travel blog myanmar

Best Places to Visit in Myanmar

If you love touristy, commercialized super contrived and straight up fake places then look elsewhere. This is a list of places that I loved in Myanmar. I like small villages, learning about local style, culture, food, and lifestyle. I embrace the struggle that comes form being surrounded by people who don't speak any of my languages. If you also enjoy these kinds of things then read on. But, if you are into the more normal and comfortable path of a tourist then look at other lists or skip to the bottom of my list where it describes places to not go.

GWA - My number one pic is for sere GWA.  I went to Ngapoli which is a few hours from Gwa and booked a bus from Ngapoli to GWA. At the bus station I was asked by the booking agent why I wanted to go to GWA. He said, "Nobody goes to GWA, not even we". I replied that was precisely why I wanted to go to GWA. There are only 2 guest houses in GAW and they have the same name but not the same owner or management. One is a total dump without even a hint of charm and the other is the literal definition of charming and is located at the beach. Hard to find though as it is on a road that does not exist on google maps because a dirt road turns into a cow pasture that turns into a goat path which leads to this little beach-side dormitory style hotel. The owner operator has ducks, chickens, cows, goats and pigs and speaks exactly 3 words of English. He is however very kind and very patient. We used hand gestures to communicate. Mostly I just handed him money and he was happy. He offered me food and help a plenty, a lovely man. His little beach spot is rustic and gritty and your room will likely have the company of jungle critters as you are in the jungle, literally. I had some pretty big spiders in my room but I left them alone to eat the mosquitoes and other smaller more irritating bugs. I have found that jungle spiders are mostly interested in insects and don't much care about you as long as you give them space. The beach at Gwa is desolate and beautiful. You will likely see a few local kids playing here and a few fishermen and women hauling in nets full of Andaman sea tuna and the like. You can rent a busted old scooter in the main area of little town and ride it northward about 30-40 klicks. Sunset along this stretch of road is spectacular and there are several small beach villages with no tourists or systems for dealing with tourists. But, in these lovely little villages you can meet locals and eat some very local style Myanmar curry and fish. The road winds along the seaside and drifts up over small mountains. Amazing views and air. It is a busted old road and dodgy as... and your rented bike will likely feel like it is going to fall apart. But a lovely stretch of road and a lovely adventure

Pyay is a town on the way to the sea and is otherwise nowhere and nothing. This middle of nowhere towny village is wonderful because it is nowhere and has nothing of interest. These aspects keep the tourist from having any interest in going here. Because of this the town remains straight up Myanmar. Lovely people, food, and style. There is a really historic old Pagoda here as there are in most places in Myanmar but this one has an incredible view. There are few places to stay so that can be an issue if other people are passing through town. My favorite two places in Pyay are the night market which is tiny as night markets go but is quaint and the people here are very nice. It has a very local feeling. Nobody spoke English that we met in this town. The other place I really enjoyed was the morning market. Dirty, and gritty and in places kind of gross, but that is the way I like my morning markets.If you thought you weren't going to get an upset stomach in Myanmar you can just go visit this little market and you'll quickly understand why your tummy is upset all the time. Best advice ever while in Myanmar, stick with a vegetable only diet while in country and you'll be better off. 

Hpa An is out of the way for sure but is rich with amazing places to check out. The morning market and night market in Hpa-an are amazing. In addition to these local delights there are caves, temples, waterfalls, under-water temples, treacherous climbs, vistas and swimming holes a plenty in Hpa-an . This place is a treat but it always rains, even when it is dry season elsewhere it is likely raining in Hpa-an. But never mind because this place is really a treat. Rent a bike and go out to the sunken monastery hot spring or go on a tour of the many tempe deep inside mountain caves. Te one downside in Hpa-an is that there is little to no internet here. even if your hotel says they have WiFi, they very likely do not have internet. So be prepared for that. I think it is just a little too remote and the rain might play a role in why they haven't yet developed internet backbone here. 

Maybe my favorite place in Myanmar was Myawaddy . This town is growing so quickly and was so recently destroyed by violence and civil war that almost everything here is being built anew from the jungle and in the jungle. A city of the jungle surrounded in green. The morning markets of Myawaddy are amazing and full of the most interesting things I saw in Myanmar. Wonderful people and food and fresh clean mountain air. As of this writing October 2017 Myawaddy has been designated as special economic zone and will soon be a manufacturing center for both Myanmar and thailand. So, if you want to experince this town as I am describing it you will need to hurry. Within a few years this will be a much larger much dirtier place. get over there and enjoy it. 

Here is quick list of places that can be skipped.

Inle Lake, Began, Mandalay All three of these places are the most famous destinations and were the least interesting because they were either super commercialized for tourism and had little authenticity or were just a boring city or as in Began just a really dusty uncomfortable environment with little of anything of interest except for the many many many travelers themselves. If you are limited in time for your visit to Myanmar I would highly recommend not wasting time in these places or wasting time traveling to these places.

