Myanmar Travel Hacks

As I write this blog article, I am happily back in Manila from my holiday escapade in Myanmar. Out of this world journey I say. I’ve seen and experienced a completely different culture–just absolutely different from the culture what I’ve been accustomed to. There were good and bad new experiences. I write this article based on how I think you can brilliantly travel lessening the hassle in Myanmar. My friend and I spent our holidays in four different cities and each city offered different beautiful sights. One thing I would like to highlight about this trip is the Myanmar locals. I’ve been to so many different countries, so many different cities, and only in Myanmar I experienced the genuine kindness of the people, young and old, they go out of their way to help others.

Now, let me give you some travel hacks if you plan on going on a trip to Myanmar soon!

• Bring wet wipes – if you plan on exploring every single pagoda in Myanmar, you have got to bring wet wipes with you. Pagodas, temples, stupas and monasteries are considered a sacred place. Hence, you will have to walk barefoot when visiting these spots. Wet wipes at the end of your temple visits will come handy!
• Bring alcohol – one of the things I struggled with when I was in Myanmar was keeping my hands clean. I tried purchasing rubbing alcohol at major convenience stores but it wasn’t available. How surprising is that?
• Bring a mosquito repellant – A friend of mine who visited Myanmar not too recently got bitten by a mosquito and ended up in the hospital and paid heaps on hospital bill
• Bring a nice pair of slippers – or you can buy local slippers for 3,000 – 5,000 kyat. Since we did temple hopping, which indicates numerous times of removing foot wear, I find it easier to wear slippers. But any shoes or footwear that can be easily removed is highly recommended.
• Pre-book your bus tickets – especially if you are booking with JJ Express. JJ (Joyous Journey) Express is a popular bus ride company for foreigners and locals. This company has garnered a good name. Hence, expect full booking during high peak season (December 24-January 1). My friend and I never had the opportunity to experience JJ Bus Ride, only the local bus companies available at the time; I will be indicating the name of bus companies in the Fare Ticket Comparison table. I will also be including the bus ticket prices for reference. For the actual photos of seats, and amenities we got, I shall make another blog post . You can purchase JJ Express bus tickets online; here is their website: https://www.jjexpress.net/

 

Joyous Journey Express Bus ticket costs more than the bus companies we’ve tried.

Fare Ticket Comparison
JJ Express	Other Local Buses
YANGON to BAGAN  = 19 USD / 25, 650 KYAT (FIRST CLASS aka VIP)	YANGON to  BAGAN = 13.70 USD / 18,500 KYAT (FIRST CLASS aka VIP) Bus Company Name: Min Thar Bus Express
BAGAN to MANDALAY = 7 USD / 9,450 KYAT (Super Seat)	BAGAN to MANDALAY =  6.67 USD / 9,000 KYAT (Super Seat) Bus Company Name: Moe Tuk or Thout Htun Express
MANDALAY to NYAUNG SHWE = 11.9 USD / 16,065 KYAT (FIRST CLASS aka VIP)	MANDALAY to NYAUNG SHWE = 10.74 / 14,500 KYAT (FIRST CLASS aka VIP) Bus Company Name: Shin Thit Sar Bus Express
NYAUNG SHWE to YANGON = 18.5 USD/ 24, 975 KYAT (Super Seat)	NYAUNG SHWE to YANGON = 14.81 USD / 20,000 KYAT (Super Seat) Bus Company Name: Full Moon Express
Conversion Basis $ 1 = 1,350 KYAT

• If you weren’t able to pre-book your bus tickets, that is absolutely fine. But whenever you buy bus tickets, buy them ahead of time—at least a day ahead. Ask the front desk reception if they can book bus tickets for you. Most of the hotels we’ve stayed at booked our bus tickets.

We are just so fortunate Myanmar locals are so kind to help us with purchasing. Aung-Aung (Auh-Auh), our first local tour guide, informed us about how and when we should purchase bus tickets. Well, on a Tuesday (December 26) we were supposed to leave for Bagan and Aung-Aung tried to contact all ticketing centers for bus tickets but to no avail. He then asked us if we could cut our tour time from 7:30pm to 3:30 pm so we could head to the main bus station and try to find for any trip cancellations. He really tried so hard to get us bus tickets. He tried to phone all his contacts and haggled the bus ticket prices for us. I can never forget his words when he got those bus tickets. He said, “I do it for you.”

