Kathie

Yes, they do have life jackets.

BTW, the lake, while large, is quite shallow. I heard someone say you could stand up in the middle of the lake and walk out. I don't know whether the lake is THAT shallow - lol.

Kristina

Bumping this up as I am still planning the trip.

Currently I am looking at the (Villa) Inle Resort and Spa. I'm not seeing a lot of info on this place here on Fodor's but it is well reviewed (#3) on Trip Advisor.
www.inleresort.com Specifically, we are looking at a Lake View Room. Thoughts?

I'm also thinking of booking my flights myself, either on oway.com or directly with the airlines. Santa Maria travel only offers one airline and has been less than stellar with their replies.
Are any specific airlines considered better/safer than others?

Thanks!

yestravel

Santa Maria booked our flights on Yangon and the airline was fine. One flight was delayed, but all the flights going to our destination were delayed. Since all our flights were on Yangon, I can't comment on the other airlines.

sartoric

I flew with Golden Myanmar Airlines, they have one plane, a jet, Airbus A320, but only do the Yangon - Mandalay route. For other flights I used Yadarnarpon Airlines, new planes (turbo props) all on time, smooth and uneventful.

Kathie

There is a new airline sprouting up every week in Burma. They are all same-same. The reason to have Santa Maria book you (can't imagine they will now only book one airline - must have been a mis-communication) is that they will call and let you know of flight changes and will rebook you if a flight is cancelled. As a number of new airlines have just one plane, cancellations mean you have to be re-booked on another airline. Santa Maria can do that easily for you. Doing it on your own is not so easy.

LancasterLad

Too many small airlines vying for the same route isn't good for flight safety.

It results in cost cutting and cutting corners. Interesting article...

http://myanmarinsider.blogspot.co.uk...anmar-and.html

Kristina

LancasterLad- interesting article indeed! Plus that's a very informative site, thanks!

Kathie-SM Travel only offered flights on Yangon Airways, which according to the article above is on the US Treasury Dept Blacklist. No idea how up to date that info is though. I haven't asked them if they offer other airlines, because I'm still waiting for a reply to an email I sent a week ago.

The reason I'm considering doing it myself would be the ease of paying with a credit card rather than having to carry a bunch of cash. I know we'll have to do that to a certain extent, but the more I can minimize that, the better.

I've managed to book all my hotels myself.
BTW, I did book the Inle Resort last night, so that's done.

Kathie

Do ask SM for other airlines. While I am quite familiar with the US Treasury Dept Blacklist, the situation in Burma is that the ownership of the airlines is quite opaque. Indeed, one of the reasons for the proliferation of new airlines has been related to old entities creating new airlines. While I take the issues in Burma very seriously (as you know) I think the generals and their cronies have significant interests in all of the domestic airlines. Many of the new airlines don't appear on the list simply because they are new.

But do what you feel comfortable with. We found that our original air reservations had little relationship to what we actually flew. SM kept our flights at about the same times, but we flew different airlines than originally scheduled due to changes in air schedules. I would be concerned about being scheduled on an airline with just one plane if I didn't have the back-up of an agency.

I'm so glad you were able to get the Inle Lakeview - we loved it.

Kristina

Kathie-

I will try emailing SM again.

We're not staying at the Inle Lake View (though it was in our top 3). We're staying at the Inle Resort. It seems like all the places there have such similar names it made trying to decide so difficult!

Check out this place... www.inleresort.com

Kathie

It looks lovely, Kristina. Yes, they do have lots of similar names.

Have a wonderful trip!

Kristina

So...as a follow up to all my planning, I thought I'd share this. Seems that the days of having to bring all cash to Burma are gone, or at least will soon be. Just about everything I've booked has been paid for in advance; sometimes at my request, sometimes at the insistence of the hotel or tour operator.

Like this email I got today from the Hotel at Tharabar Gate in Bagan, "please kindly settle your room charges by clicking following URL link for credit card payment by filling instruction.The link will be expired on 30th June. If you don’t settle until to 29th June, we will release your following booking as per our hotel procedure." And there's a 5% surcharge for using our credit card.

Our domestic plane tickets, purchased via Santa Maria, had to be paid in advance via credit card, with 6% surcharge. We also had to pay for our Inle Lake hotel in advance (via Paypal).

Ultimately, I don't mind (that much). I'm aware that I'm booking higher end hotels. I'm sure if we were staying in backpacker places cash would still be king. I'm happy not to have to worry about bringing so much cash or withdrawing as much from the ATM. Sure, I'd prefer to pay at the hotel, with a fee free credit card as we do in the US, but I understand that's not the way it's done everywhere. Only for our Yangon hotels will we be able to pay on arrival with a credit card.

