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Myanmar Travel Guide

Erin — Mon, 22 Feb 2016 09:58:39 +0000

Years ago, people would have hardly ever considered Myanmar when listing off dream destinations, but since the country has opened itself up to the world, it has become more and more popular as a tourist destination. We really didn’t know what to expect when we went there, so I decided to share what I’ve learned to help other people prepare for their trip. Overall, Myanmar is a really great country. It’s not as developed as the Western world, but it’s still such a fantastic place to visit. As long as you’re prepared for some of the nuances of a less-developed country with a vastly different culture, you will have a wonderful time there. BEFORE YOU GO VISA – You will need a visa to get into Myanmar. A standard single-entry tourist visa costs USD $50, is valid for 90 days and allows a trip length of 28 days. Business visas cost USD $70, are valid for 90 days and allow a trip length of 70 days. Recently Myanmar began accepting online applications for evisas. The evisa application and list of countries who are allowed to apply online can be found here. BRING EXTRA OF ANY NECESSITIES – whether it be something you NEED or something you just prefer, bring extra because finding medical items or comfort/convenience items is not always easy and will sometimes be impossible. If there is an item you MUST have or something you just won’t be happy without, bring a spare just in case. MONEY CURRENCY – The local currency is called kyat (pronounced similar to ‘chat’) and since 2012, the government is pushing for that to be used more than USD. Even so, you will still find places that will accept USD. ATMS & CREDIT CARDS – Myanmar is slowly starting to accept credit cards, but it is not widespread. ATMs are plentiful and some larger business are starting to take credit cards, but still be prepared to pay cash since most smaller shops and street vendors won’t take credit cards. MAKE SURE USD IS PRISTINE – The government won’t allow shopkeepers to trade bills with tears, smudges, creases or any type of imperfection, so the vendors will, in turn, not accept anything except a bill in perfect condition. I took all of our USD and ironed them before going on the trip and that took care of the creases and folds. Also, make sure none of your bills are older than 2006. BRING HARD CASE FOR MONEY – In order to keep your bills in mint condition, be sure to bring a flat wallet or hard case to keep the bills flat and unbent. BILL DENOMINATIONS – For exchanging at local exchange shops, you’ll want larger bills. Those get the best exchange rates. Still bring smaller bills, though, to use for tips and purchases at small shops or eateries. WHILE YOU ARE THERE DON’T DRINK THE WATER! – The water in Myanmar is not suitable for drinking. Water bottles are roughly USD .20, so it’s not too bad to have to buy water. Plus, the three hotels we stayed in were really good about giving us extra water when we left for the day, so be sure to ask your hotel for a bottle or two before heading out. LIMITED INTERNET AND CELL SERVICE – There is no public wifi in Myanmar, so if you need cell or internet service, pick up a SIM card. SIM cards are available at the airport and train stations. If you go to Bagan, you won’t have service even if you buy a local SIM card. The infrastructure of the country is still developing, so only the major cities have semi-reliable cell service. We survived 5 days only having insanely slow wifi in hotel lobbies and not having cell service at all when we were in Bagan, so it’s not hard to get by without it. REMOVE SHOES (AND SOMETIMES SOCKS) AT RELIGIOUS SITES – This is just how it is, no way around it. If you try to wear your shoes, you will be asked to either leave or go back and take your shoes off. This is a pretty big one and some people will get quite offended if you don’t respect their culture and remove your shoes before entering temples and shrines. HAGGLING IS EXPECTED – Unless you are in an actual store with posted prices, the vendors will negotiate with you. Some will drop the price quite a bit and others will only drop it a little. The higher a quantity you buy, the bigger the discount will be. Also, the more friendly and companionable you are, the more willing most of the vendors will be to lower the price. If you’re at a tourist spot and the vendor won’t negotiate, there’s most likely another vendor with similar items nearby. POWER GOES OUT PERIODICALLY – This happened to us every day we were there. Sometimes it was in the afternoon and sometimes in the evening. It was a little disconcerting to have the power go off while I was taking a shower. You may want to bring a flashlight. Sometimes the power only went off for less than a minute and sometimes it was close to 10 minutes. INSIST ON RECEIVING CHANGE IN THE SAME CURRENCY YOU PAID WITH – Since the government is pushing for the exclusive use of kyat, this may not be an issue for much longer, but it still is at the moment. If you pay in USD, make sure you are given USD in change. If they give you kyat instead of USD, you will end up being shorted. US POWER PLUGS – Every hotel we stayed at in Myanmar had US power outlets, so if you are from the US, you don’t need an adapter. If you are not from the US, bring a US-type power adapter. RELIGIOUS SITE DRESS CODE – when you visit any of the temples or religious sites, you will need to wear a shirt with sleeves (cap sleeves are fine) and longer shorts. It is offensive for you to go to their religious sites or enter their temples wearing anything that shows your shoulders or knees (men and women). Some places have cover-ups that you can purchase that are lightweight and have very pretty designs or you could bring something lightweight to throw on before going inside. SUPER DUSTY AND SMOKY – No matter where we went, it was either dusty or smoky. Or both. The locals burn weeds and other things, so you’ll smell a lot of smoke along with all the dust from it being so dry there. The rural areas are the worse, though you’ll still find the smoke and dust in the cities sometimes. If you have asthma or a breathing condition, bring an extra inhaler and/or whatever else you need to manage your condition. Face masks are a good idea, too. We wore ours several times when the dust got really bad. WEATHER – Myanmar has three seasons: hot, not too hot and hot & rainy. The best times to visit are between November and February. Those are the coolest months. We were there at the end of January and it was hot, but not too bad. Rainy season goes from May to October and the super hot time of year is March through May. COSTS FOOD – Food is so cheap there. Tourist hotspots will cost you a several dollars for a meal, but if you go to the smaller restaurants or street vendors, you can get a meal for $1-2. Bottled water is about .20 per bottle. HOTELS – Hotels vary. We got a cheap hotel in Yangon for $25 and it was okay, but the entire place reeked of cigarette smoke. We looked around town and found a place for $40 a night that was really nice and didn’t smell bad at all. In Bagan, we paid $25 a night and were happy with our hotel. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it was comfortable and the staff was really nice. TAXIS – Taxis are pretty cheap. Some use meters and some don’t, but it shouldn’t cost more than $3 to cross the entire town. If the taxi doesn’t want to use a meter, don’t agree to pay more than $3 or 3700 kyat. SOUVENIRS – It depends on the site and the vendor. Some will charge less than $1 for some items while another vendor will charge $1-2 for the same item. Sand paintings are really cool (factory-made) and cost anywhere from $8-16, though if you buy several they’ll give you a discount. BUSES – You can ask your hotel to book a bus for you and arrange for you to be picked up from the hotel or somewhere nearby. Buses that the locals ride are adequate for short distances, but for the longer-distance trips, you’ll want to splurge for the ‘VIP’ bus. That can vary from $15-20 for a 12-hour trip, but it’s worth it. The ‘VIP’ bus comes with reclining seats, televisions, blankets, AC and complimentary meals. FYI MOST SOUVENIR PAINTINGS ARE FACTORY-MADE, NOT HANDMADE – Vendors like to tell people all the paintings are hand-made, but you will find the same ones at every temple. The ones that really are hand-made will be the ones that are unique and the ones where you can see the artists painting them. PAY FOR PICTURES – One of the things we found in Myanmar was that many people who you photograph will ask for money afterwards, even if you ask for permission before. We didn’t understand this at first and a lady yelled at us when we started walking away. Once we figured out what she was upset about, we gave her some money and she was happy. Not everyone will ask for money after you take a photo, but it does happen, especially in more touristy areas. SOMEONE WATCHES YOUR SHOES, THEY EXPECT YOU TO BUY SOMETHING – When visiting temples, it is required for you to take your shoes off. Sometimes vendors will offer to watch your shoes and when you come back, they’ll insist you purchase something since they watched your shoes and kept them safe. SOMEONE GUIDES YOU SOMEWHERE, THEY WILL EXPECT YOU TO BUY/PAY/DONATE – Periodically, someone will offer to show you something ‘really cool’ at whatever tourist place you are currently at and then take you to see it. Vendors want you to purchase something from them. Kids or teens will then try to get you to donate for their schooling or some ‘official’ charity thing that they have a form for. Random adults just want you to pay them for their service. If you have money to spare, go for it. If you are on a tighter budget, it’s best to just decline their offer and say you want to look around on your own. NO NON-SMOKING ROOMS IN THE CHEAP HOTELS – Myanmar doesn’t quite have the same bad view of smoking as the US does. Even though we reserved a non-smoking room in Yangon, we ended up with a heavily smoked in room and the front desk said all their rooms smelled like that when we went to inquire about changing rooms. We found the same response at all the cheaper hotels we contacted. It wasn’t until we contacted some of the mid-range hotels that we were able to find a true non-smoking room. If you absolutely require a non-smoking room, be sure to verify with the hotel that they do indeed have non-smoking rooms. TIPS BRING WET WIPES – the floors in public buildings can be quite dirty, so if you’re in a place where you have to also take your socks off, you will probably want to wipe your feet off before putting your socks and shoes back on. Plus, it’s really hot and dusty there and the wet wipes can be a periodic refresher during the day. WEAR EASILY REMOVED SHOES OR STURDY SANDALS – Pretty much every temple you go to will require you to remove your shoes before entering, so if you plan on going...

