our introduction to South East Asia - getting woken up by dogs, roosters and monks, is all part of living in this part of the world.
Bagan
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| Bagan - don't miss it! |
Bagan is the jewel in Myanmar's crown and the most developed area for tourism. That said, the place still feels relaxed and when we were there, there weren't hoards of tourists. We hired a scooter and explored the 2,500 temples, wandering at will.
At the airport, we paid a $20USD archeological ticket. We didn't mind paying as these places need support to upkeep them, particularly following the earthquake here a few years ago. We didn't get asked for tickets at any temple though.
It's worth paying the $10USD to go up to the Bagan Viewing Tower particularly if you want that sunset temple shot.
We stayed in New Bagan which was a bit cheaper than Old Bagan but is well serviced with restaurants and hotels and in the middle of the temple zone. I booked Temple View Hotel which was well priced and had good facilities but I think that I'd have preferred a place with a pool and spent longer in Bagan as it's a cool place to hangout.
Irawaddy Cruise - Bagan to Mandalay
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| Bagan |
Mandalay
Mandalay is a working city and felt poorer than Yangon. There were very few restaurants and less infrastructure for tourists. But.. it was also really interesting. We saw the lives of people taking their produce from the rural villages to market in the city and the markets of Mandalay are well worth exploring. The main draw in Mandalay is the temple area around Mandalay Hill. A walk up the hill is a must-do. If you go before sunset, you may get a Monk guide who will walk with you to practise his English.
Mandalay Palace is worth a quick visit but is a bit of a letdown if you're expecting to see treasures and historical artefacts. Nearly everything has been plundered and looted over the years and the absence of treasures is a statement in itself, a stark reminder of the sad history of Myanmar/ Burma and its occupation by the British in colonial times and the Japanese in the Second World War.
At the palace, you will need to buy a ticket which will let you into all the sites of Mandalay. We were also asked for passports here. The most interesting part for us was that it was also a military base. We'd had so many preconceptions about Myanmar before coming, so it was fascinating to see the military camp and the only time we saw the presence of the military in our time in Myanmar.
Get out of Mandalay for the day and you can explore the monastery at Amarapura and the U-Bein Bridge. Ask taxi drivers for prices and they can arrange a day's excursion for you.
Our hotel in Mandalay wasn't great. It happens. But.. we did love this place: Ned Kellys - an Irish pub and hotel in a nice uptown part of Mandalay.
Mandalay is a working city and felt poorer than Yangon. There were very few restaurants and less infrastructure for tourists. But.. it was also really interesting. We saw the lives of people taking their produce from the rural villages to market in the city and the markets of Mandalay are well worth exploring. The main draw in Mandalay is the temple area around Mandalay Hill. A walk up the hill is a must-do. If you go before sunset, you may get a Monk guide who will walk with you to practise his English.
Mandalay Palace is worth a quick visit but is a bit of a letdown if you're expecting to see treasures and historical artefacts. Nearly everything has been plundered and looted over the years and the absence of treasures is a statement in itself, a stark reminder of the sad history of Myanmar/ Burma and its occupation by the British in colonial times and the Japanese in the Second World War.
At the palace, you will need to buy a ticket which will let you into all the sites of Mandalay. We were also asked for passports here. The most interesting part for us was that it was also a military base. We'd had so many preconceptions about Myanmar before coming, so it was fascinating to see the military camp and the only time we saw the presence of the military in our time in Myanmar.
Get out of Mandalay for the day and you can explore the monastery at Amarapura and the U-Bein Bridge. Ask taxi drivers for prices and they can arrange a day's excursion for you.
Our hotel in Mandalay wasn't great. It happens. But.. we did love this place: Ned Kellys - an Irish pub and hotel in a nice uptown part of Mandalay.
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| Climb up the hill in Mandalay |
Ngapali Beach
The beach resorts of Myanmar on the Andaman Sea provide the idyllic final few days to kick back and relax. A relatively secret paradise (for now). There are regular flights to Thandwe from Yangon and Mandalay.
Food To Try:
- Shan noodles
- Tomato salad (at Wai Wai's in Yangon) - generally take care in Myanmar with food that isn't cooked. Wai Wai's had very high hygiene standards.
- Mohinga beef consommé served with most noodle dishes on the street. The beef one is better than the chicken.
- Myanmar curries - different everywhere we tried them - I had the BEST Rohingya fish curry in Bagan.
- Guilty pleasure - beef and chicken sliders in Ned Kellys, Mandalay. Tasted so good after two weeks of rice and noodles.
- If in doubt... chicken fried rice.
We should have spent longer in Bagan - it was a great place to chill out and could easily have been there for a week. We're learning to slow it down and not do whistle-stop tours.
Much of the country is dense jungle, so travelling around by road can be difficult. There are extensive internal flight options, although they aren't cheap.There wasn't much infrastructure in terms of hotels outside of the main tourist areas, so worth doing some research before stepping out into the countryside.
Top Tips:
Myanmar has a conservative Buddhist culture and women cover shoulders and knees. With so many temples to visit, long trousers and sarongs are a top packing essential, rather than shorts.
Next Time:
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| A traditional Shinbyu festival - taking the boys to become monks (Bagan) |
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