Hi everyone!
Hey there :0)
You really wont regret going to Burma it's absolutely amazing!!
Its really easy to get your visa, just go to the embassy in London in person fill out the forms etc and then they will say come back in 2 weeks to pick it up again :0) you need 2 new passport photos also. Some details are on this website but if you just go to the embassy in person they speak good english and are friendly and will tell you all you need to know.
http://www.myanmarvisa.com/london.htm
Make sure you take enough money for your whole stay there in brand new crisp dollers we took $1300 for just over 2 weeks quite a lot of money but its better to have too much than not enough. we met a couple who had run out and were trying to exchange Thai bhat to burmese kyat which they did do but at a really bad exchange rate.
A good place to exchange money in Yangon is at Aung San Market, go there early in the morning and you will find it less hassle and if your not bothered about getting the ABSOLUTE best rate but still a high rate early morning takes some of the stress out of it. dont get it from the people just standing in the street corners giving you a really high exchange rate... It just didnt feel right, probably a scam :0)
Tokyo guesthouse is where we stayed in Yangon, nice place, nice people, nice breakfast and cheap ($6 or $8 a night if i remember correctly) It was owned by a nice japanese man who spoke very good einglish and run by a burmese family who spoke very good japanese.... which made for some very interesting translations over a beer or two in the evenings :0)
Hotels believe or not book up really quickly!! we walked around yangon for 2 hours trying to find one that had a room (other than the hotel that was $100 a night) Get the lonely planet guide 2012 edition because the older ones are a little out of date as we found out. plan your journey a bit while your there so that you can phone hotels a couple of days in advance and book a place, the numbers are all in the guide book but as we found out most of the hotel receptionist know the numbers of the main hotels in the tourist areas off by heart as so many people phone ahead. this will make sure you get the cheaper places and your not walking around all the time looking cos its all booked up.
If you go to Began (which is absolutely increadable) Hire a horse and cart for the day and you will get around much quicker than riding a bike, alot of the paths are sandy and anoiying to ride on hee hee
I felt very safe in Burma, there are alot of stories and articles online that may give the impression that you will be followed around and questioned all the time. we did not find this at all. I'm sure in the past this will have been the case but it seems not any more :0)
I just read that Air Asia will start a new flight into Mandalay from Bangkok (starts Oct 4th)
I got a lot of good info reading posts on Thorntree travel forum.
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