Curios as to whether anyone here has been to Myanmar.
If so any suggestion or ides on how to get around or for a sim card.
Trying to figure out the best way to get from Mandalay down to Old Bagan.
Travelling to Myanmar in April
myusername on 16/01/2018 - 07:42
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Only been to Mandalay and Bagan. A great place to visit! Bagan is a bit overrated IMO.
Sim card is pretty straight forward to buy. Just walk-in a shop and buy one. Prepaid plans were good value for money. No complaints there. It made me wonder why Oz does not always get it right.
I had a personal driver take me to Bagan, mainly because time was limited. I think there is a bus route from Mandalay to Bagan.
Why would one want to go to Myanmar? Just curious, as I haven't heard of this interest before.
Adventure, poverty tourism, nature hiking, coffee tasting….take your pick.
less touristy than other places.
'recently' opened up for mass tourism.
culture, adventure etc.
relatively cheap. beer can be less than 50cents.IMO sounds shit and dangerous. But OK. (y)
dasher hit the money with the reasons below.
manly because there's not a great deal of tourists there
and some of those temples look pretty cool
Spending a day exploring Bagan on an ebike was one of the most memorable travel experiences I have had. Loved it.
Since the bus trip was less than 5 hours I naturally opted for that option as a day trip since I can't sleep in an upright position. There are many minibus companies that serve that route many times a day and I booked it from my hostel which included a free-pickup to the bus station.
It was one of the most terrifying bus trips I've encountered. There were a lot of stops along the the way but the traffic was so bad and the driver so fast and aggressive at overtaking that I doubt the stops made a difference to the journey time. We had 100s of near-near-near misses (one that necessitated a screeching brake and sent us flying) and "only" one minor accident. Once a large group of monks were dumped 3/4 of the trip through there were only 3 tourists left on the bus including myself, all heading to Bagan. The music TV went on and the minibus drove even faster since there was less traffic (but just as many people and animals). In other countries I've only ever experienced near and near-near misses (just you know I'm not new to developing-world drivers).
Depending on the time of year (affects water levels) and the company, the boat had mixed reviews and it would have taken a bit out of my schedule so I skipped it.
The train trip was painfully slow for the distance.
BTW, I heard you can't climb up all the pagodas in Bagan anymore?
yeah this is true, the main ones you can't climb. but after spending hours riding around on the ebikes there you can find plenty of pagodas that you can get up on.
just got back from 6 weeks overseas and can confirm Myanmar is an amazing place to visit.
Bagan was awesome, no maccas, kfc, burger king or starbucks none of that crap.
i highly recommend visitng this amzing country and experiencing what it has to offer.
i've never met so many people that were 'awake' to the ways of the world.
Heaps of dodgy airlines that aren’t toe expensive, which was more comfortable than a night bus. Air kamboza was one I used, and was cheaper to book through a street agent in Yangon from memory. I only flew from Yangon to bagan though