Burma. Interesting Places On 12 Day Tour?

[markg]

Thinking of heading to Burma for 12 - 14 days touring.

Will be travelling from Phuket.

Want to see a bit of Yangon, Bagan and Mandalay. Want to see some cultural sites but also go to places that have at least some nightlife !

ANy other suggestions on good places to visit? What about travel between these places? Is it feasible to travel between them by public bus or rail ?

If i fly into Yangon do i have to leave by Yangon too back to Phuket?

The visa situation on the air Bagan website is not clear. It says you have to apply for the visa from a Burmese consulate, then under that it gives you the forms to download for Visa On Arrival - so i am confused !

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Halfaboy]

There is no more VOA. This was introduced last year (I think) November but it only lasted for one month. Now you can apply a visa at the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok. Same day processing is 1200 Baht, next day 1000 Baht and after one more day 800 Baht (or something like that). Go to the Embassy, fill in the form. Usually rules might have changed w.r.t. i.e. passphoto etc. No problem staff is very helpful to assist. After handing in the form you get your visa at 15.00 hours if the day agreed (see above).

Travelling to Yangon should be done by plane. From there on there are usually a number of options. First option is plane, then there are also options as bus, taxi, rental cars and trains. If you are in a time squeeze just decide to fly.

Nightlife is available in Yangon and Mandalay. At other places it might be there, but not so visible. Outside the ‘touristic’ spots (Mandalay, Bagan, Heho etc) you could go and visit Sittwe and M-Rauk-U. These places are located in western direction (roughly halfway Yangon – Bangladesh). Another option is to travel from Mandalay in the northeast direction to i.e. Lashio. Take some time and enjoy the country side.

Traveling between cities (see can be done by boat (Sittwe – M-Rauk-U) or cars (Mandalay in the direction of Lasio). However in these places there is hardly any nightlife (except for Lashio itself which has a KTV close to the golfcourt).

Prepare your trip well as there are no ATM machines, no banks to change money, GSM is not working, credit carsd not (or hardly) accepted etc., but it is really worth the effort.

Have a nice trip.