Is is safe to visit Myanmar as a tourist

[jimster]

On 10/12/2017 at 7:41 PM, simon43 said:

 

 

 

No, not new at all.  Almost all roads in and around Naypyidaw are 'toll roads' for lorries, with either a barrier that is dropped down, or a toll kiosk for the larger roads, or police standing by the side of the road.

 

Motorbikes can drive around the barriers without payment, but the police who man those barriers will stop a foreigner and check their passport.  I am stopped every Saturday at the same checkpoint and my passport photo 'verified' against the photo that the police officer has on his phone (he snapped a copy of my passport some months ago).

 

If I go down a new road, I have to show ny passport and my school ID photo, and explain where I am going and why (I often have these details written down in Myanmar language).

 

The new police check points are typically near to the shopping centres, and were implemented a few weeks ago after the increase in tension in Rakhine - there is some concern that Naypyidaw and Yangon and Mandalay could be targets for terrorism

 

But at  all these police checks, the officers have been friendly and smiling!

 

Phuketrichard is quite correct about the hotels. When I plan a trip into Shan or Kayah State I have to check hotels on booking.com to ensure that they allow foreigners to stay - this makes it rather difficult to travel into east Shan or Kayah near the Thai border because there seem to be no hotels with a foreigner licence....

I think you've missed my point - I usually travel to Myanmar overland, via the Mae Sot-Myawady crossing. I have stayed in Myawady, more and more hotels there have a licence to accept foreigners. Prior to 2013, none of them did. In Hpa-an all hotels of interest to tourists will accept foreigners. Ditto for Mawlamyine. In eastern Shan State, you can stay in Tachilek, Kengtung and Mong La without issues - plenty of hotels in these cities where foreigners are allowed to stay. In general, I always book hotels in advance, of course all hotels bookable online allow foreigners to stay. In all these places there may be hotels that don't accept foreigners BUT none of them are very good and i doubt you would run across hotels without a licence as your first choice.

 

As I've said, unless you are wanting to stay in a really way out of the way place or in a very cheap hotel, you won't have any troubles finding a place to stay in Myanmar. The licence issue is a non-issue - more and more hotels are being built these days so I don't understand why anyone would bring it up. The vast majority of tourists don't even know this is an issue because they all stay in hotels popular with other tourists.

 

I've been to Naypyidaw numerous times sometimes with other foreigners - they never checked my passport at the toll checkpoints though they could have.

[simon43]

 of course all hotels bookable online allow foreigners to stay.

 

(Sigh..), not always true.

 

I use booking.com to find and book hotels, and there are hotels which indicate that they are for Burmese only.  For example, when I looked for a hotel in Loikaw, Shan State, I couldn't stay at this hotel https://www.booking.com/hotel/mm/myat-noe.en-gb.html because it is only for Burmese. It can be booked online, but not by foreigners.

 

But I appreciate that your comments refer to the 'tourist trail' areas in Myanmar, not those areas which are a little off the beaten track.

 

Today, when I went for a cycle ride in Naypyidaw, I was stopped by some army guys and turned back from my usual Sunday ride.  So I rode on a main road and was stopped again by some police guys (all with smiles...).  Finally made it to the gym by a very roundabout route!

 

Yesterday I was stopped by the police at a checkpoint, when riding back from teaching at an orphanage.  Passport checked and photo taken....

 

Maybe I just have a suspicious face?

[jimster]

On 10/15/2017 at 8:32 PM, simon43 said:

 

 

 

(Sigh..), not always true.

 

I use booking.com to find and book hotels, and there are hotels which indicate that they are for Burmese only.  For example, when I looked for a hotel in Loikaw, Shan State, I couldn't stay at this hotel https://www.booking.com/hotel/mm/myat-noe.en-gb.html because it is only for Burmese. It can be booked online, but not by foreigners.

 

But I appreciate that your comments refer to the 'tourist trail' areas in Myanmar, not those areas which are a little off the beaten track.

 

Today, when I went for a cycle ride in Naypyidaw, I was stopped by some army guys and turned back from my usual Sunday ride.  So I rode on a main road and was stopped again by some police guys (all with smiles...).  Finally made it to the gym by a very roundabout route!

 

Yesterday I was stopped by the police at a checkpoint, when riding back from teaching at an orphanage.  Passport checked and photo taken....

 

Maybe I just have a suspicious face?

Oh geez...

 

Why is it that on this forum someone always has to have the last word so they can be right?

 

So you found the one hotel in Myanmar bookable online that claims not to allow foreigners? I can't understand why a hotel would be made available for booking online but not allow foreigners to stay. Very, very strange indeed and I would write a complaint to booking.com about it. Not sure they would be very happy about one of their hotels violating their terms and conditions, one of which undoubtedly would be that a hotel can't discriminate on the basis of nationality...the others being race, gender, age, etc. AirBNB also has such terms.