OVERALL ASSESSMENT: Returned to Myanmar after about a year and not too much has changed. It remains one of the most interesting and photogenic countries in southeast Asia. It's also one of the poorest. Whether you feel it is politically correct to visit Myanmar is up to you. This report is based on travel during November 2004. Please also see my 2003 travel report. Rating: a very strong thumbs up.

MONEY: The US dollar is still used for paying hotels and airline tickets. Don't expect to use any credit cards. Also remember that you CAN'T change U$100 notes beginning with serial # CB. The black market exchange rate is about 1U$=900-950 kyats, depending on where you are, how much you exchange, etc. Ask around for the best places. For all practical purposes YOU CANNOT EXCHANGE U$ TRAVELERS CHEQUES! In other words, bring cash! (You actually can exchange travelers cheques in Mandalay but you'll receive a terrible exchange rate. See Mandalay section for details.) To my knowledge there are no ATMs to use your debit card with.

INTERNET: Internet cafes are popping up in all the major tourist areas. Unfortunately in most places you still can't access major email accounts, such as Yahoo, Hotmail, etc. In Inle Lake they get around this but at a cost of about 1500K per hour. Burning CDs from your digital camera is also readily available at about 1000K per disk. You might want to bring your own reader and cables, though, just to make sure there're no problems.

BORDER CROSSING: I want to confirm that you can indeed exit Myanmar overland via Tachileik into Thailand (Mai Sai). The trick is getting to Tachileik. Basically, you have to fly from Heho (near Inle Lake) or Mandalay. The flight costs about U$75-80. However, it does leave one the option of flying from Chiang Mai direct to Mandalay, seeing the northern part of Myanmar, and then exiting overland back into Thailand without ever having to visit Yangon and the south.

• Mandalay. Flew from Chiang Mai to Mandalay for 3,400B (about U$85). The one-hour taxi ride into town costs 9,000K or U$10. I again stayed at the Royal Guest House and felt it was good value; clean, reasonably priced, and in a good location. Be sure and call in advance to make a reservation for they seem to be perpetually full. I spent one night at the Nylon Guest House and though it was OK, the staff obviously didn't give a damn about their guests. Right around the corner from the Royal Guest House you'll find the Mann Restaurant for good Chinese food. The Min Min Honey Chicken restaurant just one block south was decent, too. Top it off with some ice cream at the Nylon Ice Cream Cafe. There'll be a few beggars around, but nothing too bad. There's also a fun Indian sidewalk restaurant on the southeast corner of 84th and 26th streets with tiny low wood tables and little plastic stools like you use to sit on in kindergarten. It's open only in the evening and features decent chapati, curries, and dahl. I recommend visiting the ancient cities, especially Mingun, and the Mahamuni Temple.

  In a pinch you can exchange American Express travelers cheques at the Mandalay View Inn though they'll take a 20% commission for their efforts!

• Myitkyina. You can fly from Mandalay -> Myitkyina on Myanma Air for U$80. I was trying to get to Putao, but got turned back in Myitkyina because I didn't have 'special permission'. Myitkyina's a nice little town to wander around in and gets almost no tourists. The Bamboo Fields has good food - try their Pineapple Chicken if available (sometimes they have no pineapple!!). The Shwe Taung Restaurant has good dark beer on tap, but note that their English menu might have prices that are 2-3 years old! Ask for the current prices just to make ensure there'll be no unexpected surprises.

  Don't stay at the Aye Chan Tha Inn. The owner is an obsequious, unctuous SOB. They demand you pay in U$ and then try and give you useless Myanmar FEC, or Singapore dollars fer heaven's sake in change! Total jerks! For an extra few dollars stay at the Pantsun Hotel, instead. The YMCA, though the rooms are a bit grotty, is no doubt the friendliest place in town and will gladly help you out all they can even if you don't stay there. From Myitkyina you can hire a tuk-tuk for about 13,000K per person (bargain for less!) to Myit-son, the confluence of the Mehka and Malikhka Rivers that form the great Ayeyarwady River. Be forewarned that the road out to the confluence is in terrible condition.

• Bhamo. Took an expensive 18,000K share taxi from Myitkyina -> Bhamo. Took about 7 hours over some of the worst roads I've encountered. In Bhamo the Friendship Hotel lived up to it's name, and greeted us with coffee, and a map of the city! Wow! The rooms are a bit pricey, but well worth it. Took a horse drawn carriage out to the Shwe Kyina Pagoda which was OK except for this one monk with a rather bad attitude. I would have spent longer as it seemed a friendly little town but flights and the boat only leave every couple of days, so ended up spending U$50 for a Myanma Air flight back to Mandalay. Myanma Air's planes are old and dirty beasts, but one perk is that from the Mandalay airport they provide free transportation back into town, about an hour ride away.

• Hsipaw. As explained in last years travel report I strongly suggest you DON'T use the Yoma Express bus company from Mandalay to Hsipaw as it's uncomfortable and takes forever. It is inexpensive, however, if you're on a tight budget. Many take the train ride from Mandy -> Hsipaw and claim it's quite beautiful. You can get a shared taxi through your guest house for about 10,000K, which is way overpriced as from Hsipaw back to Mandy you can rent the entire taxi for 25,000K. You can probably arrange you're own share taxi by talking to the taxi drivers around 25th and 81st streets. It takes 3 1/2-4 hrs by share taxi and it's a beautiful ride though the taxi drivers all seem to have Mario Andretti aspirations!.

