Travel time - January and February 2013. Do we have enough time to arrange a trip to SE Asia? We started by looking at Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam [gottravel 9 wks report enterprise rental cars sales was wonderful and very informative] enterprise rental cars sales however after reading Kathie's excellent trip reports on Burma we feel we need to head there first. We are a healthly, older couple who love to wander - walks in the city, drives in the country, food markets, villages,workshops, a train ride, museums, enterprise rental cars sales temples but not too many.
Please recommend a travel agency and agent. I know that Santa Maria is mentioned for arrangements enterprise rental cars sales in Burma but do they work in Laos or Vietnam. Tonkin Travel - just for Vietnam? Sunbird Tours or Diethelm Travel? Min Thu sounds like a guide we would like; his email please.
I agree - go to Burma as soon as you can! Do contact Santa Maria for flights enterprise rental cars sales and accommodations as soon as possible. Many hotels will already be sold out with the huge influx of visitors. Santa Maria will only make arrangements within Burma. MinThu can be reached at min.thu.bagan@gmail.com
Decide which other countries you want to visit. I'd encourage you to spend as much time as you can in Burma. It is changing so fast, you want to explore as much as you can now. The maximum visa time in Burma is 28 days.
You don't really need a travel agent for the other countries, though a number of Fodorites have used Tonkin to make arrangements in VN. It is easy to book hotels and flights on your own for all of the other countries.
Do be explicit about what you want an agent to arrange. enterprise rental cars sales Without directions, most agents will offer you not only flights and accommodations, but also airport transfers (some of which make sense, but most do not), guides for all of the time you are there, and often a car and driver. You don't need most of this. If I want a guide somewhere, I tend to hire them on the spot, as I did MinThu.
Kathie, I appreciate enterprise rental cars sales such a quick reply. We had thought about flying into Singapore, traveling up to Bangkok and over to Yangon. enterprise rental cars sales Yangon, Mandalay, Bagan, Inle Lake are on our list. Undecided about including Mrauk U. Wanting to visit these areas, do we have to fly to each? Any possibility of a road trip or a train? From the northern enterprise rental cars sales part of Burma can you fly to Laos or VN? I read that the Strand Hotel is your favorite but do you know anything about the Alamanda Inn in Yangon?
it depends on how you like to spend your time on a trip. The most efficient and comfortable travel within Burma is flying. enterprise rental cars sales There are trains, but they are generally considered to be less comfortable than the buses - which are highly variable. This is a country with little infrastructure. Most of the infrastructure was built by the Brits - so pre-WWII. Certainly you can ask for a car and driver to take you from one place to another, but the drives are long and the roads in bad to terrible condition (except for the Yangon to Mandalay road which was recently re-paved. Also, driving means you have to stop to overnight at a small town along the way, and the guesthouse facilities will be on the primitive side.
There are no international flights from Mandalay except for a new flight a couple of days a week from Mandalay to Bangkok (oh, and a couple of flights to China). There are always rumors of new routes. enterprise rental cars sales I understand there is a flight from Hanoi or HCMC to Yangon and return. Plan that your itinerary will be a loop starting and ending in Yangon.
We're in the final stages of arranging travel to Burma in January and are using Santa Maria Travel primarily because enterprise rental cars sales of the recommendations of Fodorites, particularly Kathie. Her advice on this forum has been invaluable. We're normally independent travellers but Din at Santa Maria has been excellent in responding to emails and booking flights and accommodations. It's best if you can have a basic itinerary planned, a budget range to suggest and if you want specific hotels list them in your initial contact with the agency.
Our 10 day itinerary includes: 1 day Yangon arrival and departure, 4 days in Bagan and 4 days at Inle Lake. The Alamanda Inn in Yangon appears to get good reviews and is only a short taxi ride away from the centre. It became our choice for an overnight stay. We really wanted to stay at the Inle Lake View hotel but it's booked for our dates. Apparently travel agents have been inundated enterprise rental cars sales with requests for assistance recently so based on our experience I'd recommend you act ASAP for January/February 2013. We've asked to be put on a wait list at the Inle Lake View and we're really hoping something will open up before we put a deposit enterprise rental cars sales on a room at another hotel.
I'd also highly recommend Vietnam. We've visited twice and on our second trip stayed with our guide and his family for a week during Tet. What an amazing enterprise rental cars sales cultural experience! We experienced things from a very different perspective .... a holiday we'll never forget. It's also quite easy to arrange enterprise rental cars sales travel in VN and 3 weeks will only scratch the surface. VN is a beautiful country and its people are wonderful.
