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This is a brief schedule of our trip in Myanmar including comments on hotels, transports, prices and some restaurant recommendations. We hope it may be useful for those who are planning a trip to this stunning country!!
Day 1:
Arriving at YANGON in the evening. Hotel Motherland Inn 2. 16$/room. Shared bathroom, very basic. Room nice, clean, small. A little bit noisy. Dinner at Monsoon restaurant. Very good. Not very cheap. Rather elegant, but good food.
Day 2:
Exchanging money. Compare prices btw your hotel, the travel agency behind Strand Hotel and the market (note that the market is closed on Mondays).
BAGO (aprox 1h bus drive). Bago Star hotel. 16$/room. Nice and clean bungalows. Swimming pool. Good food. We hired two motorbikes with driver for the whole afternoon. Sightseeing fees + bikes for 10.000K. Massage in a terror movie house for 5.000K/pax.
Day 3:
Private taxi from Bagoo to the Golden Rock (do not do it on bike!). 60.000K/car. 3h drive one way. Apparently you can also take a public bus. Truck from the base camp to the Golden Rock 1.500K if you sit in the backside (30-45min). 3.000K if you sit in the front (trust me, it's
woth it). Trekking 1h. Take water with you, pretty steep.
Night bus from Bago to Meiktila (6-7h, leaving at 20h, arriving at 2.30am). 15.000K/pax. Bus from Meiktila to Kalaw (aprox 5h-but feels much more than that, leaving at 5.30 and arriving at 10.30). 8.000/pax. Try to sit in the first row next to the driver.
Day 4:
KALAW: Private car to Pindaya Caves (2h drive one way, 30.000K/car). Beautiful landscape. Parami hotel in Kalaw. Nice clean. 16$/room. Dinner at Thazin Patio View Restaurant. Run by a 88year old man. Really nice. Very good food. Do not hesitate to go!! Take the stairs in front of the Winner hotel on the main road, then turn left. 100m on the right.
Days 5-6:
KALAW-INLE LAKE TREKKING (2days, one night). Organised with Joseph Andrews. Really nice. Seemed to be the most honest one (joe3638@gmail.com). Loved the trekking, loved our guide (pronounced Taan To), loved the food. 10.000K/pax/day, 15.000K taxi drive to departure point, 15.000K boat trip to Nyaungshwe (main town next to Inle Lake) and 8.000K for luggage transport. 2.000K donation to buddhist monastery where you sleep.
Day 7:
INLE LAKE (Nyaungshwe). Bright hotel. Nice and clean. 16$/room. With Horizon
travel agency boat trip to the very south of the lake and several stops on the way up. 20.000K/boat. Dinner at Star restaurant (next to post office). Wood owen. Amazing pesto pizza!
Day 8:
Half day bicicle rental (1000K/bike) in order to go to the hot springs. Really nice views. Did not go to the hot springs, but had a drink at the Hu Pin Hotel. Amazing views over the lake.
Flight from Heho to Mandalay at 16h. 45$/pax.
MANDALAY
Take 'public' taxi (shared minivan) from the airport (4.000K/pax). It takes a little bit more time, but is much cheaper than a private taxi.
Royal Guest House. 12$/room. Fan and shared bathroom. Very warm at night, but amazing staff.
Too too restaurant - we did not like it. Rather expensive, small portions. Feeling of being scammed. BBB Restaurant good Western food and V Café (80th with 25th Street) has a really good coffe and 'some' ambience to have a cocktail in the evening.
Hired a tuk-tuk taxi for 17.000K for sightseeing the whole day. Boat to watch the sunset at the U Bein Bridge from the river 3.000K.
Day 9-14
Bus to BAGAN. taxi to
bus station 3.000K. Bus ticket 10.000K/pax.
Bagan Princess Hotel (not Governmental!). Really really nice. Great rooms, AC, jacuzzi, amazing beds. Swimming pool (which in Bagan is more than welcome, believe me!). Very good breakfast. Very nice and helpful staff. 33$/room.
Boat trip to see the sunset 15.000K/boat. Full day horse cart with sunrise aprox 20.000K, without sunrise 10.000K.
Restaurants: queen restaurant, very good food, very nice staff. Cheapest internet we found. San kabar: good salads. BBB: rather expensive. Do not take the mutton kebab.
Massage at Daw Aye Win Massage. 6000K/pax, but a really nice experience. A very different way of giving massage (oil massage, but with tiger balm), in a bamboo hut. Worth going.
Day trip to Mt Popa. Taxi for 5pax was US$50. Nice views. Local tourism. Not really worth paying the taxi if you are on your own.
Check out the market in Nyaung U.
Day 15:
Flight to Yangon US$75. Visit Shwedagon Paya at night.
Day 16:
Flight to Bangkok. US$10 departure tax.
Budget: for this 15 day trip in Myanmar, we managed to stay just under 500€, which we first exchanged into $ back in Spain (aprox
US$670). Out of these, we exchanged US$450 in Yangon for a rate of US$1 to 780K. It was a bad change, but couldnt find a better one. Apparently in the market and in a travel agency behind the Strand Hotel you may be more lucky. In general we stayed in basic places, except for in Bagan which was over our initial budget, but really worth it. We also bought souvenirs. You can cut the budget down, but do not expect to find a very cheap country...
Xox Ani & Viky
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