Myanmar Tour FAQs updated

This is our newest update about Myanmar travel settings with 23 FAQs for the updated infomation. Check it out for the best preparation of your excited coming Myanmar holidays.

1. Burma or Myanmar? Where is the country?

Both names mean exactly the same and suffer the same insufficiency as both assigns the name of the ruling ethnic group (namely the ‘Bamar’, or ‘Burmans’, or ‘Myanmar’) to the whole country, thus repeating a pattern of discrimination or complacency towards minorities.

The name ‘Myanmar’ was adopted by the regime in 1989 without any democratic legitimization. While we don’t actually mind using ‘Myanmar’, we would definitely prefer if this change would retrospectively be confirmed by a genuinely democratic decision.

Myanmar is the largest country in mainland of Indochina Peninsular. The country shares border with: China in North East, India in North West,Bangladesh in South West, Laos in Central East, Thailand in South East.

2. Is Myanmar safe for travel?

Yes, definitely. The country is very safe for travel, even travel alone. The people mostly follow Buddhism and practice the Buddha’s lessons in their daily lives. Then they are very friendly, honest and willing to help others.

Myanmar is the colonial of UK for centuries. English is the second nationwide language after Burmese.

3. What is the best time to take a tour to Myanmar?

Roughly saying, the best time is about from October until April next year. It does not mean that from May to Sep, you cannot travel in Myanmar. During this time, the weather is quite hot (as in Bagan) or there is heavy rain that makes most of the beaches shut down, balloon services as Balloon over Bagan stopped. With good preparation and avoiding beach activities from May to Sep, the remaining parts of the country are big and beautiful enough for your Myanmar tour and it is even more joyful while you may get sweet, amazing discounts.

4. Myanmar is a big country, which places do you recommend?

Discover the whole Myanmar can cost you 1 month or more. For regular travelers, there are 4 most highlighted places you should take into your account:

Yangon: the former capital city with iconic symbol of Myanmar – Shwedagon pagoda
Bagan: The largest archeological site with 2200 stupas.
Inle Lake: the magical lake on mountain – the true heaven for nature and adventure.
Mandalay: the ancient city with Royal relics.

Those four places can be done within 8-9 days tour as a minimum for best enjoyment. You can do it longer in each depending on personal interest. The extensions from those places can be Ngapali beach, Mawlaymaiy, Kengtung, Putao, Mrak U, Mergui and more.

5. How many days I should spend in Myanmar?

Mostly recommended Myanmar package tours is running from 10 – 14 days. This is quite enough time for you to explore the best highlights of the country while still have sometimes for insight discoveries at each stop. We can do it longer or shorter very much depending on your requests

6. Can you do Visa for me?

Since Sep 2014, all tourist visa can be done via Internet portal https://evisa.moip.gov.mm. None of the travel agents can do it in another way. If you find any difficulties, you can send us your personal information and we could submit on your behalf. The processing fee is 50$ as indicated on the portal.

7. Is it expensive to travel to Myanmar?

To be frank, a package tour to Myanmar will cost you higher than similar standard tours in Vietnam, Thailand or Cambodia. The reason is all of the limitation of available services, especially in high season. We take an example: good 3-star hotels in Vietnam is around 40$/room/night, in Cambodia can be as cheap as 30$ while in Myanmar, you have to pay up to 70$/room/night for the similar standard.

The good news is that with just a few years opened to the world, there have been several international hospitality companies entering Myanmar to seek for investment opportunities. We observed the remarkable, positive changes since late 2014 and do expect the service rates in Myanmar soon inexpensive within few coming years.

8. It's quite out of my pocket. Can you offer the cheaper option?

Yes, of course. We inspected and stayed by ourselves in small, budget hotels to carefully pick the most suitable ones. We definitely can offer you an affordable package with comfortable enough stays. (more myanmar accommodation)

9. Is HIT Indochina a local company?

Yes, we are. HIT Indochina Travel Limited Company Myanmar is a local organization and a branch of HIT Indochina Company based in Vietnam. Our business license is 1352-2015/2016 (YGN) and Myanmar International Tour license is KHA-2959 (more about us)
We separate our process in two phase: Pre-Tours – Salesman in Vietnam handles the quotes and customized requests due to their excellent experiences, quicker Internet, safer Online payment gateway – and On Tours that handles by our branch office with our local Burmese staffs who are always available on phone or meet you in person if requested.

HIT Indochina contacts directly to all suppliers in Myanmar such as hotels, transportation companies, guides etc. And delivers those services to you. You don’t have to pay extra for any "middle man".