  Once again I stayed at Mr. Charles Guest House. Rooms in the old building are between U$5-7, and in the new building, which IMHO are much nicer, are around U$8. I can recommend the Shan villages morning walk with Mr. Charles, the boat trip, and the walk to the waterfall. Oh yes, and the infamous popcorn factory is quite fun if you can find it, map in hand or not. For the political side of Myanmar track down Mr. Book who is an open member of the opposition NLD party. Yes, he owns a bookstore, and he facilitates distributing food and school supplies if you are interesting in making a donation.

  There are a couple of Chinese and Bamar style restaurants on the main drag, along with a couple of BBQ places closer to the Hsipaw road. Don't expect haute cuisine in Hsipaw, but there's enough to get you by.

  Mr. Charles guest house will arrange a share taxi for 25,000K back to Mandalay and you can stuff as many or as few people as you want into it. You can also arrange it yourself at the small taxi kiosk located in front of a tea shop walking down towards the Central Market. Sorry, don't recall the tea shop's name.

  Trucks or busses go every other day up to Nam Shan, though I didn't venture up there. It's supposed to be very beautiful, but the guest houses are very basic. Ask around for the latest information.

• Inle Lake/Nyaungshwe. A share taxi from Mandalay direct to Nyaungshwe costs 17,000K per person if arranged through your guest house. Save yourself a lot of money and arrange your own taxi from the guys around 25th and 81st streets. We were quoted 50,000K for an entire taxi (which easily seats 4). Like last year I stayed at the Aquarius Inn Guest House for about U$7 a night. The rooms aren't that spectacular, but it has a congenial atmosphere conducive to meeting your fellow travelers and an extremely nice owner.

  Nyaungshwe is pasta and pancake heaven. The Mee Mee restaurant on the same road as the Aquarius use to have great pasta, but this year it was mushy and over salty. The Golden Kite's pasta was excellent. Unlike other cities in Myanmar you can access your Yahoo, Hotmail, and other email accounts here at a cost of about 1500K per hour. You can also burn CDs for about 1000K per disk. The entire lake area is beautiful and photogenic. Walk or bike around to the local villages. Do the boat trip, trek, etc.

  During the Tazaungmon "Festival of Lights" in late November-early December be sure and check out the Balloon Festival in Taunggyi. A share taxi will cost about 20,000K and the driver will wait for you. It's difficult to find out exactly when the balloons are sent up. This year the daytime balloons were sent up around noon and the night time balloons started around 8:30 pm. There's a huge street fair, too. Be forewarned that Taunggyi hotels get booked up weeks in advance.

• Kengtung. Because it seemed that no one knew anything about, or had been to, Kengtung, I really wanted to visit. Flew from Heho (near Inle Lake) to Kengtung for U$76. During the high season there's a daily flight that does, to the best of my understanding, a Yangon->Heho->Mandalay->Tachaleik-> Kengtung->Mandalay->Yangon loop. The main problem I had with Kengtung was with Harry's Guest House. They seem to have somewhat of a monopoly on foreigners and therefore though they initially give the impression of being friendly and helpful, I felt they were actually arrogant, smug, unresponsive, and mainly interested in getting you to go on their tours. They charge U$25 for a 1-day tour to the local hot springs and some villages. If you've trekked before in Kalaw you know this is at least 3X as much as one would pay elsewhere in Myanmar. I do admit that the people who went on the trek enjoyed it - but these were people who were in Myanmar for the first time. I think Harry goes to the same villages every time so it's not as if these are 'untouristed' places. You can't stay overnight due to gov't restrictions.

  Harry's U$5 per room wooden row house have walls so thin that you can hear every word and wheeze (or worse) your neighbors make. There are also rats in the rafters which you hear scuttling around at night! The new building rooms are much nicer at U$10 for a single and U$15 for a double. Again, not outrageous, but a bit overpriced for what you get. No bargaining even if you are the only people there. Lights and electricity go out at 9:30 pm or so.

  The other problem I had was that one of the guys at Harry's set my up with moto-taxi driver #89 (who hangs out in front of Harry's and no doubt is in cahoots with them) to take me out to the buffalo market (a total waste of time unless you're interested in seeing a bunch of water buffalo standing around in a paddock) and then to the 'bus station' to arrange a share taxi to Tachileik. I told the guy at Harry's that I expected to pay 200K per trip, and as it would entail 4 separate legs, I expected to pay 800K. When I got through moto-taxi driver #89 wanted 2000K! I guess this was partly my fault as I had discussed the prices with the guy at Harry's and didn't think it was necessary to go over it again with the moto driver. Silly me. Note: all in town moto-taxi trips are 200K.

  I, and others I have spoken with, had negative impressions of Harry's Guest House. I think if you can find other accommodations you would be better off. The town itself if small, walkable, and quite picturesque with a central lake, and the usual stupas and monasteries, but nothing you won't see everywhere else in Myanmar. So unless it's someplace you have to visit, I'd suggest skipping the place altogether. I enjoyed the Kachin State much more: Myitkyina and Bhamo. I just didn't get a very positive feeling in Kengtung.

  From Kengtung to the Thailand border at Tachileik/Mae Sai it's a 3 1/2 hour share taxi ride costing about 8,000K per person or 30,000K for an entire taxi. Leave as early as possible if you're trying to make it to Chiang Mai by a decent hour.

Comments? E-mail me at [email protected].

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December 2003 Myanmar travel report

December 2004 Myanmar photo travel report