Kathie, Just a few more questions. You suggest 4 days at Inle Lake. I read that one day you head south and visit Saga, another day you head north. Our lake visit in southern India was fine for a day but 4 days on a lake. Please explain what we are not considering. I read about Paukan cruises on the river between Mandalay and Bagan. Can you tell me anything about this cruise or any other I sure consider. We do like road travel and are thinking about the Yangon - Mandalay drive, is there a town that you know of that might have an OK guesthouse. Thanks so much for your continued help.
NLspirit, It sounds like you have a great trip planned and I am planning to contact Santa Maria travel just as soon as I finish the basic outline of our trip. Did you send them the hotels you wanted, days you needed a car etc. I am not sure how much detail is needed. Working with an agent is new for me as we usually plan and arrange enterprise rental cars sales everything. enterprise rental cars sales You do feel that we can put together the VN portion of the trip without enterprise rental cars sales an agent? Thanks for your help.
Hi Kathie. I'm really crossing my fingers and hoping we'll get a room at Inle Lake View. Din has reserved a room at another well recommended resort but my heart has been elsewhere for awhile. I've often read your comments and advice on Fodors and have always found them to be insightful as well as practical. My appreciation is long overdue ... years in fact! So finally .... many, many thanks!
Hi re. I understand your comment about usually planning everything yourself. I've only worked with an agent once (in Tanzania) where it's recommended primarily because of inconsistent communication patterns and infrastructure problems. There are dozens of agencies all over the world which offer package tours, but unless you're enterprise rental cars sales comfortable with group travel, working with a local agent is really the only option in some countries.
I contacted Santa Maria Travel on July 30 and gave them our basic itinerary. I had actually researched a trip to Burma a few years ago and still had it on file. Having read Kathie's reports we recognized that her travel style and interests were similar to ours and she had recommended a basic itinerary for spending 10 days in Burma. We had already decided that the Inle Lake View Resort was our first choice enterprise rental cars sales in that area and then chose the Alamanda Inn in Yangon and the Amazing Bagan Hotel in Bagan. We didn't want to spend a lot on a hotel in Yangon because we would only be there one night arriving and departing. There also didn't seem to be much to choose from in Bagan with many hotels getting mixed reviews regardless of category or price. I should also say that we'll be spending a week in Bangkok prior to going to Burma and a week in Chiang Mai afterwards. It often takes us two to three travel days to arrive in SE Asia (each way) which is another enterprise rental cars sales factor we have to consider.
So when I contacted Santa Maria I gave them the itinerary outline, specific hotels and asked that they provide transport services to and from the airports as well as domestic flights. Their initial quote also included tours but we declined. We have contact details for guides in both Bagan and Inle Lake and want some degree enterprise rental cars sales of flexibility while in each place. Din from Santa Maria is super to work with and efficient with detail and response time.
We've been to Vietnam twice and it's really quite easy to plan. On our first trip we were only there one week and used Hanoi as our base. Love Hanoi! It's a fascinating city with lots of amazing things to see and do. From there we organized a trip to Sapa by train for 2 days (an excellent Victoria Hotel and train package) and went to Halong Bay overnighting on a Chinese junk ... also great! They were both fabulous experiences and I'd highly recommend them. It was enough for us to realize we wanted to go back and the second trip for three weeks was even better .... lots of unexpected adventure the second time! Go ... you'll love VN too!
re, I recommend four nights, three full days at Inle. One full day is for the trip to Sankar. We were out on the lake at 6:30 each morning, so we did two long half days in addition to the full day at Sankar. This gave us some afternoon enterprise rental cars sales time to relax one day. The other half day, you can go to Kakku (a road trip). enterprise rental cars sales Inle is really unique. We are very interested enterprise rental cars sales in Buddhism, so very much enjoyed the visits to various pagodas, monasteries and stupa forests. There are a lot of workshops on the lake. Mostly, we weren't interested except for the silk and lotus weaving workshops, but others may interest you as well. And you'll want to go to the 5-day market one day. Just don't go to the "floating market" whether or not it is the 5 day market. It's a zoo.
We opted not to do a cruise. The only ones that interest me are the ones that get you really off the beaten enterprise rental cars sales path, like the Chidwin cruise or the one to Bhamo. The cruise between Mandalay and Bagan is well on the tourist route, and the scenery isn't very interesting. I know there
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