I'm hoping to visit the country soon and wondered if anyone has been there and what their thoughts are about the country.

I've gathered that the people are friendly, heard the women are beautiful, and interested in seeing a new democracy in the making.

It hasn't exactly been a tourist destination so I'm concerned about lodging, restaurants, and anything else you may be able to add, including how the military views tourists with white skin.

Thanks!

I to am curious about info regarding Myanmar, as I was set on going a few years back and would go in a heartbeat, if it wasn't for the spotty and sparse internet connection. A ton of serious meditators have been going to Burma for decades now (even during the civil tension years) and has been a long destination of mine. OP, I think you will have to carry a substantial amount of monies on you, as, if I am not mistaken, the ATMs are pretty sparse...

women are definitely the most beautiful and smart and lovely in southeast asia.

actually the only ****able ones in the region

i think there's ATM's everywhere in yangon now. previously you had to carry all your funds with you and they needed to be in crisp US dollar bills.

Is Rambo an icon there?

As far as cultural experiences go, Myanmar is awesome. It's probably my favorite country. Unless you need constant wifi for some reason, there is absolutely no reason no to visit. (plenty of ATMS now, but they're still kind of anal about having crisp bills to exchange) It's gotten on the map in the last few years as a tourist destination, but the vast majority of tourists just go to the 'big 4', which is Yangon, Mandalay, Bagan, and Inle Lake.

I was there two years ago, I flew into Mandalay from Bangkok. From there I took the bus to Bagan. It's seriously an amazing place. Lots of tourists, but if you rent a bike or scooter, wake up at 5am and hit one of the temples and watch the sunrise and then you'll basically have the place to yourself for the next couple of hours. Amazing experience. I did it all three morning when I was there and it was so worth it. All the temples are packed with tourists for sunsets.

From there I took a bus to Schwebo, which is a nice little town that is along the traintracks. People in this town were incredibly friendly. I traveled with a group of high schoolers who wanted to work on their English and they took me around by motorbike to all the temples and sights around town. Ended up having dinner with another random local who spoke good English and wanted to talk politics.

From there I took the train north. I went to a place called indawgyi lake, which is like a 2 hour ride on top of a truck over super bumpy dirt roads. There's one guesthouse there and they get about 1 tourist per day. The lake is gorgeous, you can take a kayak out into the middle of the lake where there is a gorgeous temple. It takes all day to get there and back though. You can watch all the fishermen out on their boats around sunset. You can also ride a bike around and odds are you will be invited into someone's home for tea or food at least a couple of times. People are just insanely friendly. Loved this place.

From there I went back to the train and took it up to a city called Myitkyina. It's about as far north as the government will allow you to go. It's not the most exciting city, but you'll get to hear all about the civil war that's still going between the government and the Kachin State rebels (where Myitkyina is located)

From there I took a 4 day boat trip back to Mandalay, which is interesting albeit somewhat boring. 2 days on a boat enough for me I think. But I did love the towns we spent the nights in. I could watch daily life in Myanmar endlessly. All the men in the Longyi's, when with their thanaka bark painted on their faces. It's just an extremely fascinating country.

After that I went to Inle lake, which is also super touristy. Everyone does the boat trip on the lake, which I kind of hated. But I did like renting a mountain bike and hitting all the small towns along the lake. In some of them you can get someone to paddle you in a little boat through the floating villages, which was cool as hell.

So anyway, I guess that was much longer than I planned on writing, but seriously myanmar is awesome and you will enjoy anywhere you go there!

Also, I had no negative experiences with the military. There will be some checkpoints where you have to show your passport to proceed. And there are a couple of places where they tell you that you can't go any further when you get to outskirts of certain cities (which you should already know ahead of time) But no animosity or anything like that.

hahaha if there was ever a movie to convince citizens of USA#1 not go to Myanmar...

Nice post, cardshark

I would go in 3 months time, but I need a guarantee of a stable internet and at least a speed of 3-4 Mbs... Anyone know if that is an option over there, or has the wifi not yet reach such speed?

to be honest I know nothing about internet speeds, but I'm pretty sure Myanmar is one of the worst countries in the world to rely on any type of stable wifi. Unless you're staying in some really nice hotels, you're probably going to be out of luck. 2 years ago, if the internet connection was fast enough to browse the internet, i was very content.

OK, that is what I figured, thx. It will have to be another time then...

you would have no problems in Yangon or Mandalay !

its really an awesome country !

You mean for the internet connection? I don't suppose you did a speedtest while you were there, did you? Or if anyone happens to go there and wants to post ITT how Mbs the internet can get you there... I really would want to go visit for a few months...

avoid the regions in the Shan/Katchin state where they are actively bombing the villages in an attempt to genocide the peoples.

Mega bump

Gonna spend two nights on Yangon, any recommendation on what area to stay?

Wanna experience the city life more than anything, parks, street food, interesting neighborhoods and buildings, etc, don't really care much about pagodas or temples.

A few months ago I was at the Bestwestern Chinatown hotel.

great location.

19th Street in chinatown, just a short walk from the hotel is the street food place to be, some amazing burmese bbq on that road.

Like pagodas or not, it would be almost criminal not to go to Yangon and not see Shwedagon pagoda.

Download Grab app which is basically like uber for getting around cheaply.

2nd the grab or uber advice, the taxis charge double.

Really cool city, you'll have fun!

What's better USD or Thai Baht?

ATMs dispense the local currency or USD like in Cambodia?

The 1st time I went about 5 years ago I had to change my baht at an Indian jewellery store. Last time I went maybe 2 years ago the money changers at the airport were closed at night and my host took me to some govt ran currency exchange.
I would hope ATM's are online now but you better Google that ****

No problem using ATMs which gave out local currency. Just make sure you dont have any left over NO ONE wanted it anywhere else I went in asia and it was basically unchangeable..

If you have USD use USD, no point suffering through a double exchange. As with other places in asia like cambodia, make sure they are FLAWLESS bills, without even a single tiny rip or tear in them, ideally not much in the way of a fold line either.