Why go to Bali yet again when you could be exploring the relatively new on the tourist trail country of Myanmar/Burma.
Tickets in Feb/Mar next year - go for a week or go for a month!
Reasonably good flight times too, with a short stop in KUL airport (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).
Valid. I'm all about the cheap deals and don't mind sleeping in airports etc, but the wife would be eyeing up Malaysia Airlines instead, I'm sure ;)
Myanmar is a great place to visit. Unfortunately a lot of the pagodas around Bagan were destroyed in an earthquake recently. Yangon has a surprisingly good restaurant scene if you know where to go. Inle Lake is beautiful and well worth a visit. If you can arrange a hike through Chin state you’ll have an amazing time. I spent three weeks in Myanmar in 2015 leading up to their elections.
Wholeheartedly agree, Myanmar is one of my favourite countries. When was that earthquake? I spent a couple of days scooting around the plains happening upon random pagodas in 2017 and it was such good fun, so it’s a shame to hear some were destroyed.
Oh, then I was there afterwards. Still heaps to see, thankfully!
@Ozymandias: @sween64 & @oztmandias
How expensive is the place(if living in a 2 star sort of arrangements), will 1 week be enough to do the usual touristy things?
@APN Adelaide: Really cheap. We had 7 days in home stays and a few nights at a mate’s place in Yangon so the hotels we booked were top class. Bagan Inle Lake
@sween64: Thanks Sween64 for the reply and for the links, I would really love to visit
Pagan's Empire one day.
Edit:
My search result
https://www.booking.com/searchresults.en-gb.html?aid=304142&…
@APN Adelaide: I concur, it's very cheap if you want it to be. I had about twelve days there - three days in Yangon, three in Bagan, two in Mandalay, three in Inle Lake. You could condense it to 7 days if you wanted, Mandalay's not a must-see imo.
@Ozymandias: Thank you for the reply, yea i am thinking about going for 7 days initially and then if i like the place will go again next year and cover other parts.
Yes, a beautiful place & people. A highlight was hiring a boat & driver on Inle Lake to visit early morning markets in small villages around the lake (start very early or you'll miss it).
I'm still affected by my visit in 2012. Was travelling with a British journalist (illegally in the country like a few Foreigners I met), meeting locals on my usual deep non-tourist travels. I enjoy the experience of getting to know locals - but that trip will live with me unlike other places!
Had meetings with NLD committees in dusty tea rooms in small villages, volunteered for 8 days as a trainer & paid the us$50 drinks bill for a party of 40 locals on a sand bank in the middle of the Irrawaddy River, talks with NGOs for a different insight - especially the unsavoury topic of international sex tourism & the effect of undocumented Aids spreading in poor communities, asked by Monks to stop military killings villagers…, saw corpses (nothing new for me, but locals could not see them as that may happen to them!!) - 1 floating down the Irrawaddy River - a suspected military killing, attended the first international writers festival (censorship in print was lifted as I flew in), met writers who had been cruelly imprisoned for their writing for up to 10 years - eating rats baked in the sun!, had a group meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi,… It was all a bit intense. Tourists blindly passed those artrocities by.
Hopefully things have improved.
I didn't realise Bali and Myanmar were competing for the same clientele.
For those booking with Malindo, please be careful as they do not include check in bags.
They have adopted low cost airline pricing structure where you will have to pay for check in bags.
Malaysia airline is a full service airline but they have also adjusted their baggage allowance.
Please check carefully before booking.
I used them last month for a Bali trip.
for a low cost airline they have a lot of leg space. I'm 6' and could easily stretch out.
the food they provided (choice of chicken or vegetarian) was good.. cans of softdrink were AU$2 - AU currency only there and back.
they didn't provide earphones for the inflight entertainment.
going to Bali , and I assume Myanmar, wouldn't need much baggage. I was fine with a daypack. t-shirt, shorts, jocks, toothbrush, is most of your luggage.
but yeah, if you want checked luggage then it is expensive- from memory bris-bali (one-way) was $58 for 15kgs.
Thanks OP. Never used Flights Scout before.
I am looking to travel this July. Yet to buy tickets… this post has given me couple of good pointers.
Ethnic Cleansing tourism?
What’s the hygiene there from a basic health POV? The only place I always get sick is Laos. Even taking precautions, just get sick every time. Everywhere else in Asia, I’m good. Thanks 💐🤗
Reasonable. I'd say it's between Laos and Vietnam, you shouldn't have as much of a problem.
For those a little older, with less time and more money, it looks as though Malaysian Air offer the trip at half the time and for around $560.