MYANMAR FEB 2016

 

MYANMAR FEB 2016

Myanmar Feb 2016

23 Feb to 3 Mar 2015

Overview

My first planned visit to Myanmar was a private tour in October 2012. This holiday was cancelled due to the passing of my mother. It was fully paid but managed to recover the cost by insurance. This time I had sufficient information to do it on my own.

Myanmar or Burma is always an intriguing place from books and write up. Formally a colony of Britain, it has rich culture and history. The people are diversified with many ethnic minorities. These few years, the military dominated the limelight most of the time, always with negative news. The country has vast untapped resources and the development is lagging far behind its neighbours. It also had wonderful nature. What we saw and witnessed in Myanmar was a eye opener. The experience was very enriching.

During the 10 days in Myanmar, we only had enough time for Lake Inle, Bagan and Mandalay. Between those cities, we travelled on domestic flights as the road condition was poor and time consuming. Between Bagan and Mandalay, we sailed on river ferry cruise to enjoy the romanticism of Irrawaddy River. In each city, the sightseeing was self guided but outside the cities we joined local tours. We walked, rode on horse cart, rode on small river boat and on car.  All of our accommodations were booked through Agoda in Singapore.

 

                                                        At Yangon Airport

At Lake Inle Heho Airport

From Yangon to Lake Inle, we flew on Myanmar National Airline and from Lake Inle to Bagan,Mandalay to Yangon we flew Air KBZ. All these air operators use propeller driven ATR72 commuter planes. We flew on SIA to Yangon.

 

                                         Arriving at Bagan Nyaung-U Airport

The airports in Lake Inle, Heho airport and in Bagan, Nyaung-U are the most rudimentary. Luggages were manually offloaded and loaded on push cart. The plane parked very close to terminal building. In Heho, the engines were running with just 15 minutes transit. It was like a car taxi stop.

The river journey from Bagan to Mandalay was operated by Malikha Irrawaddy River Cruise.

 

                                                Milikha Ferry

The ferry jetty has no proper pier and wooden planks were used as gangway to get up and out of the ferry. Luggage were carried by human porters on shoulders and walked over narrow planks.

Disembarking the ferry at Mandalay pier

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In the town, we rode on horse cart. It was uncomfortable but the experience is enriching.

On the lake and river, we travelled by boats

                                                                           

In Lake Inle we stayed in Yar Pyae Hotel. In Bagan city, we stayed in Crown Prince Hotel and Royal Bagan Hotel and in Mandalay, it was Shwe Ingyinn Hotel.