Any place you go is going to have crime, but we felt very safe there. We wandered around with our large DSLR cameras late at night a few times (both in Bagan and in Yangon) and nobody bothered us. It’s actually a huge deal there to take care of tourists and treat them well. If you’re going to flash around expensive jewelry or large amounts of cash, you may find yourself in some trouble, but otherwise you should be fine. We didn’t see any civil unrest while we were there, but my advice would be to check the news for anything unusual going on. If you find yourself near a protest or anything political, leave the area immediately. Don’t take pictures and don’t linger.

Yes, we brought home several sand paintings. We rolled them all together and that made a firm enough tube shape that the paintings weren’t damaged. I’d recommend taking a tube or something solid to put the painting in if you’re just going to get one or two. I think we bought eight or nine as gifts.