Trip Report: Maungmakan Beach -> Yangon

Day 15: Yangon to Dawei to Maungmakan Beach 

•  Flew Air Mann Yadarnapon to Dawei.  Flight was also on time and had tasty pastries. 
•  Bargained a motorickshaw for 13000kyats to take us to Maungmakan beach, which was a 45 minute ride away 
•  Stayed at Coconut Guesthouse.  Duplex bungalows for $25USD/25000kyats per night, no breakfast or aircon.  Apparently in 2 months they will be getting a strong enough generator for aircon.  The aircon units are already all installed.  
• Lunch at one of the huts on the beach, no English signage or menu.  Just point at what you want to eat from the cooler and they’ll cook it for you!  Had fried squid and vegetables for 3000kyats and rice for 300kyats. 
• Dinner at the guesthouse- garlic pepper shrimp 5000kyats and rice 500kyats.  Guesthouse restaurant was more pricey, but so tasty! 

Day 16-19: Maungmakan beach

• Ate many more times at the same hut on the beach, because the food was so good and the lady there could speak at least some English.  Whole bbq fish 2000kyats, fried vegetables 1500 kyats, shrimp 4000kyats, young coconut water 500kyats, chicken skewers 2400kyat 
• Rented a motorbike from the guesthouse at 10000kyats/day.  Doubled on the motorbike and went to Nabule beach, which was gorgeous and completely empty, but also had a strong undertow.  Gas costs 700kyats for approx 750cc bottle at the roadside stands.  
•  Bought snacks from the market: bananas 500kyats, cookies 450 kyats, sweet buns 450kyats, large bag of fried beans 600kyats, 10 bags of chips for 450kyats, watermelon 850kyats 
•  Had breakfasts of noodles at the market for 300-500kyats

Day 20: Maungmakan to Yangon

• Booked transfer back to airport in Dawei for 15000kyats.  Transfer was by car and only took 20minutes.
• Taxi stand at Yangon airport quoted 10000kyats to Agga guesthouse this time, then later mentioned it was for an aircon car.  This was the first time that anyone had mentioned the price differential for aircon vs no aircon.  Not sure if they were trying to rip me off or not.  Anyhow, got a non-aircon taxi for 8000kyats. 
• Bought random souvenirs and snacks at Citymart.  Thought their prices were pretty good in general.

Day 21: Yangon to home

• Taxi back to airport 8000kyats 
•  Exchanged kyats back to USD at the airport.  There are multiple desks to choose from.  The best rate we found was 997kyats=1USD.  There are desks after you pass through immigration, so don’t worry about changing before you check in.

Summary

• In total, the 4 internal flights cost $478USD per person.  This was probably the only thing we paid in USD.
• For simplicity we paid for everything else in kyats.  Yes, you do end up paying a little bit more due to all the conversions etc... However, decided that the amount was low enough.  Also, you can abuse your kyats all you want – people will take the grossest looking kyats, but only pristine USD.  
• Breaking it down, it cost $50USD per person, per day, including internal flights.  Without the internal flights, it was just over $27USD per person, per day. 

