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The mechanic of a trip to Myanmar: visas, hotels and travel agents
Myanmar 2001 - Part Five - The details
Dougburnett2003-11-23 19:24:05
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Boring but Necessary
The first step was getting a visa. I called the Myanmar Embassy in Washington D.C. and they gave me the URL of their web site (which has since closed) where I downloaded a copy of the visa application. It wanted to know the standard stuff: where, when and why I was going. I sent that along with three photos and $25 and two weeks later I had my visa, good for a one-month stay. While I was waiting I made my air reservation.
I flew Northwest Airlines from Detroit to Bangkok with a change of planes in Japan: a 22-hour trip there and 18-hour return. For what it's worth, I could never have sat still that long without the few sleeping pills my doctor compassionately prescribed. Once in Bangkok I stocked up on Valium, which you can buy without a prescription, for the return trip.
I arrived in Bangkok at 11:00 P.M. I was met in the arrival hall by a driver from Comfort Suite Airport and taken to the nearby hotel. At 1,400 Bhat ($40) it was perfectly adequate, if somewhat noisy - it's located directly at the end of the runway and earplugs make for a better night's sleep. In the morning, after a great buffet breakfast, I was shuttled the 10 minutes back to the airport for an 8:40 Thai Air flight to Myanmar ($199 round trip).
Immigration in Yangon was just what you would expect from a developing country - with only three desks open, progresses was very slow. The next stop was the counter where I exchanged 200 in good old US dollars for the same value in FEC - foreign exchange certificates. They are a way for the government to control some of the money coming into the country and were used by travelers in China until about 8 or 10 years ago. I filled out a small form, gave them two brand new US 100 dollar bills and received an envelope with various denomination FECs of the same total value.
Next, I walked through the green
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See photographs from:
Burma (Myanmar) Gallery
