Myanmar travels: From Mandalay to Bagan (Burma)

The more I think about this adventure the more phenomenal it becomes.

This was a total logistics nightmare.

I planned the whole trip two weeks in advance in November 2019 with the plan to go from London, over to Mandalay, Bagan and finish off in Malaysia. I was depending on a lot of connecting flights.

I also developed a severe mouth infection a few days in to the trip which made exploration incredibly difficult.

Flights

As I said, I was booking all this two week prior to going, flights were never going to be that cheap. I bought a multi-city return from London to Bangkok and from Kuala Lumpur to London with Qatar airlines for around £480. Once you have the two key travel dates pinned down, it’s suddenly easier to plan everything else. In Asia, once you’re there, flying around is pretty cheap.

Arriving at Bangkok (BKK) I then transferred using the free shuttle bus to the budget airport (DMK) which flies to Mandalay. This was an incredibly tight transfer window which I had 3 hours in between. You give yourself 20mins from plane to bus, another 45/50 on the bus, 20 mins trying to work out DMK check-in (it’s pretty hectic) and then you have about 20mins left before boarding time. I flew AirAsia, it was no-thrills and pretty unpleasant, especially after you’ve already been travelling for 16 hrs, another hour onboard a budget flight is pretty rough.

I should point out that there is an option to go from Mandalay to Bagan by plane but it wasn’t logistically worth it, yes the flight is only 30minutes but it was at certain times of day and so far outside of Mandalay that you might as well just drive to Bagan.

Mandalay and Yangon are the only two international airports in Myanmar, the rest are domestic airports.

I flew back from Bagan to Mandalay with Air KBZ and then connected to fly from MDL directly to BKK this time – as I had a connecting flight to Penang.

Mandalay.

As you can see from the video, there’s a few things to see in Mandalay, it’s a safe and friendly place. They’ve tried hard to make hotels feel like first world places but it’s all about aesthetics.

Get a tuk tuk to get you around, on a map these places look close but they’re not. The Palace moat is 2km by 2km, it’s a fair distance in straight lines and in the heat isn’t that fun. Use the app Grab – it’s cheap and safe.

There’s lots of developing food places from street food to organic cafes. Never expect too much though, this is a developing place.

Places of interest:
-Mandalay Palace
-Mandalay Hill
-Lots of pagodas
-Min Gun

I want to point out Min Gun, it’s a phenomenal temple but be careful about it – it’s very far out of Mandalay. Hotels can arrange a car and price beforehand, it can be done across a morning and afternoon. I organised the car to Bagan on the same day so popped over to Min Gun and left to go to Bagan after.

The exterior was phenomenal but be aware it only has one room for you to visit which is tiny.

Bagan

I was staying in Old Bagan.

There were only temples in Old Bagan. New Bagan was 10 minute drive away and had a few restaurants and basic shops.

I become friends with a local tuk tuk driver ended up taking me around the whole area. I stuck to him the entire time so it was good for him and us to be flexible and reliable.

Obviously the main attraction is the balloons rising. This has to be planned well in advance, prices will vary depending on the deal you want but they tend to be around 400USD. What I did was go to the watchtower at 6am to watch the balloons take off which is less costly. I’d probably splash out on the balloon next time.

On the last day I went to Mount Popa – arranged by one of the shops in New Bagan, it was something different and it looked cool. There weren’t many tourists there and the views were great.

Health

Whilst in Old Bagan 1 night in I awoke in severe pain in the mouth. I had brought some paracetamol but it wasn’t enough. The hotel didn’t have any either. I had to wait all night in severe pain before I could get a tuk tuk to New Bagan to find some ultra strong paracetamol. This was a major concern at the time. You’re in an unfamiliar place which doesn’t have a health care system and unreliable medical support. The best I could do was to find a random shop which had some type of pain relief. Luckily the tuk tuk driver found a place and I was able to attempt to put the pain aside until I could leave Myanmar.

I was struggling to open my mouth and speak and eat I was in so much pain – it comes across in the last clip I did at Mount Popa.

Luckily I was going to Malaysia next which has an excellent health care system.

Myanmar doesn’t have a health care system, so pack for the worst and be aware of consular services who can help if you get into real trouble.

I visited Myanmar in 2016 to Yangon to see some of the British history behind it – link is here:    • Midge Recommends: Exploring Myanmar's...  

Any questions, comment below and I’ll respond.