Burma forum

Until recently Yangon was where everyone arrived and departed from. Everyone HAD to pass through Yangon and there simply aren't that many budget guesthouses for foreigners there. A few years ago you could just show up and find a room but that is no longer the case and it's pretty essential to reserve somewhere to sleep in advance now.

Air Asia is just starting flights to Mandalay as well ... so the same thing applies there no doubt. I haven't been to Mandalay since 2005, but back then there weren't all that many budget options there either.

For other places I've always just phoned ahead (my last trip there was last December) but I don't know if that's still going to work this year! Like Kalli said, Myanmar is in imminent danger of losing what made it so unique and special, a culture largely untouched by western influence. On the other hand maybe if you wait a year or two maybe there will be a lot more guesthouses and the transport infrastructure will have improved. Transport already has improved compared to the first time I was there... they even have some fairly OK A/C buses now on some (but not all) of the main tourist routes.

If you do decide to go and can't find a way to book a room in advance, there's a place a few blocks from The Ocean Pearl aptly named Everest (lots and lots of steep stairs) that the Ocean Pearl uses as an overflow place ... eg when they *lose* your booking. You could try there you're really stuck and the alternative is sleeping on the street. It's a total dump and a bit more expensive than the Ocean Pearl to boot, so I'm not recommending it at all but there might be a room available there if everywhere else is full.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

There are a lot of foreigner registered hotels in Yangon that aren't in LP or bookable online though plenty of them will be at the expensive end in the market or not ideally located

I can't see tourist hotspots like Bagan being a big problem either; it's the small and mid-sized towns that only have a couple of hotels (though Hsipaw has plenty of rooms) that will book up.

I had a change of plan and decided to do some Thai Island hopping instead - i've only got a few weeks and want a reasonably hassle free trip (as opposed to if I was travelling for a few months and could just go with the flow) - hopefully i'll get around to going once things have settled down a bit - i'll be interested to hear how thing pan out this season in Burma

It is an interesting read. This appears to be part of the problem:

>For visitors without expense accounts, $200 nightly room rates are likely too much, but there's not much else on offer, as rooms at mid-range hotels are also being snatched up by corporate visitors.

hi