Trip Report: Mrauk U->Sittwe->Yangon

Days 10-12: Mrauk U

•  Looked around for alternative accommodation as choosing Royal City was more out of desperation than choice.  Looked at Mrauk U Palace Resort, which had smaller aircon bungalows but with a little bargaining the manager offered $30USD per night.  Liked the location of Royal City better, so asked for the same price, which we thought the manager agreed to.  Should mention that the manager at Royal City is the only employee there who speaks English.  And his English isn’t the best.  Upon checking out either he didn’t remember agreeing to the lower price or there was a miscommunication.  Eventually agreed on $35USD/night.  While there are lights 24 hrs a day, air conditioning was spotty.  From what I understand, the guesthouse generator is not strong enough to run the a/c, and they have to wait for the government generator to turn on, or something like that.  However, the bungalow was well designed and kept relatively cool despite the spotty a/c.  We actually started being strategic with cooling the room when the a/c worked, and being very careful to not let the cool air out of the room!  Should add that we only saw one other guest at the guesthouse.  And while in Mrauk U saw very few foreign tourists (less than 10), and more Myanmar tourists (but still not many).
• Booked a Chin village tour through the guesthouse.  Cost 70000kyats, which included motorickshaw transfer to a different jetty (~1hr away), boat ride, guide, and bagged lunch.  Tour left at 0800 and came back around 1515.  Our guide was actually a nurse who worked in both Yangon and Singapore and was a tour guide on his visits home.  I didn’t ask about his wages, but I wonder if being a tour guide is more lucrative than nursing.  I enjoyed the boat ride up the river.  It took approx 2 hrs boat ride to get to the first village, where we met a 71 year old Chin lady who looked like she was in pretty good shape.  Drank tea and chatted with her as our guide translated.  Went to another village where we met another Chin lady, who looked unwell.  Turns out last year she was hospitalized in Sittwe for tuberculosis treatment for 4 weeks.  Also visited the village school which had a map of the world on the wall.  We asked our guide to translate some of the labels in the Canadian north.  Turns out both Iceland and Greenland are located in Northern Canada :D
• Tried to wander around and look at temples on foot.  Didn’t work out due to the heat and the lack of signage.  Decided to book a motorickshaw to tour the site.  Cost 20000kyats for the day.  We split our day into 2 parts, from 0700-1015, and 1400-1730, due to the heat.  It’s easy to see the entire site in 1 day if you are tough, or if the weather is more moderate.  It was in the mid to high 30s while we were there, and with the humidity the ‘feels like’ temperature was above 40 :S
• If you are really adventurous, there are so many ruins you can see!  Many areas are overgrown, but if you had a machete you could easily do it.  For example, there are a couple of libraries that remain in MraukU.  There’s the most well known one that is easy to get to and being preserved in a building.  However, our driver brought us to a lesser known one that we had to bushwack to get to.  We actually got too intimidated as we were unprepared, and weren’t able to go right up to it.
• Not too many restaurants on the main street of Mrauk U.  Went to Pyae Wah twice and Khang Thant multiple times.  At Pyae Wah 2 butterfish curries, 1 rice, and 1 orange soda cost 3000kyats.  At Khang Thant, they only serve curry set meals, which includes veggies, curry, rice, and 2 soups.  Cost is 2000 kyats per person.  
• There are stairs leading to a small monastery located right behind the Royal City bungalows.  It has 1 big monk, 1 medium monk, and 3 little monks (for lack of better terms).  It’s a nice place to watch the sunset, and probably a good place to watch the sunrise too as the eastern views are unobstructed.  Warning there is a pack of 3 growling dogs (which I am terrified of).  One of the kid monks chased them away with a stick though!  
• Other stuff: bought 6 small guavas for 400 kyats, and a bunch of bananas for 400 kyats.  
• Booked tickets on the Shwe Pi Tan fast boat through our guesthouse at 20000kyats each

Day 13: MraukU to Sittwe

• Took the Shwe Pyi Tan fast boat down the river in the morning.  The boat is aircon and has tinted, sealed windows.  Very thankful that we took the private boat up the river as it allowed us to have better views of the river.  That being said, Shwe Pyi Tan is FAST.  Took only 2.5hrs to get to Sittwe.
• We didn’t prebook accomdation in Sittwe.  Figured it wouldn’t be too busy.  Took a motorickshaw from the jetty to Noble hotel to check if they had a room.  They had 1 aircon room going for $50USD.  Decided that was too pricey so walked down the main road to the first guesthouse we saw, which was Shwe Myint Mho.  They had fan rooms for $25USD/25000kyats per night, and aircon rooms for $40USD/40000kyats per night.  We decided the fan room looked airy enough, and since it was only a single night stay, went with it.  In hindsight, should’ve just paid the extra money for the aircon room, if only for the dehumidifying effects of aircon!!!  Also in hindsight, could’ve totally taken the fast boat and flown out of Sittwe on the same day.  However we were concerned about missing our flight, so opted for the safe route and spent the night in Sittwe.  That and every boat we had been on so far had suffered from some minor type of engine failure lol.  I’ll write a separate review for Sittwe as I took a lot of notes since there wasn’t much to do there. [find the guide to Sittwe on this blog by clicking on the Sittwe tag]
• Lunch and dinner at Dagon Beer Station (the only English words on their awning).  Not too many restaurants in Sittwe.  Chicken fried noodles = 1200 kyats, chicken curry, 2500 kyats, rice 300 kyats, rice and noodle dish 1500 kyats, fried water cress 800 kyats
• Wandered around town and bought various knickknacks.  Did some souvenir shopping as wasn’t much else to do.   Bought 2 nicer quality longyis for 7000kyats each.  Bunch of bananas = 300kyats, pomelo=500kyats, 3 cucumbers=500kyats

Day 14: Sittwe to Yangon 

•  Flight didn’t leave til afternoon, so we went to the fish market in the morning.  Quite interesting seeing the various types of seafood 
• Spent the morning hanging out at River Valley Seafood Restaurant as it was too hot to walk anywhere.  Ate seafood fried vermicelli=2500 kyats and shared a can of Sunkist=1000kyats.  Sat at their outdoor tables and watched the world go by.
• Had 2^nd breakfast/lunch at Mya Tea Garden.  Sweet tea= 300kyats each, plate of egg rolls and samosas = 300kyats, plate of sweet rice with coconut=300kyats.  Sat some more in the shade and people watched.
• Motorickshaw to airport was 3000kyats
• Flew Air KBZ to Yangon.  Again, flight was punctual and went smoothly.
• Back in Yangon, paid 8000kyats at the taxi stand for a taxi to Agga Guesthouse, which we had previously booked online
• Walked to Shwedagon Pagoda, approx 30minute walk.  Don’t recommend doing it in the dark as the sidewalks are quite sketchy with random openings into the sewer.  Thankfully had a flashlight.
• Desk at bottom of Shwedagon entrance was insisting that shoes be carried in bags.  Then insisted on a ‘donation’.  So bring your own bags to avoid this!
• Entry fee: 8000kyats per person.  Make sure your knees are covered and your shoulders are covered.  I don’t know what my travel buddy was thinking, but she was wearing Bermuda shorts and had to rent a longyi to cover up.  (there may have been an I TOLD YOU SO from me in there :p )  Longyi rentals are free, just require a deposit.  
• Prebooked taxi from Agga to the airport for the next morning for 8000kyats.