• Download Grab & Uber Application—some taxi drivers cannot converse in English well. Hence if you try to tell them your destination, they won’t completely understand you. These applications will make both of your lives, you and the driver, easier. Grab Taxi requires cash payment, whilst Uber accepts card and cash payment. The fare price is relatively inexpensive (versus the fees I paid when I used Uber & Lyft in New York. Four days in New York, travel expenses summed up to almost $200). I utilized these applications numerous times when I was in Yangon.
• Bring moisturizer and sunblock – Myanmar locals utilize Thanaka for facial skin protection. You’ll probably want to try it. I personally tried it. We were doing window shopping at Bogyoke Aung San Market when our tour guide, Aung-Aung, took us to this store that sells various types of thanaka and the store lady had the thanaka paste applied on my face. The thanaka experience was pretty interesting but the scent didn’t earn me as a fan. I had it removed after a while. The idea of walking around the city with a thanaka patch on my face is just unordinary for me. I personally prefer moisturizer and sunblock. The climate in Myanmar is almost the same as in the Philippines – tropical monsoon. The season from February to May is hot and dry; May to October is the rainy season; November until February is the cool and dry season. We visited in between December to January. We went to four different cities and each city had different weather temperature. In Yangon, the weather gets really hot during day time. In Bagan, the weather gets really cold (17 Celcius) in the morning and warms up in the afternoon. In Mandalay, same in Bagan, the temperature drops in the morning.
• Bring a jacket & neck pillow – this really came handy for me since we had been traveling by land to transfer from one city to another and land travel takes a long time, 5-13 hours. Although some bus companies provide neck pillow and blanket, I still prefer my personal stuff. The blankets provided on our first VIP Bus Ride didn’t smell fine.
• Get a local sim card with data – Please make it sure that your smart phone is unlocked. Prior to leaving the arrival area, we purchased a local sim card at the airport from OOREDOO. OOREDDO has various internet packages from 6MB to 15GB. Since we are staying in Myanmar for couple of days, we got a pre-paid sim card with 8.5 GB Internet package loaded up with 1500 kyat that is good for a month . We only paid 15,500 kyat ($11.50 or P574.07). Is having internet advisable? I would say yes. Having internet 24/7 made our lives easier! We could book grab / uber any time. We could make phone calls. We could check local restaurants. I could make changes in my hotel reservation. I can do additional hotel bookings whenever, wherever.

The smartphone you have will basically work as a personal hotspot provider. When Jobelle and I were in South Korea back in 2016, we rented a wifi-pocket router and I honestly find the renting process so tedious. Why? 1. The internet company only accepts Credit Card as payment. 2. You will have to return the wi-fi pocket router after usage. I think purchasing the sim-card with loaded data is so convenient and efficient – the payment transaction is smooth and fast; there is no need to return the sim card, we basically own it.

OOREDOO INTERNET DATA PACKAGE AND SIM CARD 3G/4G SIM CARD (15,000KS) DATA PLAN FOR 1 month
DATA INCLUSION	ADDITIONAL	TOTAL COST  (AS OF 12/25/2017)
600 mb (950)	+ 1,500 (SIM CARD)	2,450 KYAT
850 mb (1,500) Cash Back (1,500)	+ 1,500 (SIM CARD)	3,000 KYAT
1,700 mb (3000) Cash Back (3,000)	+ 1,500 (SIM CARD)	4,500 KYAT
2,900 mb (5,000) Cash Back (5,000)	+ 1,500 (SIM CARD)	6,500 KYAT
5,300 MB (9,000) Cash Back (9,000)	+ 1,500 (SIM CARD)	10,500 KYAT
8.5 GB (14,000)	+ 1,500 (SIM CARD)	15,500 KYAT
12 GB (19,500	+ 1,500 (SIM CARD)	21,000 KYAT
15 GB (24,500)	+ 1,500 (SIM CARD)	26,000 KYAT

• You can plan your local tour with the hotel front desk staff. The hotels where we stayed have their own small travel agency. The tours arranged always come with a personal driver and a comfortable car. Your personal driver is somewhat your local tourist guide. In Bagan, we stayed at Thazin Garden Hotel and the front desk people were so nice to assist us with our Bagan Tour. Although drivers have a typical tourist route they follow, you can modify your tour. If you want to skip a certain destination and add another spot, that is absolutely fine. But just a heads up, drivers are very specific when it comes to tour time. If you informed hotel staff you want book the tour from 10:30 am – 5:00 pm, front desk still will inform the driver / car company about the planned itinerary and will also haggle the price of tour. You can plan your itinerary ahead of time so you can have a reference. My friend, Jobelle, planned out our itinerary for every city and I am just so thankful I traveled Myanmar with her.

