If you are interested in going to Mindat, here is a guide. You cannot go there direct from Yangon. First, go to Pakokku, a big city on the west bank of Irrawaddy (Ayarwaddy). To go to Pakokku, you have two options. One is the direct bus trip to Pakokku from Yangon. The buses are...
If you are a foreigner, and coming to Myanmar (Burma) for the first time, you will find yourself in a completely different world. And the first daunting task would be to go to your hotel. If you have already arranged with your travel agent to pick you up at the airport, everything would be...
In Myanmar, if you want to be seen polite, you should be able to use proper title when you address somebody. Burmese use appropriate titles and pronouns when addressing each other. When you are talking to an elderly male, you should put “U” (pronounce Oo) in front of his name. Thus, Mr. Ba becomes...
When you meet a friend in an English speaking country, you say “Hi”, or “How are you?”In Thailand, you say “Sawaddee”. In Myanmar, you usually say either “where are you going?” Quite strange, right? In Myanmar, we don’t have an informal phrase or expression to be used as a greeting. The famous phrase “Mingalar...
Myanmar is a country of people with deep rooted custom and religion. For a westerner visiting Myanmar, there are a number of things that they need to observe. Some of the Myanmar etiquette rules may be strange for westerners. However, if you follow some simple rules, your stay in Myanmar will be happier. Myanmar...
One of the places that you must pay a visit in Yangon (Rangoon) is the famous Shwedagon Pagoda. Believed to be the first padoda ever built on Earth, Shwedagon is the centre of worship and devotion for all the Buddhist in Myanmar (Burma). Myanmar (Burmese) Buddhists believe Shwedagon was built around 2,500 years ago,...
If you are planning to go to Mandalay directly from Yangon, you have three options. The most comfortable, convenient and expensive one is to take a flight. The price (for two way ticket) is more expensive than a two way ticket between Bangkok and Yangon. The second, less expensive one is to use the...
Like any other cities in the world, Yangon has a lot of taxis running the streets of the city. Unlike other cities in the world, taxis in Yangon are not metered, that means there is no meter to calculate the fare. In fact, there is not a single taxi with a meter in Yangon....