I met a few travelers that didn't have fun in Yangon but I did. It was dirty and gritty and often gross as... but I loved it and I'd go back in a heartbeat because it is real and has a lot of reality to observe and participate in. 

Thanks for your support

Beac at Gwa

Beac at Gwa

fishing from the brigde 30klicks north of GWA

fishing from the brigde 30klicks north of GWA

Sunset at Pyay

Sunset at Pyay

Sunset at the edge of civilization Hpa-An

Sunset at the edge of civilization Hpa-An

Durian Farmers in Myawaddy

Durian Farmers in Myawaddy

Sunset at the sunken temple at Hpa-an

Sunset at the sunken temple at Hpa-an

Morning Market at Myawaddy

Morning Market at Myawaddy

Bagan Myanmar

Bagan Myanmar, not what you think.

There are a bunch of places in Myanmar that have been long uncovered by tourists and most of these places the government has allowed access to tourists for quite a long time. The most famous of these places is certainly Bagan . I have seen the famous Bagan sunrise photos many times and had some idea about what to expect. My month in Myanmar was during rainy season and most places I visited saw a healthy amount of precipitation during my visit. However , Bagan was the exception. Bagan is in a very dry state. As a result , being as the roads are all made from dirt and it rarely rains you may begin to imaging the scale of dust you are going to be forced to breathe during your stay in Bagan. Until I arrived in Bagan I had not experienced any health or digestive issues, sticking with a vegetarian only approach to eating while in Myanmar. But after sucking in a couple of pounds of dust a cough developed which turned into a much more severe cold . I blame the dust for weakening my immune system. I had another friend visit this area a couple years ago and he visited in dry season and he is a smoker. As a result of the dust, and smoking he developed a serious lung infection and had to fly home early..

So what about the up side, the sunrise and the temples and what have you? Meh. I got a couple of decent shots , having woke up at 4am and traveled out to some pretty remote areas to get the best view of sunrise. There were some nice temples and the sunrise was fine but compared to almost everywhere else I visited in Myanmar, Bagan was the least interesting. I would really like to suggest you consider skipping Bagan. At least do some research to see if I am alone in my Bagan insights. 

So where to go, I suggest the beach, and here are a few inside tips I learned along the way, best places and best people I discovered in Myanmar were in a town called Gwa, Hpa-An, Pyay, and Inle lake was OK but Mandalay was a complete waste of time. There was nothing there at all. 

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Sunken monastery at Hpa-An

Rainy season can be some of the best and some of the worst times. On my trip to the sunken monastery I was blessed with the best. It can rain so hard during rainy season that it isn't even possible to leave the house. But when the clouds clear what we get is incredibly blue sky's and in the jungle the richest greens imaginable. All of this plus's fresh cool air and few crowds can make for truly unimaginable experiences. Renting a beat up old scooter for five bucks I head out into the afternoon sun in search of the legendary sunken monastery.

 

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Its several kilometers from town but the weather today is amazing. Arriving at the lake the road just gradually slopes down under water into the lake as if the road was designed that way. As you get within about a kilometer from the monastery there's just no more road, it's either swim or find a boat.

 

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I meet some locals and share a hand made canoe. Our guide takes us out and around the back side of the small mountain where the monastery is situated. Our crusty old Boat is slowly leaking but I'm a great swimmer if it comes to the boat sinking and besides the sun is shining and the water is warm.

 

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Arriving at the far side of the mountain, we disembark and climb through the jungle up about 20 meters to the cave entrance where a huge amount of Buddha's are chillin looking out at the late afternoon sun reflecting off the lake and through the trees.

 

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The cave goes right into the heart of the mountain and has several large Buddhas and some really amazing natural cave formations. One of which has the actual shape of a large Buddhist stupa. At the very end of the deepest cave, having walked, called and crouched to arrive at, there are three miniature golden Buddhas sitting under a small light while several small bats fly around the chamber as we sit and give a prayer.

 

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Walking the long way back out into the sun and down the front side of the mountain as the sun slips slowly down toward the horizon illuminating the clouds and reflecting on the water. And, as the golden tops of the temples literally glisten in the sun, we walk down toward the hot spring. 

 

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At the base of the trail, our path just disappears under water. The whole main level of the monastery is under water. Statues, walls, railings, rooms gardens and trees all under water. Stripping down to our shorts we jump in the water where some child monks are practicing kung fu in and around the water. 

 

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The water is fed from the lake but heated by the hotspring so it is really quite hot. Under the fading light of the afternoon I swim out to the middle and just float there for quite a while, sun on my face, blue sky above, sounds of kung fu monk kidlets splashing faintly. In the water in the distance.  

 

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As the sun gets lover in the sky the air cools and it's time to go back. I don't want to leave and I ask if I can sleep here but it is not allowed. Back in the canoe and back to the road. On the way back to town we get the best sunset reflecting off the rice fields and stop off at a farm restaurant for some curried goat. 

Amazing! 

 

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