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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chlidonias" data-source="post: 2888997" data-attributes="member: 64468">And the mystery country is Burma! I was just waiting till the visa was done before saying so because I didn't want to jinx it. I was always planning on (probably) going to Burma on this trip but it was going to be later. But after I got to Kuala Lumpur, thinking about how I was going up to Thailand, I suddenly decided it made most sense (to me at least!) to go via Burma: i.e. fly KL to Yangon (= Rangoon) and then Yangon to Bangkok. I went to the Myanmar Embassy to see what I needed for the visa and discovered they had outsourced their visa service to a company called Ever Fine Tours. So I went there and found that it is a same day service (!!!) and literally all you need is your passport, two passport photos, a photocopy of your ID page in the passport, your flights in and out of the country, and to fill out a very simple one-page form (eye colour, hair colour, that sort of thing). It costs 140 Ringgit. Simple as anything! I had a look on Air Asia and found a flight from Yangon to Bangkok for 4.64 Ringgit. In case you think that is a typo, it cost NZ$1.70, AU$1.60, US$1.40, 1 Euro or 0.87 UK Pounds (all conversions courtesy of XE). But get this: after the addition of airport tax, fuel surcharge, baggage allowance, and a ridiculous 19 Ringgit credit card fee the cost of the flight ended up being 155 Ringgit!! It is still pretty cheap in real terms, but what an outrageous increase! Then I got an inbound Air Asia flight from KL to Yangon which was 80 Ringgit before tax, and 199 Ringgit after the taxes (and the credit card fee was only 8 Ringgit). So there wasn't much of a difference between the two flights in cost in the end. How bizarre. I think it must be something to do with it being an outbound flight from Burma. By the time I'd sorted flights and booked the accommodation in Yangon it had suddenly become the weekend so I needed to wait till Monday to finalise everything.So I fly to Burma on the 26 December, and out to Bangkok on 16 January, which makes about three weeks in the country. I have a plan for the route – Yangon (including Hlawga Park), up to Bagan (by the Irrawaddy River), east to Lake Inle, then to Kalaw (forest birds) and up to Mandalay after that (solely for the zoo), then down to Bago for Lake Moeyungyi, and finally back to Yangon. Mostly I will be trying to find birds; I'm not sure what I will find in terms of mammals, I sort of think maybe just a few species of squirrels. I really have no idea what to expect in Burma. It will be interesting, that's for sure. I have read some trip reports, some of them from tour companies who see several hundred species in a couple of weeks, so I sort of have an idea of where things are (although I certainly won't be seeing that number of birds!!). I know there's internet in Burma but how widespread it is and whether I can get onto the forums will be a mystery until I get there and find out. It's possible I may be MIA for a few weeks....</blockquote>

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