This is second part of our trip report to Myanmar by plane to Ngaplai beach and hired van to Mandalay in Dec/January (see earlier report part 1)
Money
This was discussed many times before. Bring crispy US$ notes. No stain, tear, ink stamps, CB serial numbers, also no folding line in the middle. Otherwise notes will be difficult to exchange for kyats(only with discount 10-30%). Keep the best notes to pay entrance fees, train tickets. Less perfect you can use to pay for hotels, souvenirs.
If you are passing through Bangkok stock up on new/crispy US$ at Super Rich money exchange (best rate) near Big C store.
Ngapali beach
We flew to Ngapali beach with Air Bagan (132$ return) arranged with Columbus travel. Plane was modern, lunch/ refreshments were provided on the plane. Be sure to inform the airline where are you staying. The airline can change the flight time the day before, but they will inform you. It is also possible to hire private vehicle to take you there (we asked our driver from Khine Tha Zin travel). It will be 2 days there and 2 days back. On the end it will cost more than taking plane but if you want to see scenery it is way to go.
We stayed at the Bayview hotel from Dec 16-21 (we payed 185$ for 4 bed/room). Good breakfast good food in the restaurant (Myanmar, Thai, international). Swimming pool. They also have happy hour with very cold draft beer 1$ (quite busy) . Bayview is only hotel at Ngapli beach where you can pay for room and food/ beverages with credit card. They will first convert your bill to Singapore dollars and add 4% charge. Only Bayview hotel was about 录 full. All other hotels at Ngapali beach were almost empty. Many sea food restaurants on the main road are open but with very few guests. Sea food plate goes from 3-5000 kyats. The best food we had was lobster with Aythaya rose wine at Bayview hotel.
Not much to do, in the morning you can walk to lower fishing village watch fishing boats unloading fish (1 h walk from Bayview hotel). You can take boat trip, half day do some snorkeling, fishing around Pearl island. If you or your boatman catch any fish they will prepare it for you on the beach. There are 2 prices for boat trip depend from where you are taking boat. From Bayview to Aureum palace price is 25000 kyat; from Aureum palace to lower village they will charge you 15000 kyats (you can try to bargain price)
Food/restaurants
Generally food in Myanmar is not so great like in Thailand. The best food we had n Myanmar was the sea food at Ngapali beach. Many restaurants at the main road charge 3-5000kyats per plate.
Different Myanmar curries (chicken, goat, pork, beef, liver) are about 1-2000 kyats with side dishes. Noodle and fried rice are even cheaper. If you are in Bagan try Myanmar buffet 10-15 dishes for 2500 kyats. They will bring all curries in bowls to your table plus some fried food and snacks (stay away from fish paste and bitter melon curry). Myanmar beer bottle (1l) is from 1300-2500 kyats. Some of the canned soft drinks like coca cola and sprite are expensive (1-1500kyats). Drink local brands like Star cola, it will be half price.
You can expect daily budget for 2 people about 10000 kyats including drinks. For lunch you can also visit many tea shops where they provide sweet tea (with condensed milk) also they will bring you some snacks (samosas, Chinese buns, pay only what you eat). You can get by a cheaper budget by eating at the street stands (like our driver and guide did)
We went to many restaurants on our trip but there are few we would like to recommend.
Golden Duck restaurant (Chinese food, large portions) with branches in Yangon and Mandalay. In Yangon on Strand road in Mandaly by the royal palace.
7 sisters restaurant ,Kalaw (Myanmar, Nepali, western food)
Everest restaurant , Kalaw (good Nepali food)
Green tea restaurant, Pindaya (good food Myanmar, Chinese, European dishes, nice view of the lake)
Aroma restaurant, Bagan (Indian food on banana leaves)
Shwe Ohn Bin new restaurant in Mietkila. large selection of Myanmar , Chinese food on display in big trays . choose what you want
Accomodation
If you want to stay in high end hotels you will get better price if you book online or through travel agency in Yangon (you can pay in advance by bank transfer). We were travelling in peak season between Christmas/New Year, but most of the hotels were empty. If you stay more than 2 nights you can negotiate price down (by 20%). We mostly stayed in mid range hotels and price was usually 30$ for 3 bed/room. Our driver and guide were familiar with the best places to stay on our route so most of the times we didn鈥檛 have to spend time looking around for hotels. Usually they were given free accommodation at the same hotel where we stayed.
Here are some hotels where we stayed during our trip:
Kaday Aung Class one hotel, New Bagan (4b. 45$) Huge room, nice location at the edge of the new Bagan, close to the temples, swimming pool, puppet show
Aung Mingalar Inn , N.. (3b. 30$), new hotel about 15-20min walk from the main canal
Golden sunrise hotel , Golden rock base camp (3b 30$) At the top of Golden rock price will be double and you need to book in advance.
Dream Villa hotel, Kalaw (3b 30$) big room, nice view, downtown
Myanmar beauty guest house, Taungoo (3b 30$), nice teak wood house overlooking rice fields and Yoma mountains. You can watch local kids setting up rat traps in the rice field so they can bring rats home for supper. everybody sits on the big wooden table for breakfast, served by Dr Chans mother and uncle, lot of fresh fruits.
Moonlight guest house, Thazi (3b 15$) room was OK for one night, close to train station; there is one more guest house near by
In Mandalay we stayed at Sedona hotel walk in rate 100$ (double with extra bed), excellent buffet breakfast, big swimming pool, entertainment show in the evening. Only hotel in Mandalay that accept credit card payment for room and food/beverages.
Myanmar trip part2
Really good and informative report.
Ngapali and Yangon hotels were busier over New year- maybe 50%+ occupancy but by mid January had dropped considerably.
In spite of the politics, we need tourism to return to Myanmar,all the small businesses and hotel workers desperately need our $%26#39;s.
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