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 Report: Inle->Yangon->Mrauk U

Day 8: Nightbus to Yangon

• Spent the day wandering around Nyaungshwe on bikes and lounging around the guesthouse.  
• Took the JJ bus to Yangon, which we had booked while in Bagan.  Costs 18500kyats per person.  Noticed that the price was higher if we had booked from Inle, ?20000kyats.  However, we learned that if you booked from Inle, you got free pick up from your guesthouse.  Since we booked from Bagan, we paid 500kyats each for transfer to the bus, which ended up being cheaper anyhow!  The JJ bus has wider seats which recline quite nicely.  Price includes a dinner of fried rice or fried noodle.  Made 2 stops and can’t remember how long the journey took.  

Day 9: Yangon to Mrauk U

• Arrived in Yangon in the morning.  Bought a bag of sweet buns for 600 kyats and 1L water 300 kyats from a vendor at the bus station.  Took a taxi to the airport for 3000kyats.  Had to bargain hard for this one.  Had previously read that this was the going rate though. 
•  Spent a couple of hours waiting in the airport using their free wifi.  Since we had our packs we didn’t want to do a quick excursion into Yangon.  The free wifi at the airport is pretty good.  Got to plan out the rest of the trip!
• Had lunch past security in the domestic airport.  Fried flat noodles 2500 kyats and 3 egg omelette 2500 kyats.  
• Flew Air KBZ to Sittwe, which we booked while in Bagan.  As we booked the 4 flights that we would be taking all at the same time, I only have the total cost.  But breaking it down it should be around $100USD.  Flying Air KBZ was a good experience.  Flight was on time.  We were well fed too!  Flight was pretty short but we still got served snacks and drinks twice.  The Yangon to Sittwe flight flies in a loop, from Yangon to Thandwe to Sittwe to Yangon.  
• We were originally planning on staying the night in Sittwe as our flight arrived in the afternoon, past the time when the public boats leave the jetty.  A tout at the airport was quoting $160USD for a round trip private boat to MraukU staying 3 nights.  We thought that was too expensive.  While waiting for our luggage we met some expats who had a pre-arranged private boat up to Mrauk U that afternoon.  They let us join them and we ended up paying 35000kyats for the journey up to Mrauk U.
• After a crazy thunderstorm with lightning for hours, we arrived in Mrauk U after dark.  Can’t remember exactly how long the boat ride was, but it was long, maybe 5-6 hours?  We didn’t prebook accommodation in Mrauk U as we couldn’t get through on the phone.  Apparently the telephone lines from Nyaungshwe to Mrauk U don’t connect very well.  Anyhow, took a trishaw from the jetty to Kyasoe guesthouse for 2000kyats.  The room they showed us was gross!  Trishaw driver took us to Royal City Guesthouse, where we got an aircon bungalow for $40USD/40000 kyats per night. 

Nyaungshwe/Inle Lake Trip Report

Day 5-6

• Took the day bus from Bagan to Nyaungshwe.  Bus 11000kyats each, AC, 8hrs including 30 min meal break.  Included pick up from guesthouse in Bagan and drop off to guess house in Nyaungshwe.  The bus stopped EVERYWHERE to pick up locals.  At one point, the entire aisle was full of locals sitting on little plastic chairs.  At the rest stop had lunch of fried noodles and fried vegetables, which cost 3800 kyats.
• Stayed at May Guesthouse in Nyaungshwe.  $30 USD/30000 kyats per night, private bathroom, no AC (not needed), free breakfast.  Place is very organized with photocopies of maps and preprinted biking itineraries.  The manager Min speaks good English and is very knowledgeable.  If he doesn’t have the answer for you, he’ll go and find it.  The Lonely Planet review is mostly accurate.  The place has thin walls and small towels.  BUT they replace your towels daily; the only place that we encountered in Myanmar that did.  No water pressure issues.  Biggest issue was with cigarette smoke.  One night we had a chainsmoking neighbour, who’s cigarette smoke would blow right into our room.  We tried to seal the windows, but it was no use.  Being non-smokers, this was incredibly annoying and I actually woke up with a case of sinusitis after that.  
• Pedal bike rental 1500 kyats/day.  No ebikes.  Biked the loop.  It was hot, but I think it was worthwhile.  Boat ride 7000 kyats across the lake.  One of my favourite Myanmar moments was seeing Inle Lake for the first time.  After cruising through the villages and gardens, hitting the open water was quite spectacular.  It really helped that it was a sunny blue skied day.
• Ate at Linh Htat (near the market) alot!  We actually tried out the neighbouring restaurants, but decided we liked Lin Tat the best.  It’s a family run place, that also seems to double as their living room.  It was fun watching the babies and kids play around.  Curry set menus = 2500 kyats.  They are used to tourists here and are willing to do things like dip your raw veggies in boiling water for you.  
• Other: got a haircut at a beauty ‘saloon’.  (Rarely saw signs for a beauty ‘salon’, only ‘saloon’!)  Girl didn’t speak any English, so I pointed at a picture and she cut away!  2000 kyats, slightly uneven, but well worth it as my hair was getting to be too hot. 

Day 7: Boat tour on Inle Lake

• Despite being a super ‘touristy’ thing to do, I highly recommend the boat tour.  Maybe it was the time of year, but there were barely any other boats at any of the stops.  We paid the extra 2000kyats to go to Indein.  So a full day 0730-1730 tour was 20000kyats for the boat, 5 person max, arranged through the guesthouse.  The guesthouse had a preprinted itinerary that we just followed.  I had no problems with the stops at the shops, as I found them mildly interesting.  That and it was really hot out in the sun, so the stops provided some shade breaks :p  The rotating market was at Than Taung that day, which is a 20min walk inland.  The market was really neat – completely for locals.  We were actually the only foreigners there.  Bought some tasty deep fried ‘perogies’ for 500kyats.  
• My favourite part of the boat tour was going to Indein.  Definitely worth the extra 2000kyats to visit and the 500kyat camera fee.  There are many ruined stupas at the bottom of the hills, with trees/bushes growing out of them.  Very Indiana Jones-like.  We visited at the end of the day, so most of the sellers had already packed up and left.  
• Lunch was at a restaurant that the boat driver brought us to.  Was overlooking the Phaung Daw Oo paya.  Shan noodle soup = 1500 kyats, fish curry 2500 kyats, rice 500 kyats, bottle of pop 500 kyats
• Dinner at Linh Tat again, set menu curry 2500 kyats, shan noodle soup 1000 kyats