a week in Burma - suggestions? (1 Viewer)

I'm hopefully going to be able to visit Burma for a week(ish) later this year and was hoping I might get some suggestions from the people who've been there already.

I don't want to be spending days just rushing between sites so I figure just one or two spots would be best. The sites I'm looking at choosing between are Bagan, Lake Inle, Kalaw, and Lake Moeyungyi. My question would be, which of these offer the most from visiting (or, alternatively, could I feasibly fit them all in, bearing in mind I'll be travelling by bus - no flying around the country!).

I gather the bus between Yangon and Bagan is an overnighter so that saves a day. Lake Moeyungyi is between those two so I figure I could stop off there overnight to visit on the way back to Yangon.

thanks for any ideas

Hi,

Last Feb, I did the overnight bus from Yangon to Bagan and the experience wasn't so good. But, if you have no intention to fly, the bus offers the plus of more efficient use of time (arriving at Bagan approx. 5am or pre-dawn). Do remember to bring some earplugs for your bus ride to get some sleep.

According to my guide, Lake Inle and Kalaw is a full-day bus ride from Bagan, so not really advisable. Besides Lake "Moeyungyi", you may want to drop by Hlawga Park, which has the endemic-race of the Stripe-Throated Bulbul, a reasonable candidate for Burma's 7th endemic.

For more information, you may find the report for my trip on http://surfbirds.com/trip_report.php?id=2166

All the best!

hi ljs,

thanks for the reply, and especially for the link to your trip, that will come in useful.

Since posting my query and looking at various other sites, I have decided that rather than just going for a week I will leave Burma for another time and give it a proper trip of a month or two so I can spend more time at different sites (and outside of the main tourist season, which is when I would have been there, as I hear some places are getting a bit hectic in the high season)