Myanmar tours, Trips in Vietnam and Myanmar

Mandalay is the only practicable base from which to explore the sights in the city and its sandy environs. Foremost among these are the rebuilt royal palace and the finely carved teak Shwenandaw Monastery. Mandalay Hill and the bustling Mahamuni Temple warrant a detour, as does U Bein’s teak bridge at Amarapura. Other essential stops […]

Although it was superseded by Naypyitaw as the official capital in 2005, Yangon, overlooking the confluence of the Hlaing and Bago rivers, remains Myanmar’s largest and most populous city, as well as its diplomatic, economic, and cultural hub. The city has retained a great deal of its colonial charm, but with its chic five-star hotels, […]

Navigating Yangon can be a challenge. The lack of standard Burmese transliteration  means that street names appear with differ- ent spellings even on the same maps, and  may not always correspond to those in this guide. Some roads are also known by more than one name, having been renamed after Independence. Except in the downtown […]

Although Myanmar’s banking system is fast catching up with the rest of the world, for the time being its undeveloped state means that many transactions by foreign visitors have to be made in US dollars. The kyat is accepted for small pay ments,  but for larger ones (such as hotel bills), only mint, or near- […]