Burma forum

Thanks for taking the time Steviej. I've tried the Travel Agents listed in Lonely Planet. One replied - only to say that Myitkynia is out of bounds to foreigners! If so, that's news to me. Guess we'll have to improvise when we get there and have Plans C and D ready

I booked all my flights (and most of the hotels/guesthouses I stayed in) through a travel agent - initially via email through Radiant Tours in Yangon (info@radianttours.com). They booked my flights, and I paid them when I arrived in Yangon. It was too difficult to book directly with airlines.

At this point of time I would be booking any internal flights through a travel agent. Many travel agents in Yangon recommended by people on various websites on the net. I think flights in to Mandalay have only started up in the last 12 months so I'm sure there are travel agent recommendations by people on the net. From what I have read, if you intend to book any flights after arriving in the country don't leave it till the day before. Book your flights through a local travel agent as soon as you can.

only to say that Myitkynia is out of bound to foreigners! If so, that's account to me. Guess we'll accept to ad-lib if we get there and accept Plans

Now aerial into Mandalay. Will see what we can array out re. Myitkynia and Bhamo on arrival. May accept to yield boat/train/bus aggregate both means if we can't fly one way. Thanks for demography the time.

One more thing about Burma: Don't rush to get there.

Some people on travel blogs will say it's the most beautiful place in the world. It's certainly lovely, buddhism & all, but not the most lovely, compared to elsewhere in Asia.

Burma at present is similar to Asia when we were first there in the 1960s, with deep and smelly monny drains and dangerous footpaths and shocking roads that take you hours to cover a mile.

There's a bit of progress in Rangoon recently, colonial buildings being restored, but the place has a long way to go.
Koreans and Chinese are in like Flynn. Prices are going rampant.

Don't rush to visit. Vietnam is far nicer.

Myanmar (Burma) got so busy within last couple of years and hottest destination in South East Asia among European travelers. That cause the very high demand on hotel and due to mismanagement in tourism sector, hotel prices are so expensive even lack in hospitality skills while compare to other neighboring countries. No online booking for Air Lines, no booking & paypal or Credit cards payment system in most hotel make much more difficult for travelers like us. One things is you have no way to know whether there's flight available in certain date to your destination or not. Most major destinations does not have a daily flights between each others and schedules change without prior notice.
I traveled around other South East Asia countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore without any help from travel agents. But I need an agent or at least a guide to help me to book hotels, flights and transportation in Myanmar. I had to spend 2 days doing nothing at Yangon due to no vacant seats of flight to Bagan during my first visit at early 2013. Luckily I got contact with one travel agent which I found recommendation in TripAdvisor and let them arrange my flight and hotels schedules..

You can find most major airliners contact address in
Asia Central Link Travels, Myanmar Website
http://www.travelsinmyanmar.com/airlinesandticketing.htm

and you also can download Free Myanmar traveler guidebook which is quite useful for me with over 90 pages, can be downloaded free at the right side of that page.

I have experienced their service for hotels and flights only and so far they provide excellent service to me.