Kathie

Thanks for the update, Kristina. This change has been a long time coming. As you note, you still have to pay a premium to use a credit card, but it wasn't long ago that it wasn't possible at all.

Kristina

I received this from the Inle Resort today, when I asked about reserving an airport pick up and the possibility of sightseeing on the way to the hotel since we arrive fairly early.

"For Transportation; Our taxi is not available on that date as it was occupied. But you can easily get the taxi at the Airport with reasonable price. Before you arrive to our hotel, you can visit to Pindaya Cave from the Airport.
The estimated cost of taxi from Airport to our hotel is Kyats - 30000. If you visit to Pindaya Pagoda, the cost is about Kyats 50000 (Airport- Pindaya - Inle Resort)."

I'm wondering if we should visit Pindaya or not. I don't really know what our other options would be. I also do know if this would preclude us arriving at the hotel by boat (which I was kind of hoping to do). The hotel can be reached by boat or by land.

Kathie

We opted not to visit Pindaya but to visit Kakku on our way to our Inle resort.

yestravel

I asked on this board abut visiting Pindaya and didn't get a lot of positive feedback on it, so we skipped.

Kristina

Ok, so how easy is it to get transportation at the airport? How will we figure out if it's by car the whole way or car and boat? And this may sound odd, but I'm a little concerned with making sure we get to the right "Inle Resort" since there are so many similar names.

If we don't go to Pindaya, other options? Kakku seems really far out of the way. Kathie, do you remember how long the drive was from the airport? Santa Maria's website says it's 4 hours?! http://www.myanmartravels.net/timetaken-distances.htm

yestravel

One possibility might be to have Santa Maria get you the driver. That way you could arrange exactly what you want.
As I recall the airport at Heho did have a lot of drivers milling around, so I imagine you could get one when you arrive. I'm not sure how easy it is to communicate anything complicated with the taxi drivers. Also there seemed to be a person sort of "running things." Our flight was late getting in and there wasn't a driver waiting for us as had been prearranged. There was a woman who did speak English that was directing people and she sent me to a table and then somewhere else. I do recall there was a bit of chaos at the small airport.

To ensure that you get to the correct hotel I would take the name and even a picture of it with you. Perhaps the hotel can give you something written in Burmese that you could give your taxi driver.

Kathie

I'd have Santa Maria arrange the driver. They arranged our driver, who took us to Kakku. My trip report says that the drive from HeHo airport to Kakku (with a stop at Taunggyi to pay our entry fee to the Pa-O and pick up a guide), time to visit Kakku and have lunch then onward to our hotel was five and a half hours. We probably spent a couple of hours at Kakku.

The drive from our hotel to the airport was about an hour.

If you have Santa Maria arrange the driver, the driver will know which hotel you are going to.

offwego

So, where is the trip report? hmmmmm?

Kristina

Offwego- I have to finish my Peru trip report first! That one is here: http://www.fodors.com/community/sout...o-and-lima.cfm

But...as a follow up, I do want to say we had a wonderful time and I will have much to share in the future. Feel free to ask questions in the meantime.

Some quick thoughts...

Cambodia is changing, especially Siem Reap. The town has exploded since my last visit 4 years ago. Dining options are ever changing and very good. We stayed at the Seven Candles Guesthouse, which as always, feels like home.
We did not visit any of the temples near Siem Reap, but did do an overnight near Koh Ker and visited the smaller temples in that area with a brand new company called Koh Ker Treks (https://www.facebook.com/kohkertreks). The company was started by two local kids who are graduates of the Ponheary Ly Foundation supported schools nearby and it's the first such locally owned enterprise of the kind in the area. It was a fun adventure with them and we were the ONLY people at all of the temples we visited.
We spent the rest of our time in Cambodia adjusting to jet lag and with the PLF which continues to do beneficial and important work supporting school children in Cambodia (www.theplf.org).

Burma was fascinating. We ended up bringing enough cash to get us through our time there that we never needed an ATM, but there were plenty available. We were also able to use credit cards in a couple of our hotels. Pristine bills are still expected however.
I'm pleased with all of our hotel choices, including staying by the airport the first night as the traffic in Yangon was horrendous when we returned at the end of the week. The other hotels (Tharabar in Bagan, Inle Resort, and The Strand in Yangon).
We had no issues with any of our flights in country or any of the transportation for that matter with the exception of one boat driver on Inle who cut his engine in the middle of the lake on the way to our hotel to see if we would hire him for the next few days (this was merely an annoyance).
Internet was almost everywhere, though it was often slow and undependable and often did not work. It only seemed to work in the mornings in our hotels.
Burmese food was...good, but not my favorite in South East Asia.