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How to Prepare for an International Trip

Erin — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 12:00:49 +0000

With the ever-growing popularity of international travel we see more and more people visiting countries and experiencing cultures that are wholly unfamiliar to them. Some are even venturing out without fully being prepared for what they should know, what they should have and what they should be prepared to encounter. There are so many stories about people getting arrested or detained or, like me, kicked off a flight because they don’t fully understand what they’re getting into when they start their international journey. While you can never fully prepare to make those first steps into an unknown world, there are some things you can do to get prepared for your journey and make life less crazy once you’re on your way. PASSPORT This is the most important thing you will need for your journey because without it, you can’t go. It may seem like common sense that you need a passport to travel outside the US, but I’ve run across a few people who didn’t realize they’d need one to go anywhere outside North America. COST Your US passport is issued by the US government and comes in two forms: a standalone passport ($135) and an optional passport card ($30). The passport card can be used to travel to Mexico and Canada, but can’t be used to go anywhere else. For your passport application along with photo information, visit the government’s passport information page. TIME You can expect your passport in about 6-8 week from the day you turn your application in. The best time to get one is as soon as you start talking about going on an international trip, but if you want to wait, I’d recommend sending in your application 8 weeks before you leave. Anything under 5 weeks you should probably use the the expedited 8-day service, which costs an additional $60. EXPIRATION If you already have a passport, check to make sure it does not expire in the next 6 months. Some countries will not allow you to enter the country with less than 6 months validity between entrance and departure and you certainly don’t want to have your passport expire before you get back to the US. Be sure to check each country you plan on visiting to see what length they require. If you’re using a travel agency, don’t just assume they’ll do that. I heard a really sad story about a woman who planned a trip through a travel agency and wasn’t allowed to board her airplane because her passport expired in 3 months and another one where a woman arrived at her destination, but wasn’t permitted into the country because she only had 5 months left on her passport. Check and double-check this. BLANK PAGES Most countries require at least two blank pages for their exit and entry stamps, but some countries require four. It’s a good idea to check each country you plan to visit and make sure you have enough blank pages to satisfy ALL of the requirements before you leave. The US no longer adds additional passport pages, so if you don’t have enough blank pages to satisfy your entire trip, you’ll need a new passport. If you do have enough blank pages, you may want to try this trick. Since entry stamps are placed on whatever random page the clerk flips to, it’s a good idea to place sticky notes over however many blank pages you’re required to have for the length of your trip. I’ve noticed that instead of taking the time to pull the sticky note off, the clerks will just flip to another page. VISAS There are a variety of different ways to procure visas, so it’s a good idea to research what you need to do for each country you plan on visiting. Visa requirements vary from none at all to getting them in the airport to needing one at least 30 days before your departure date. Some countries (like China and Vietnam) will want to know several details about where you’re staying and how you plan to transit from one city to the next when you apply, so be sure you are familiar with the visa requirements before applying. When getting a visa prior to arrival, always check the validity date of the visa and make sure you are leaving the country before it expires. Wikipedia has a pretty good list of which countries require visas and how long they’re valid for. That can help you plan your travel dates, but don’t rely on that information entirely. Check the visa in case rules have changed or there was an error. If you plan on staying in a country longer than the visa is valid, be sure you know the visa extension procedures before you leave on your trip. BUDGET The next thing you need to do is figure out how much money you need for your trip and create a budget. You’ll need to figure out an overall estimated total for airfare, visas, exit fees, hotel charges, attraction prices, currency exchange fees, food, tips, bribes, internet access fees, SIM cards, car rentals, gas, parking, tolls, public transportation, bars, clubs, spa treatments or whatever it is you plan on doing on your trip along with travel insurance, vaccinations, pet care while you’re gone and extra for emergencies. When we first started traveling, we didn’t pay much attention to these things. We were just having a blast exploring the world. Our first trip after moving to Malaysia was a week in Thailand. The exchange rate at the time was 30 baht to $1, so any time we saw something we wanted to do or buy, we converted it in our heads and just thought, “Wow, this is so much cheaper than in the US. We should buy this.” Or, “This isn’t that expensive, we should do it.” By the end of our trip, we’d spent almost $1,000 on Muy Thai boxing matches, tuk-tuk rides, river trips, temple tours, city tours, room service and