8 Things They Don’t Tell You About Myanmar

When we saw the beautiful pictures of Bagan temples, we instantly knew that we needed to visit Myanmar. The country is emerging from decades of isolation, so it gives you a unique opportunity to experience its charm before the mass tourism kicks in. And it’s quite a sight.

Most men and women still wear traditional sarong-like garments and many apply thanaka paste to their faces (mainly women and children). Men chew betel nut, spitting the blood-red juice onto the ground as they frequent numerous street stalls and make-shift restaurants. Monks go about their day circulating the neighborhoods, accepting offerings and donations. All of this is taking place in the surrounding of thousand-year-old pagodas

Contrary to the other Asian countries we visited, there is a general feeling of ease in the Burmese air. The locals seem to be relaxed even as they cross the streets in complete disregard for the constant flow of traffic.

So here are a few things we wish we knew about before going to Myanmar…

1. Say Cheese

Myanmar still doesn’t get to see too many tourists, so you will stand out in the crowd and attract attention from the locals. People will look at you with curiosity and you’re gonna have to pose for a lot of pictures (this was the case particularly when visiting the bigger temples). More so if you’re obviously western-looking and blond. Our guess is that the taller you are, the more interesting photo object you become.

Even though these situations can be a bit awkward at times, all the locals we came across were super friendly and engaging even though they often didn’t speak a word of English.

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2. Keep Your Mosquito Repellent Close at All Times

The presence of mosquitoes in Southeast Asia is a given but the Burmese kind are on a whole other level. We were in Myanmar during the dry season and still, it was mosquito central EVERYWHERE we went. Outdoors and indoors. From the airport to buses, cars, hotel rooms, restaurants… there are literally no exceptions and you will definitely encounter them en masse.

The good news is that if you forget to stock up on the repellent before arriving in Myanmar, the local pharmacies will have you covered with our favorite brand (OFF! Bug Repellent).

3. Burmese English Might Be Difficult to Understand

The local English accent can be quite tough to understand — even within the tourism industry. On occasion, we even had problems communicating with our hotels’ receptionists.

The key is to keep on smiling and simplify your sentences as much as you can. It’s also a good idea to have pictures that can help the locals understand what you’re going on about.

That being said, every now and then somebody will surprise you by speaking perfectly polished English, so don’t give up. It happened to us a few times that particularly older people were approaching us – with their almost perfect English – wanting to welcome us to their country and have a chat. At U-Bein bridge in Mandalay, we also met a monk who said he was coming to the bridge every morning to practice his English with the tourists who frequent the place.

4. Getting Around Myanmar Is Tricky

The country is huge. Domestic flights are an option, but they are relatively expensive (around 100 USD one-way). Any other option to get around Myanmar takes time. A lot of time. To give you an idea, a bus trip between Yangon and Bagan (approx. 630km) takes a whopping 10 hours.

Depending on your route, you usually do have quite a few transport options to choose from — buses, minibuses, long-distance private or shared taxis, and sometimes even trains or ferries. Of course, there are pros and cons to all of them. We found this aspect of our Burmese adventure the most frustrating, so to save you a headache, we included an extensive domestic transport overview in our First Timer’s Guide to Visiting Myanmar.

5. Get Your Cash Ready

Entrance to major tourists sites will cost you. And some of them are not cheap at all. Here’s the quick overview of the main entrance fees we paid in March 2019, and know that all these require cash.

• Shwedagon Pagoda – 10,000 MMK  (6.60 USD) per person
• Mahamuni Pagoda – 2,500 MMK (1.70 USD) per person
  
• Bagan Archeologial Zone – 25,000 MMK (16.50 USD) per person
• Mingun Zone – 5,000 MMK (3.30 USD) per person
• Inle Lake Zone – 15,000 MMK (10 USD) per person

The entrance fees are sometimes branded as camera fees. You will need to pay those if you intend to take photos. After getting a special sticker, you can click that shutter to your heart’s content.

Another thing that might cost you, if your outfit is deemed inappropriate to visit a temple or pagoda, is renting the longyi/htamein. Some places will only requite a donation or deposit which will be returned to you as you return the garment.

6. Those Lazy-Hazy March Days

Turns out, March is not the ideal month to visit Myanmar. The air is really hazy which doesn’t make for the best visibility. It does, however, allow you to witness the most unique sunrises and sunsets. The sun turns into a giant ball of the perfect shades of oranges and reds which makes the whole show truly special.

7. Bagan’s Postcard Mafia Is Real

Numerous times, we were approached by kids trying to sell us postcards and their drawings in front of the temples. Not only the big ones but also those more remote ones where there was not a soul in sight. They were all saying the same thing so it made us suspicious.

Heart-breaking at first, we realized quickly that this is a larger-scale operation. All the children said the same few words of English.

• Very cheap, just 1,000 MMK (or sometimes 1 USD).
• If “handmade”, they will throw in the words “Pablo Picasso” to sound cute.

And they are persistent little buggers so a “no, thank you” would not discourage them right away. This seems to be a problem in most of the major tourist sites throughout Asia, so please don’t give in. Every time you support a child like that, somebody else benefits and most probably the kids are kept out of school. This is not cool and strongly discouraged, even if they look at you sadly and try to be cute.

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This trend seemed to evolve to different age groups as well. Every time we were approached by a young man on a motorbike, first, he would ask us where we wanted to go, then offered to show us to a pagoda we could climb, and eventually told us he was an artist and encouraged us to have a look at his sand paintings. Weirdly, most of the paintings looked exactly the same…

8. You Can End Up in a Hotel Room Without a Window

Well, kind of. In our first hotel in Yangon, there technically was a window but there was also a wall just outside of it. There was absolutely no daylight getting in the room and it didn’t really make for the best first impression of Myanmar.

Examine your hotel thoroughly before you make your booking and don’t be afraid to ask for a different room. In retrospect, that’s what we should have done, but communicating with the reception was a bit of a struggle and we decided to stick it out instead. All in all, Best Western Chinatown wasn’t the best choice for us but things definitely picked up after that.

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So, that’s it!

We enjoyed our Burmese adventure very much! Some places more than others, but overall we were very happy to have seen the country in its early tourism days and are looking forward to coming back in a couple of years to see what has and hasn’t changed.

If you’re researching your trip to Myanmar or you just want to know more about this unique country, check out our other articles:

• The First-Timer’s Guide: What to Know Before Visiting Myanmar
• An Essential Guide to Mandalay
• 13 Things That Might Surprise You in Bagan

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See you on the road,