Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, wasn't intended to be ticked that soon in my list of countries to visit. Frankly speaking, I didn't have much awareness of Burmese history and culture before the trip. I wasn't even familiar with their language, not to mention the food. The first thing that came to mind if to ask about Myanmar would be the widely known house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, who devoted her life to fight for democracy when the nation was under military rule which earned her Nobel Peace Prize. Now I believe I would be able to tell you more. I never knew that Myanmar is the second largest country in South East Asia after Indonesia. The lesser I expected from this country, I found myself drawn more towards it, the more I was surprised.
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| Started the journey with my usual red 70-L Slazenger backpack |
This could be one of my almost impromptu vacations that I ever planned considering my previous trips were usually booked at least a month before. I was waiting for my friend to have his exit visa cleared from his assignment country before buying the flight tickets, which was just a week before the trip. Malaysia is the only country in South East Asia that still requires visa to enter Myanmar for the purpose of tourism. We applied eVisa via https://evisa.moip.gov.mm/ which cost 50 United States Dollars (USD). Visa fee is true as of May 2019. The approval process was quick as my application was approved within a day. Do note the applications will only be processed during working weekdays. Our visa only granted us single entry within three months and the stay cannot be more than thirty days. You will need to print the confirmation letter for immigration clearance at the border control.
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| Myanmar morning view at the countryside as we travelled from one city to another |
With time difference of one hour and a half later than Malaysia, our trip spanned for seven days and covered three major town/cities. Started off in Yangon, or Rangoon which is the former capital of Myanmar, we travelled six hundred kilometres away to the north to arrive at Bagan before concluding our trip in Mandalay, the second largest city of the country. Most of the itinerary was carefully thought by my friend and I was responsible to book public transport tickets for the intercity travels in which I did online. It was low season as there weren't many tourists during our time there and we got to know why. The weather was scorchingly hot and the highest temperature that we experienced was 41 degree Celcius. None of us brought sunscreen. Despite so, the major cities were still busy with local traffic and need to be very cautious while crossing the road. Alternatively, you can always hop on the bus or taxi to go around. Have to say, there were a lot of taxis, especially in Yangon. Grab is available in Yangon and Mandalay.
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| The common food that you will find in Myanmar |
The official currency is kyat (MMK) though USD is also accepted at some outlets. You won't be able to buy kyat in Malaysia. There are few options: bringing Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) or changing into USD before buying kyat upon your arrival at Myanmar. We went for the latter. The exchange rates at the airport were just as competitive when we checked the current rate online so I would advise you to do the same. Their notes come in the domination of 10000, 5000, 1000, 500, 200, 100 and 50 (we didn't come across notes with lower values. Neither we get any coin.) With currency exchange of 1 USD for 1500 kyat, I myself got a stack of 100 pieces of 5000 notes for changing 400 USD. With Burmese as their national language, communication wasn't really a huge issue as most of them can speak minimal English.
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| My 10-year buddy/travelling partner for this trip |
Now that we are set. Are you ready to hear more of our adventure?