souvenirs. So, before every trip you go on, make sure you know how much it’s going to cost, what the exchange rate is and what your budget is. You can blow through a lot of money really fast if you don’t have a budget and hold yourself to it. EXCHANGE CURRENCY Once you’ve figured out how much money you’ll need for your trip, you’ll want to look into what currency you’ll need in the countries you are visiting and where to exchange your currency. A lot of people we’ve run into just exchange their currency at a bank before they depart, but this practice can actually cost you more. In Asia we found we got a better exchange rate in-country than at a bank in the US. Different banks or exchange centers have different rates, so it would be wise to do a little research and figure out where you will get the best value for your exchange. It was pretty fantastic when we were on our way back to the US and needed to exchange our ringgit for USD and found an exchange place that had a surplus of USD. The surplus pushed their exchange rate lower, so we ended up making a little bit of money off the deal. That won’t always happen, but when it does it’s pretty great. HEALTH & WELLNESS Another item people don’t pay too much attention to is health insurance while you’re traveling. Whether or not you think you’ll need it, you will want to at least look into travel insurance and travel health insurance. We were quite fortunate that the only medical emergency we had during our 13 months in Asia was in Malaysia where Troy had health insurance through his work. Had he needed to go to the hospital in any other country it would have been an insurance nightmare. If you don’t want to splurge for the international health insurance, at least look into what your current health insurance will cover while you’re traveling and see if they have the option for short-term international coverage. Whichever way you go, be sure to make copies of all pertinent documents and keep it in your suitcase. While we’re on the medical subject, I’ll give a quick tip about allergies. Not all countries have the same level of understanding about allergies and food sensitivities. Troy has asthma and is allergic to flour. We had such a hard time trying to communicate that in some countries. I finally had the epiphany to translate this information into different languages and hand those papers to servers at restaurants. Once we started doing that the level of understanding increased dramatically. If you have any type of allergy or medical issue, write up a little blurb about it, translate it into any language you may come across on your trip and make several copies to keep with you at all times. It really will make things much easier if you find you need to communicate your issue in a country that speaks limited English. VACCINATIONS & MEDICATIONS Speaking of things medical, some countries have requirements for certain vaccinations while others just recommend them. Be sure to look up which shots you need prior to starting your trip and get those as soon as possible. There are many travel medical clinics that can walk you through which vaccines you need and which are optional. I used Passport Health and they did a fantastic job of walking me through the different vaccines required for the countries we might visit and then administering the shots I decided to get. On top of getting the required vaccines for you trip, you should also speak to your medical provider about any prescriptions you need to take with you. If you need an epi pen, inhaler or any other type of limited-use emergency equipment, ask if you can get an extra or see if your doctor can recommend a reputable place to get a refill overseas. Troy lost his only inhaler while snorkeling in Thailand and while we were fortunate enough to be in a country that didn’t require a prescription for an inhaler, it could have been worse had we been in Myanmar or Vietnam. FIND THE EMBASSIES It’s always helpful to know where the nearest embassy is and how to contact them. You never know when you’ll run into an issue and need help. Keep a list on you and in your suitcase. COPY PERTINENT DOCUMENTS Once you have a passport, visa, health insurance and vaccinations you will want to make copies of all of it. Make copies of your passport information page, your visa if you already have it, your health insurance information, your shot record and the front of all credit or debit cards you will be taking with you along with the international phone numbers for each bank. You should also make up a detailed itinerary including flight numbers, hotel confirmations, activities, your international contact information, emergency contacts and US embassy information for each country you will be in. Leave one copy with someone you trust back home and take at least one copy with you to keep in the hotel safe. This is important for if you lose your passport, your bank cards get stolen, there is a natural disaster, you go missing or any other type of emergency. LAWS & CUSTOMS Another important part of preparing for international travel is becoming familiar with local laws and customs. Certain hand gestures are offensive, or even illegal, in other countries. Some countries find certain behaviors distasteful while others are more accepting. Did you know that in China it is offensive to offer to tip someone who has helped you? Or in Thailand it is offensive to sit with your feet facing a Buddha statue? And in many countries with monarchies they will be highly offended if you speak badly about their governing body. It is also against the law to speak badly about the Chinese government, for foreigners to be in the vicinity of a political protest...

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