Trip Preparations and Trip Report

Originally we planned on going to Cambodia, but this morphed into Myanmar after I read a blog on someone’s travels to Myanmar.  K hopped right on board with the change in destination.  

There are not too many guidebooks to choose from on Myanmar.  Yes, with the internet, guidebooks are less and less necessary.  However, Myanmar is not known for its wide use of the internet.  So we did buy the Lonely Planet, despite the many many reviews saying that it was very inaccurate.  Nonetheless we did find it useful as it does provide background information on the various sights.  It is also informative about the people and history of the country.  We paid $37 for a copy here in Canada, and saw a copy in Yangon for $6.  The Lonely Planet was actually our secondary reference book.  The primary reference we used was this mini guide that I compiled after spending hours and hours reading travel forums and blogs.  For some destinations, like Mrauk U and Sittwe, had very little information available online.  For this reason I’m reposting the trip report that I already posted in the Trip Advisor forums.  It gives a more in depth view of where exactly we went and how much things cost.  

Trip Report

Day 1: Arrival in Yangon

•           Exchange money right after you pick up your luggage and are still in the ‘secure’ area.  Much less busy than the outside area.  Lots of money changers to choose from.  Also, bathrooms right there so you can re-stash your funds discretely.  We changed at $1USD=990kyats.  Exchanged $1500USD as we weren’t planning on exchanging again and had heard that the airport had the best rates.  Didn’t realize that $1500USD = 1486500 kyats = a huge brick of money!   

•       Pick up free maps while you are at the airport.  They have maps not just of Yangon, but of other places too, like Bagan and Inle Lake.  We found that guesthouses in Bagan were charging for the maps that you could get for free at the airport.  The taxi stand has maps, as does the tourism booth.

• Booked taxi from taxi stand.  Found it easier to pay upfront than fumble with money in a cab.  Cost was 9000 kyats to Hninn Si Budget inn.  We just happened to get Zayar Latt (a licensed tour guide) as our cab driver.  He provided a good introduction to Yangon and Myanmar in general.  Spoke English well, and had what would be the cleanest cab in Myanmar!  We didn’t end up booking any tours from him though, as that was not part of our plan.  However, I do have his card if anyone is interested. 

• Went to Bogyoke market and took a look around.  The market is very large!  Bought 1 longyi from a vendor for 4000 kyats.  Went to another vendor and found a very similar longyi for 3800 kyats.  Minimal bargaining (I’m not a good bargainer).  Not sure if it’s a good deal or not, but we were pleased.  My philosophy on bargaining is as long as both parties are happy, then it was a good deal. 

• Miscellanous costs: lunch of 1 dish fried noodle and 1 bowl soup noodle was 4000kyats.  2 mangoes = 500 kyats. In hindsight, we were not impressed by the food in Yangon.  The food was just tastier in all the other cities!

• Stayed in Hninn Si Budget Inn.  We prebooked this online from home.  Room was a bit musty and the only window opened out to a disgusting brick wall.  Shared washrooms were clean, but the showers could use hooks or a towel rack as there was not enough places to put things.  As it was a co-ed shared washroom I was not comfortable running around in just a towel.

Day 2: Day in Yangon, Nightbus to Bagan

• Booked bus tickets for that night to Bagan through the guesthouse front desk.  The VIP bus was full, so this was the other bus.  Still had AC.  Cost 15000 kyats per person.

• Wandered around Theingyi market.  Lots of meat/fish/produce.  Bought a bag of rambutan for 1000kyats.  5 bananas for 500kyats.  Looking back, it’s likely that we overpaid.  However, had very little to reference from, as it’s hard to observe how much the locals pay when you aren’t familiar with how their bills even look like!

• Visited Mahabandoola Park and sat on the grass and people watched.  It's a lovely park to people watch in!

•  Noticed that the money changers under the Sule Pagoda had the same exchange rate as the airport.   

• Went back to the guesthouse and showered before taking a taxi to the bus station.  The bus station is about a 1 hr drive from the downtown area.  Yangon has tons of traffic too.  Forgot to write down how much it cost though.  Probably was around 7000 kyats.