10. How long we should book a Myanmar tour in advance?

In other destinations, we often say the sooner the better but this fact somehow is NOT true in Myanmar. Just because the suppliers cannot provide their rates for too far future. We believe that from 2 – 4 months is the best. The minimum booking time should not be within 2 weeks to arrival date, especially in high season.

11. I want to join in a group. Do you offer?

We are sorry that we do not offer joined-group tours until this post updated. All our tours are offered on customized and private basis.

12. I travel alone – do I have to pay the single supplement?

Yes, you do. Myanmar is a newly opened country and the service suppliers seem not single-travelers-friendly that much. You will have to pay single supplement while we will try our bests to minimize the costs.

13. How can I pay you?

You can pay us via Cards: VISA, MASTER, JCB and Amex with our secure Online Payment Gateway named Onepay or Bank transfer to our bank account. Those are our favorite payment receiving methods. We are very open to your convenient choice, too.

You will pay via those methods the deposit only (often running from 20 – 30% total booking value). The balance will be paid when you ARE in Myanmar..

14. Why the payment page is "onepay.vn"?

Onepay.vn is the secured payment gateway that takes the advantages of SSL technology – similar to Paypal. Onepay is simpler than Paypal and doesn't need any account sign-up or login. HIT Indochina assigns to Onepay to process all our online transactions on our behalf. (more on payment processing).

15. I don’t want something classic. Can you offer anything different?

Yes, we can absolutely. HIT Indochina has a section of real adventure since 2006 then we definitely know how to make your trip to Myanmar completely a different adventure. We can deal with mountain trekking in Putao, hiking in Kalaw, kayaking in Mergui and/or cycling tours in Myanmar etc. Contact to our team for details.

16. After deposit, how do I know you processed the services for me?

Each of our tours, when confirmed, will be given a tour code eg: MTC150215Angie. This code is sent to all suppliers included in your tour. The easiest way to check up your services ready yet is to call to the hotels, for instance, and tell them about the code + our company name. You will find out our bookings for your Myanmar package.

17. What is the room included in the tour quotation?

Room included in our Myanmar package tours are twin/double shared room at 3 star standard hotels in main cities. At more remote areas where standard hotels are not available, clean rooms with en-suite bathrooms in good guest houses are our choice. (more Myanmar accommodation)

18. How is about the meal included?

We often include one (01) welcome dinner in our tour quotes. The meal is often in a fine restaurant with Burmese cuisines. The Burmese cuisine is much influenced by Indian style with many types of curries, spicy taste but blended to fit local ingredients.

19. The vehicles in Myanmar are out-of-date, aren’t they? What would be used in my tour?

We must admit so. Myanmar government does not allow to import brand new vehicles while their domestic automobile industry is not much until this post updated. We suggest you should not expect something sparkling or shining but our vehicles are all high hygiene, good quality, strong A/C, comfortable seat and safe in performance. (more Myanmar transportation).

20. Can I used credit/debit cards when I am in Myanmar?

Yes, we are confident to confirm “you can use credit cards” in main cities and most hotels from 3 stars up. The fee for processing is running from 3 – 5%.

21. What is currency here? Should I use local currency or US$?

The local currency is Kyat (pronounce: chat). The exchange rate is around 1USD = 1360Kyat. Kyat will be accepted in all transactions regardless of the note conditions.

You can use USD for most of the transaction with locals there. But please note your USD notes must be new, clean, unmarked, unfolded and notes with series from 2003 up to now is preferred.

ATM available in most main cities of Myanmar. The currencies available for withdrawal are USD, AUD, SGD and Bath Thai.

22. How about the communication in Myanmar?

The mobile communication in Myanmar now is very popular and cheap. The network is based on GSM technology – SIM based devices. The 3G is good enough for web surfing and facebook. The SIM card can be obtained easily at malls on streets as cheap as 3-4$ each. The favorite provider is Ooredoo.

Wifi hotspot is available at most of the hotels with free of charge. However, the signal strength may not be as strong as your expectation. Most of the fine restaurants offer free wifi too.

23. What if I am in a medical emergency?

Under any case of emergency, you can call immediately to our hotline in Myanmar +959 420 13 64 70/ +959 254 13 2825 (Mr. Si Thu) or 84-90-224-3637 for more support.

Disclaimer: The information is true at this time of posting updated – Aug 2018 . Even though we check up our surrounding conditions quite often but the country changes so quickly that some details in this post can be wrong just next few months. HIT Myanmar welcomes all re-correction notes or/and encourages you to contact to our team for the latest update.