Myanmar is a fascinating country. We highly recommend visiting. Visitors from the USA and Canada, as well as many other countries, can get a visa for 28 days. This post is a brief overview of how we spent our 28 days there and can give you an idea of how to build your own itinerary. We spent five days in Yangon about a year previous to our 28-day trip. Please see our post- http://ournomadicexperience.com/things-to-see-and-do-yangon/ for details of that visit. Over time, I will be creating detailed posts about specific things to see and do in each city, so stay tuned.
The former British colony of Burma, Myanmar has had a troubled past. Up until 2011, most democracies in the world either prohibited or discouraged tourism to the country. In 2011 Aung San Suu Kyi and her political party in Myanmar, the National League for Democracy, said that responsible tourism to Myanmar should be encouraged. The recent conflicts in Rakhine state involving the Rohingya minority have renewed calls for boycotts of Myanmar and tourism in many areas of the country is down.
We decided to visit Myanmar sooner rather than later in case the country becomes less stable or again becomes subject to international travel bans and boycotts. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there and found the people friendly and the sights interesting and full of natural beauty.
Both Susan and I love traveling by train. In many countries, you not only get to travel from point A to point B, but you get to experience local people going about their daily life. The trains in Myanmar are fairly basic, are quite slow, but incredibly inexpensive and a few of the routes are billed by travelers as part of the greatest train trips in the world.
Yangon – two nights
Since we had been to Yangon before, we didn’t spend much time here. Last time we were in Yangon we missed walking around the Colonial District since it was pouring rain, and we missed the cultural show at Karaweik Palace. We ended up taking in both of those things while in Yangon this time.
One of the many colonial buildings in Yangon. Not all of them have been restored, but this is a good example of one of the restored buildings.
Karaweik Palace is where a nightly cultural show is held.
One of the many dances at the cultural show. The character with the umbrella is a comedic character that we saw a few times later in parades and festivals in other parts of Myanmar.
Bago – one night
A short train trip from Yangon, about three hours, lies Bago. The main reason we wanted to stop in Bago was to see the Kanbawzathadi Palace and to break up our railway trip to Thazi. The current country of Myanmar occupies the area once held by three major dynasties and a total of about 16 different kingdoms. Bago was the capital of the Hanthawaddy Kingdom, 1287 – 1539. We visited the palace and museum and took a quick look at a couple of the other sights – the reclining Buddha and the Shwemawdaw Pagoda. I hate to say it, but impressive as they are, we had seen quite a few pagodas and reclining Buddhas, so unless they have special historical or cultural significance, pagodas, and reclining Buddhas don’t make the top of our list of things to see anymore.
Train travel is inexpensive and a great way to see the country. However, it can be a little confusing. At the railroad station, they post destinations, schedules, etc. Unfortunately, it is all in the Myanmar language. The official government railway website hasn’t been updated for about 10 years. We almost missed the train to Bago. One website gave us a departure time one hour later than the actual departure time. We thought we would arrive an hour early to make sure things went smoothly but instead arrived right at departure time. They did have pity on the foreigners and held the train for us.
From Yangon to Bago we rode in standard class. Tickets are cheap, less than a dollar for a three hour ride. They might be twice the price in first class, but still very inexpensive.
Kanbawzathadi Palace, one of the main things we wanted to see in Bago.
Sorry to say, we have gotten a little bored with reclining Buddhas. This is the Shwethalyaung Buddha. It is 180 feet long. Quite impressive, but we have seen quite a few reclining Buddhas, so they all start to look the same..
Thazi – one night
Our next point of interest was what is called the Slow Train to Kalaw or the Slow Train from Thazi. This is a very picturesque train ride through the mountains over many trestles and up and down many switchbacks on the way to Inle Lake. This route has been billed by some as one of the great train trips in the world.
The actual trip from Bago to Thazi is not that spectacular, basically twelve hours of train travel through farmland and rice paddies.
Thazi is the switching off point between two major rail lines. We spent the night at a small guesthouse, one of only two in the entire town. We got there as it was getting dark, and left at dawn to catch our train, so we didn’t get to see much. However, we have been told there is not much to see in Thazi anyway. We did have an excellent dinner at a local restaurant. I think the whole meal for the two of us cost about $3 USD.
