Holiday in Myanmar.

[drbeach]

15 hours ago, sunnyboy2018 said:

The teaching of english was banned in 63 and did not really start again till the middle 90s

I've heard that too and it does explain a lot. About the only good English speakers are people working in the tourism industry, in 4 and 5 star hotels and university educated people. I've dealt a lot with all these groups. Elsewhere, English is basically non-existent. If you know Thai, you can get by to some extent throughout eastern Shan state and southern and eastern Myanmar since you'll find a large number of Thai speakers (former migrant workers and traders). If English fails, I speak Thai and see where that gets me - usually in Kawthoung, Myeik, Dawei, Myawaddy, Tachilek, Kengtung, these places Thai is understood to a large extent (probably by at least 20-30% of the population in each of these cities).

[drbeach]

3 hours ago, phuketrichard said:

BS: price is clearly posted for trains

Example; Bagan-Mandalay 1st class

$2.90, 2nd class $1.90

There is a hotel in Myawaddy that employs a racist triple pricing policy - not sure how common this is in the rest of Myanmar:

 

locals pay 20,000-25,000 Kyat + 1250 Kyat tax

 

Chinese and Thais 35,000 Kyat

 

Farang and others 49,600 Kyat (US$32, based on the exchange rate)

Edited September 4, 2019 by drbeach

[drbeach]

14 hours ago, tingtongfarang said:

I had quite the opposite experience on my 2 trips there, I found it very awkward not being allowed to change money as the family around me insisted i was their guest and that's how it works,

I did notice many signs with foreigner prices but again i was not allowed to get involved, Also signs at many attractions with a sign saying how much it cost to take a camera inside but only in english, some family member would take my camera and put it in their bag then return it after passing the entrance.

That's what happens in every country where there is dual pricing and you are travelling with locals who invited you as their guest. They feel embarrassed about this policy and do their best to ensure you aren't charged [too much] even if the only thing they can wrangle themselves out of is the additional camera fee.

[Mahseer]

55 minutes ago, drbeach said:

There is a hotel in Myawaddy that employs a racist triple pricing policy - not sure how common this is in the rest of Myanmar:

 

locals pay 20,000-25,000 Kyat + 1250 Kyat tax

 

Chinese and Thais 35,000 Kyat

 

Farang and others 49,600 Kyat (US$32, based on the exchange rate)

Welcome to Asia. It's common practice here for double/triple tier pricing and here in Thailand there has just been a ruling that government hospitals now charge 25% more for farangs so suggest you take it as it is or vacate. Don't get me wrong I would love to pay less for everything but as it's not an option I'll take it in my stride admittedly due largely to lack of choice.

 

Worst double pricing I've seen? Lahore Fort, Pakistan cost 50x for me and it was <deleted>. Oh well. Back to Burma I find the country generally affordable so will continue to visit.

 

safe travels folks.

[phuketrichard]

6 hours ago, Mahseer said:

Welcome to Asia. It's common practice here for double/triple tier pricing and here in Thailand there has just been a ruling that government hospitals now charge 25% more for farangs so suggest you take it as it is or vacate. Don't get me wrong I would love to pay less for everything but as it's not an option I'll take it in my stride admittedly due largely to lack of choice.

 

Worst double pricing I've seen? Lahore Fort, Pakistan cost 50x for me and it was <deleted>. Oh well. Back to Burma I find the country generally affordable so will continue to visit.

 

safe travels folks.

Angkor Wat locals; FREE
Non Khmer; $37/day

 

I have come across a few hotels in Burma in my travels, (been to around 30 cities now) that have a local price and non local price, but not to often.

 

It is what it is and have never let it bother me.

 

 

[tifino]

just stumbled onto an interesting channel (EatSleepYangon) on YouTube

 

wouldn't have minded stumbling over May either!

 

 

 

Notes of Nomads is another channel:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[drbeach]

On 9/4/2019 at 7:19 PM, phuketrichard said:

Angkor Wat locals; FREE
Non Khmer; $37/day

 

I have come across a few hotels in Burma in my travels, (been to around 30 cities now) that have a local price and non local price, but not to often.

 

It is what it is and have never let it bother me.

 

 

I understand it's not just a few hotels, but most hotels in Myanmar that employ dual pricing. You probably just aren't aware of this. It's better hotels (4 and 5 star) that don't employ dual pricing. In some towns, there are dual pricing and non-dual pricing options. Case in point - Hotel Mindat in Chin state charges foreigners twice what it charges locals, but most of the guesthouses in Mindat offer the same price to all and are of superior quality.

 

What got to me in Myawaddy wasn't the fact that particular hotel charges foreigners more than locals (a practice I have known about since the first time I visited the interior of Myanmar in 2004) but that it decided to charge select nationalities (Thais and Chinese) less than all other foreigners. In other words, they really don't want to welcome foreigners who are not Chinese or Thai. Then again, they rarely do since the hotel is far away from the bridge and doesn't have a license to accept foreign guests in the first place. Of course I didn't stay and ended up going to my usual hotel there, which, although it also employs dual pricing charges all foreigners regardless of nationality 10,000 Kyat more than locals. Whereas the aforementioned hotel charges non-Chinese and non-Thais twice what they charge locals.

 

The practice of dual pricing at Burmese hotels used to be almost universal during the old days when foreigners were required to pay all hotel bills, with rare exceptions like in Tachilek, in US dollars. Nowadays it's still very common but depends where you go.