{"id":3787,"date":"2019-06-17T14:42:05","date_gmt":"2019-06-17T07:42:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.littlewanderingwren.com\/staging\/8794\/?p=3787"},"modified":"2019-06-17T23:37:34","modified_gmt":"2019-06-17T16:37:34","slug":"wandering-yangon-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.littlewanderingwren.com\/staging\/8794\/2019\/06\/17\/wandering-yangon-and-beyond\/","title":{"rendered":"Wandering Yangon and beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mystical, magical Myanmar.<\/h3>\n

I’m forever getting asked three questions about Myanmar:<\/p>\n

Where did you go? How safe is it, and what did you do about money?<\/p>\n

We had an amazing two weeks in Burma, or Myanmar as it was renamed in 1989 by the ruling military junta. We found ancient temples on a scale we’d never imagined, mystical Inle Lake mornings with dancing one-legged fishermen, magical sunsets on the Irrawaddy river and that the road to Mandalay was not all it was cracked up to be…<\/p>\n

At least not in my imagination, nor in my head of romantic poetry living the Far East travel dream!<\/p>\n

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OUR HOLIDAY ITINERARY:<\/strong><\/h6>\n

Day 1: Arrival Yangon,<\/strong> Evening visit to Shwedagon Pagoda<\/p>\n

Day 2: Yangon<\/strong>\u00a0city sightseeing<\/p>\n

Day 3: Yangon-Bagan<\/strong> (morning flight) Bagan Sightseeing<\/p>\n

Day 4: Bagan<\/strong> Sightseeing by Bike<\/p>\n

Day 5 : Bagan:<\/strong> A visit to Mt Popa, evening sunset boat ride along the Ayeyarwaddy River<\/p>\n

Day 6: Bagan – Mandalay<\/strong> (morning flight) Mandalay sightseeing<\/p>\n

Day 7: Mandalay<\/strong>: Visit Amarapura, Sagaing & Inwa<\/p>\n

Day 8 Mandalay:<\/strong> Boat trip to Mingun<\/p>\n

Day 9: Mandalay to Heho (morning flight) for Inle Lake<\/strong> & Inle lake Sightseeing by boat<\/p>\n

Day 10: Inle Lake:<\/strong> Visit to Indein Village<\/p>\n

Day 11: Inle Lake to HeHo – Thandwe (morning flight) Transfer to Ngapali Beach<\/strong><\/p>\n

Day 12: Ngapali Beach<\/strong><\/p>\n

Day 13: Ngapali Beach<\/strong><\/p>\n

Day 14: Thandwe-Yangon<\/strong> (afternoon flight)<\/p>\n

Day 15: Yangon<\/strong> at Leisure (afternoon flight home)<\/p>\n

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MONEY IN MYANMAR:<\/strong><\/h6>\n

We organised our trip through a local Myanmar Travel Agent. Back then due to difficulties in banking, you can read into this what you want, they didn’t want any money up front. We arrived with wads of cash in US dollars, which we handed over on arrival in a small backstreet office somewhere in Yangon.<\/p>\n

For me, Miss Wandering’ I like everything planned and sorted<\/em>‘ Wren, this made me a tad nervous. We were six people and we landed with nothing paid for, and in my Western eyes, therefore, nothing booked! Secondly,\u00a0 I was convinced the moment that I picked up many thousands of US dollars from my Aussie bank that I would be mugged starting in my Melbourne laneways, or even worse in some back street in Yangon.<\/p>\n

We needn’t have worried, when we arrived to pay, we followed a trail of other travellers all clutching their rucksacks firmly to their chests, ready to deposit a shed load of money.<\/p>\n

I never felt unsafe in this undiscovered land of Buddhist Zen.<\/p>\n

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ATMS AND CREDIT CARDS:<\/strong><\/p>\n

We also arrived to find that contrary to popular belief ATM’s were not difficult to find, at least in the routes we took. We needed not have brought in all our spending money in US $ cash. Given our standard of hotel, all took credit cards.<\/p>\n

However, this widespread mistrust of electronic banking that we experience continues and you will still be wise to travel with more cash than you are used to elsewhere in the region.<\/p>\n

Officially, everyone can bring US$10,000 without any declaration at customs<\/p>\n

THE KYAT (pronounced chat)<\/strong><\/p>\n

While in Myanmar we used a combination of the local currency, the kyat, which we obtained from the ATMS and US dollars which we arrived with. The Kyat\u2019s a closed currency \u2013 it\u2019s not available nor used anywhere else in the world \u2013 so exchange or spend leftover notes at the airport before leaving the country.<\/p>\n

Articles you\u2019ll read online will advise the US dollar is preferred above the kyat, but this is outdated advice and we found the kyat is accepted most places.<\/p>\n

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Hotel List:<\/strong><\/h6>\n

Of the hotels below the most memorable were in the order of preference: Inle Resort, Bagan Thande Hotel and Amata Resort<\/p>\n

Yangon: Taw Win Garden Hotel<\/strong> (Deluxe) :\u00a0 https;\/\/tawwinggardenhotel.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Bagan: Bagan Thande Hotel<\/strong> (Deluxe Garden View) : https:\/\/baganthandehotel.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Mandalay: Mandalay City Hotel:<\/strong> (Superior): https:\/\/mandalaycityhotel.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Read my Trip Advisor review here: A passable hotel<\/a><\/p>\n

Inle Lake: Inle Resort <\/strong>(Royal Villa Lake View) : https:\/\/inleresort.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Read my Trip Advisor review here:\u00a0Jaw-droppingly gorgeous<\/a><\/p>\n

Ngapali Beach: Amata Resort<\/strong>\u00a0(Deluxe) :\u00a0https:\/\/www.amartaresort.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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Our Thoughts:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

ARE YOU A FIT TRAVELLER?<\/strong><\/h6>\n

We used One Stop Tours Travel Agency<\/a> in Yangon and I can’t talk more highly of them and their organisation.<\/p>\n

We travelled with Millenials they prefer to see themselves as FIT travellers – free independent travellers, and they felt a little over organised. We like to think of ourselves as FIT too, but I doubt we’d had done as much in a short space of time without a local Travel Agent support. As you will see we took four internal flights, all ran relatively on time, all were comfortable experiences. I liked having our own private tour and all the transport and knowledgeable guides.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

What were the most memorable things you did?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There were many but the high lights were:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Bagan and our cycle ride around the Bagan ancient city. This was the poor peoples’ balloon ride, hot, dusty and absolutely amazing. Loved this place.<\/li>\n
  2. Beers on the boat at sunset under the iconic rickety old U Bein Bridge (Amarapura) This is the oldest and longest teakwood bridge in the world<\/li>\n
  3. Arriving at the beautiful romantic Inle Resort on Valentine’s day watching the lake one-legged fishermen.<\/li>\n
  4. Drinks in the bar and dinner at the colonial Strand Hotel Yangon, one of Asia’s finest hotels\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>on our last night<\/li>\n
  5. Walking barefooted in the shadow of the 100m high gilded stupa of Shwedagon Great Dragon Pagoda completed in the 6th century. The most sacred Buddhist Pagoda in Myanmar and rich in history.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Were there any surprises?<\/strong><\/p>\n