This is the first class section of the train. The key difference is there are padded seats here versus the wooden seats in standard class. The seats may or may not recline and may be stuck in the upright or reclined position. There is a little more room here, but not a huge difference between first class and standard class. There is no air conditioning. The ceiling fans rarely worked.
Between Bago and Thazi, this is pretty much the view – lots of rice fields and other farms with the occasional village scattered in between. Quite peaceful and interesting.
Inle Lake – three nights
We really enjoyed Inle Lake and if we ever go back, we could see ourselves spending the whole 28 days there. The lake itself is a shallow freshwater lake with villages built around and on the lake itself. Technically, we stayed in Nyaung Shwe, where most of the hotels are and a quick boat ride to the actual lake. The temperatures here are relatively cool due to the elevation and it is just a nice place to hang out, relax and explore.
We did the typical things that people do in Inle Lake, hired a boat to take us around the lake and view the fishing, farming, and life on the lake. We also took advantage of the free bicycles at the hotel and cycled out to a wooden monastery and then to a cave temple. Providing free bicycles at the hotel seems to be quite common in Myanmar outside of the big cities of Yangon and Mandalay and we find it is a great way to observe daily life.
Going over one of the many trestles and bridges.
There are plenty of vendors walking up and down the aisle of the train selling snacks and drinks. However, around noon, the train stopped for about 15 minutes for a lunch stop. Various vendors set up and sell a hot lunch to take back on the train.
For centuries, people have lived in houses on stilts on the lake. The gardens are actually floating on masses or plants and weeds. Bamboo poles stuck into the muddy lake bottom keep the gardens from floating away.
I love this picture. When you take enough photos, every once and a while you get a good one. I think it shows the traditional construction quite well and the reflection of the house in the water just adds to the effect.
Unique in all the world is the use of the fibers inside a lotus flower stem to make thread to weave with. Surprisingly soft, it takes a lot of lotus stems and a lot of labor to make the thread. Here is a guy doing just that.
The standard boat tour of Inle Lake takes you around the lake to various sites. For a little extra, they will take you up the river to Shwe Inn Dein Pagoda. Believed to date back to the third century, parts of this collection of pagodas and stupas are in ruins while many new stupas and pagodas have been built and are still actively in use today.
Half of the village of Maing Thauk is on land, half of the village is in the water. This bridge is made entirely of wood and is about 400 meters (1300 feet) long.
Shwe Yaunghwe Kyaung monastery is a small wooden monastery just a short bike ride from where most of the hotels servicing Inle Lake are located. This is a working monastery. When we visited a monk was drilling a novice on his recitations. The novice looked over at Susan a couple of times, so we decided to move to another area of the temple so he wouldn’t be distracted and get in trouble.
Mandalay – five nights
Mandalay was the last capital of the Burmese empire before being annexed by the British. It is the second largest city in Myanmar and home to many temples, monasteries, pagodas and other sites. We hired a driver for two days to take us around to some of the sights that were not within walking distance and spent the rest of our time exploring on our own.
Part of the Royal Palace in Mandalay. The palace was used as a military headquarters by the Japanese during World War II and was almost completely destroyed by the Allies. It has been restored and now serves as an historical site and museum.
There are dozens of temples, pagodas, and monasteries in and around Mandalay. Some of our favorites are the wooden monasteries. I guess you can chalk it up to both of us being from the Pacific Northwest and Susan coming from a family of loggers. This is the Bargayar Monastery.
One of the many ancient structures in Mandalay.
We visited Myanmar during a school holiday. Many people during this time engage in celebrations marking the commitment of young people to become monks one day.
This is the Mahamuni image in the Mahamuni temple. It is said that only five likenesses of Buddha were made during his lifetime, this is one of them. Devoted followers place one-inch by one-inch pieces of gold leaf on the statue. Today, the statue is covered with an approximately six-inch-thick layer of gold leaf.
Kusinara Ingyin Tawya Pagoda is one of the lesser-known sights in Mandalay. Only discovered in 2006, this small pagoda consists of hallways and columns adorned with intricate carvings of leaves, lizards, and other items. It is uncrowded and one of our favorite finds in Mandalay.
