Myanmar - Miến Điện

A large country located westernmost of the South East Asian region, Myanmar (also called Burma) provides visitors with its wealthy history and cultures. The country has recently opened the door to the world after some decades of being economically blockaded.

The sudden opening has lead to the fact that Myanmar becomes one of the best destinations for tourists who want to witness changes this Asian country could manage. Others love to explore the Buddhist nation to understand their culture by visiting thousands of golden pagodas. It 's quite safe to navigate this country, even for solo travelers.

To visit Myanmar, most of us fly to Yangon international airport in the former capital before taking night buses to other famous sightseeing destinations including Mandalay, Inle lake, Bagan, etc... Other visitors could enter on land from India, Thailand, Laos, China or even Bangladesh. Just a note that it would be extremely costly if you enter on land with your own vehicle (car, motorbike) since you would need to have your whole trip previously arranged and escorted by a guide plus a Myanmar Tourist Committee member.

ATTENTION:

1. Kyat is Myanmar currency but you can use USD too, and paying with Kyat is cheaper. However, from my experience, they would not accept any USD notes that have been folded, even a tiny fold at a corner of the notes. I would then bring brand-new 100-USD notes to Myanmar and exchange them to Kyat at the airport or currency exchange shops.

2. There were not many ATMs in Myanmar, particularly in small towns. Not all hotels accepted credit cards.

3. When entering a pagoda, it 's obligatory for visitors to leave your footwear (shoes, sandals, even socks...) at the entrance. Thus, it 's advisable that you bring a pair of flip-flop with you. I brought a pair of flip-flop that did not look like other's so I could find them easily after a pagoda visit.

4. Dress politely, with trousers / skirts that cover your knees or you can't enter any pagoda unless you buy a longyi (traditional local costume) to cover your own "too short" clothes.

5. You can get free WIFI for, say, 29 minutes for EACH device, at Yangon airport. If you think you need to stay more than 30 min at this airport and you have two devices or more, I would just log in the WIFI with ONE device at a time, after 29 minutes, with another one. Then you can surf the web longer, since after 29 minutes the logged-in device would be "memorised" and unable to re-log in.

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Myanmar has been one of my favourite destinations that I have explored three times.