The personal drivers assigned to us were all nice. I am but blown away by their patience and kindness. But never leave important valuables inside the car.

To all the personal drivers slash tour guides I had—Aung-Aung, Mr. Thun-Thun Mr. Nyi-Nyi,  Thun (young version), Mr. Ko-Min—thank you!

• Visa – I hold a Philippine Passport. Since Myanmar and Philippines are both members of ASEAN, there is no need for me to secure a visa. When going through Myanmar immigration, line up at the “ASEAN” Lane.
• Accommodation – I did a DIY Itinerary. Hence, I had to look up on my own accommodation. Book your accommodation ahead of time, most especially if you are visiting during high peak season.

I personally recommend the following websites when booking hotel accommodation:

• EXPEDIA
• BOOKING
• AGODA
• HOSTERLWORLD

I am an avid user of these websites. These websites have helped me numerous times in booking hotels & hostels. Many verified users give out honest reviews. Pictures can be so deceiving at times. You know the feeling when the hotel / hostel looks so nice in the picture but when you are actually in the accommodation, you just shake your head and say this isn’t what you paid for? I love how these online travel agents work. You can find my accommodation review on google maps and on these online travel websites as well.

Please do not forget to bring the card you used for reserving a room. The front desk staff will ask for that upon check-in.

• Currency and cash – I had my US dollars changed at the airport. At the time, the conversion was $1 = 1355 kyat. There were about three currency exchange establishments inside the airport: Currency Exchange Myanmar Agent Bank, KBZ Bank Currency Exchange, and AYA Bank Currency Change. I opted AYA Bank Currency Exchange for two main reasons:

1. There was absolutely no line

2. They had better exchange rate

AYA Bank has a very odd rule when I had my money changed:

• Bigger bills will have higher rate. A crispy $100 and $50 will get the normal exchange rate-of-the-day (thank goodness I bought dollars from bank). But if your 100 and 50 bills have a small tear, don’t look crispy, they either accept it & give you a smaller rate or they don’t accept it at all. Yup, that happened to my friend. Small bills like $ 1, 5, 10 will have lower exchange rate
• I am attaching their rate-of-the-day (picture was taken 12/25/2017 at 10:03am)

Some locals or establishment would accept USD as form of payment, some do not. In this trip, I didn’t use USD as form of payment. I paid everything in KYAT.

• Clothing when visiting sacred places – I did mention at the outset of this article that pagodas, temples, stupas, & monasteries are considered sacred. Hence, when it comes to clothing, visitors must wear respectful attire– no short bottoms, no spaghetti strap top, no one string blouse. If you plan on wearing short pants / bottoms, you can wear longyi over it (longyi is pretty much sold at every corner), or you can cover the lower half of body with a long scarf like this:

Bottoms / skirt must at least extend to the knee and tops must not reveal bare shoulders.

• Stay hydrated!
• Food – I didn’t really have the opportunity to explore full-scale Myanmar cuisine. But I do have restaurant recommendations:
  • Yangon – House of Memories
  • Bagan- Moon 2 : Be Kind to Animals

Jobelle and I are avid fan of street food but a lot of locals warned us about getting stomach sick & food poisoning. Rene, whom we met in Yangon, has been staying in the city for almost 2 months now with her three kids and husband. She shared with us her personal struggle in Yangon, which is food. They’ve been in and out of the hospital coz of food related diseases. Jobelle and I have always been the responsible travelers so we did our best to not put ourselves at risk of getting sick.

Ummm… Street Food? Anyone?

These are my travel hacks for anyone who plans on visiting Myanmar! If you think this article will and could help a fellow traveler, friend, or family, you are more than welcome to share this!

Chay-tzoo-beh!

XX

Isabelle