The Mingun Pahtodawgyi monument is one of my favorite monuments because of its simplicity, size, and ridiculousness. In 1790 King Bodawpaya started construction of this monument. It was supposed to end up as a 500-foot high stupa. He used thousands of prisoners of war to build this stupa simply by laying brick upon brick. There is nothing inside, it is just a big pile of bricks. Measuring 450 feet square by 172 feet high, it barely reached a third of its intended height before construction was abandoned. An earthquake caused a few huge cracks in the structure, but other than that, it is largely a stack of thousands upon thousands of bricks today.
Bagan – three nights
Bagan is the most visited site in Myanmar. It was the capital of the Pagan Kingdom and during the height of the kingdom over 10,000 temples, monuments and monasteries were built. A little over 2000 of these buildings remain today and are spread out over about 40 square miles of plains surrounding Bagan.
You can get to Bagan by bus, train or boat. We decided to take a boat down the Irrawaddy River from Mandalay to Bagan. It was an interesting trip as we got to see daily life along the river and its banks as well as see temples and other structures along the way.
The most popular way to explore Bagan is by electric bicycle or electric scooter, however, we opted to hire a driver. We got to see more that way and were able to enjoy air conditioning and stay out of the dust. Since it was shoulder season, the cost of the taxi for the day wasn’t that much more than the cost of two ebikes.
We took a day to go visit the Taung Kalat monastery a couple of hours drive outside of Bagan. Often referred to as Mt Popa or the Mt Popa Monastery, the monastery is actually on the slopes of Mt Popa, the peak of which is much higher than the Monastery itself. The monastery is built on the top of a volcanic plug and is one of those sights in the world that looks like it might have come out of a work of fantasy fiction.
Taking a boat down the Irrawaddy River was an interesting way to get to Bagan from Mandalay and gave us an opportunity to observe daily life on the river and see a number of pagodas on the river banks on the way down.
I had to get a picture of this. Safety first. The handrail used to steady yourself as you got off the boat was a pole that two guys held.
At first, I thought our taxi driver told us that, “It is your lucky day!” As we got to see a couple of processions honoring young people who had committed to becoming monks. Yes, we were lucky to be in Bagan on this day. I later learned that he said, “It is a lucky day.” The monks choose anywhere from one to three days per year, depending on the monk, as “lucky days.” These are days where you would want to do something special, such as get married, start a business, or in this case, have an ordination ceremony. It probably took about a half an hour for the entire procession to pass by. We were lucky to be there on a lucky day.
At one time, there were over 10,000 pagodas, stupas, monasteries, and temples built on the Bagan plains. About 2000 of them remain. We have hundreds of pictures of a variety of these structures, but to try and keep this post short, here is a picture of just one of them.
The Taung Kalat monastery is built on top of a volcano plug on the slopes of Mount Popa. At first glance, it looks as though you might have to free climb using ropes, chocks, and anchors to get to the top. Rest assured, there is a stairway around back that allows you to get to the top with relative ease.
Pyin-Oo-Lwin – one night
In retrospect, we should have spent at least two nights here. Pyin-Oo-Lwin is a former colonial hill station. The British made it the summer capital of Burma to escape the sweltering summer heat and humidity of Yangon. The weather is refreshingly cooler than Mandalay. The hotel had bicycles that we could use for free and we had fun cycling around the small city.
We spent the better part of the day at the Kandawgyi National Garden. This beautiful, large, English garden was filled with local families out enjoying the day.
There are a few museums and colonial buildings in Pyin-Oo-Lwin that we didn’t get a chance to visit during our short stay. We also read about a nice waterfall not too far from the city that would have been nice to see.
One of the main purposes of stopping at Pyin-Oo-Lwin for us was to catch the train from there to Hsipaw. We could have caught the train in Mandalay, but it left very early in the morning and took quite a while to just get to Pyin-Oo-Lwin. We opted to hire a car and driver to take us there.
Just a small part of the wonderful gardens. We got some great views from atop the tower that you see on the left-hand side.
A popular thing to do is to take a ride in one of the decorated carriages. Maybe next time.
