Myanmar trip part 1

Our family of 2 adults and 2 children travelled to Myanmar in Dec/January for 4 weeks. Here we would like to post our report.

We flew to Ngapali beach and back from Yangon (Air Bagan)and stayed 5 days (132$ return ticket). After our return to Yangon we hired a van with driver (Naugh Naugh)and guide (Tony Hla Shwe) from Khine Tha Zin travel and drove for 18 days on route Yangon-Golden Rock-Taungoo(elephant camp)-Thazi-Inle lake-Kalaw (pindaya caves)-Bagan (mt Popa)-Meiktila-Mandaly. We flew from Mandalay to Kunming with China Eastern (245$ one way ticket from Columbus travel)

Our van rental was 55$ per day (including van return to Yangon from Mandalay). Our travel guide was 20$ per day.

Our hired van (Mitsubishi delica) was in good mechanical condition and didn’t have any mechanical problems with it. We had ample space in the van for 4 of us and we were able to leave our luggage in care of our driver while we visited many pagodas of Myanmar. We travelled aprox 6-8h between places. Although in some places the road was bad (many potholes) the ride was scenic and we were never bored. We were also able to travel fast (100km/h) on unfinished highway to new capital Naypitaw on the way from Taungoo to Thazi (no buses and trucks allowed). Our driver was professional driver and was familiar with the route and best places to pull over for sightseeing, tea/lunch . Our guide Tony was very helpful in getting us good rate of exchange, helping with translation, explaining Myanmar customs, looking for souvenirs etc….

Both of them were familiar with restaurants/accommodation en route and their recommendations were the best.

We felt both driver (Naugh) and guide( Tony) were very honest and helpful and would be very happy to recommend them to other travelers.

You can contact guide Tony by email: tonyhlashwe@gmail.com

We were happy that we chose to travel around Myanmar by hired van . We think people will see more travelling in hired car with guide than travelling by plane/bus. Also travelers will be well taken care. Due to the low number of tourists visiting Myanmar now it is possible to get very good price on hired car.

We used both Lonely Planet and Myanmar Blueprint (www.tools4fools.info) guide books. We found that Myanmar Blueprint guide book was more updated with list of hotels/restaurants than Lonely planet. Also the quality of the maps was very good. If you are passing through Bangkok you can contact author Marcus Braun and buy his book. You can also meet him in Bangkok (if he is not travelling around) and over a few beers discuss your travel plans to Myanmar with him.

We will be happy to answer any questions.

Myanmar trip part 1

Please update about where you stay , how much you pay and how you find your hotel too. thanks.