Hsipaw – two nights
This is another place where we could have spent a few more nights. With a 28-day visa and the long time it takes to get from place to place by rail or road, there were times where we felt like we might be cramming a little too much into our trip.
The train from Pyin-Oo-Lwin was another scenic train ride. One of the highlights is crossing the Goteik Viaduct, a metal railway trestle that, when completed in 1901, was the highest bridge in Myanmar and the longest railway trestle in the world. The train slows to an almost walking pace as it crosses the trestle to reduce stress on the century-old structure.
We stayed at a really nice hotel, Hotel Thipaw, for only $35 a night and I think for one night we were the only guests in the large hotel. This hotel offered free bicycles and we enjoyed exploring around town.
We also took a half-day boat trip up the Dokhtawady river. It was a nice trip and we enjoyed talking with the guide and finding out more about his life in a village four hours away.
We tried visiting the Shan Palace, but for some reason, it was closed for the day. No one at the hotel seemed to know why. It was not a national or local holiday as far as they knew. One thing that we have found while traveling, especially when we travel to more remote areas, is that operating hours of businesses, museums, and other sites may vary and are not always what is posted. It always pays to be flexible and have a few extra days built into the schedule if there are things that you really want to see to take into account potential schedule changes.
Crossing the Gikteik Viaduct. As you can see, a lot of people thought this was a good photo opportunity.
Ready for another longboat ride!
Many families come to this spot to enjoy a picnic lunch and to go swimming.
We decided to take the bus back to Mandalay for sake of time. With very tight switchbacks, traffic gets backed up quite a bit through the mountains.
Mrauk-Oo – three nights
Mrauk-Oo is an archeologically important city in western Myanmar. From 1430 – 1785 it was the capital of the Arakanese kingdom. It is fairly tough to get to. Your choices are a 20-hour bus ride from Mandalay or a one-hour plane flight from Yangon. We opted for the bus ride there and the plane ride back to Yangon.
Mrauk-Oo is in the process of applying for UNESCO World Heritage Site status. We feel that we were fortunate to see it in its raw form, before extensive restoration and development of the surrounding areas.
We hired a guide for two days. The first day we toured the temples and ruins of Mrauk-Oo and the second day we went up the river and visited a couple of Chin villages. In these villages, life goes on in much the same way it has for hundreds of years, a very simple life. The Chin people are noted for tattooing the faces of the women. This has not been practiced for about the past 50 years, but we saw many women in their seventies and eighties with the facial tattoos.
We have been to quite a few local markets during our time traveling in Asia, but this one was interesting due to the different things we saw that we haven’t seen in other markets. It was also good to have a guide with us that not only told us what things were but also was able to tell us what the local people were saying. Many were commenting on Susan and her handwoven skirt and how good it looked. One woman even commented that she wished she had a flat stomach like Susan!
There is probably a stupa underneath this pile of dirt with trees growing over it. This is just one example of the rawness of the area and the fact that not much has been restored yet.
The largest temple in Mrauk Oo, Koe Thaung Temple. Also know as the temple of 90,000 Buddhas.
Another view of Koe Thaung Temple.
One of the main reasons we wanted to go to the Chin villages was to see the weaving. The weaving is done in the home.
The villagers were very friendly and welcoming. This lady invited us into her simple bamboo home.
We have been fortunate enough during our travels to see things that not everyone sees and that you couldn’t plan for. It just so happened that on the day we visited the Chin villages, the funeral of a Buddhist abbott was being held. The boat driver slowed down and circled back so that we could observe the ceremony.
Yangon – two nights
Our practice is to usually build in a day or two at the city we are going to fly out of at the end of our trip just in case we run into any delays or schedule changes during our trip. We want to avoid the possibility of a visa overstay and any fines and re-entry bans that might accompany an overstay.
Overall impressions
We really enjoyed our time in Myanmar. The country is full of history and archeological sites. It is still not heavily visited by tourists, for us, this is a great benefit because you get to see life in the country as it is lived by the local people and not just tourist focused enterprises. Short trips to Myanmar are possible, but if you visit for two weeks or less, we would recommend visiting just one, or perhaps two areas. There is a lot to see and travel throughout the country can be very slow.
Leave a Reply