Yangon to Mawlamyine to Mae Sot: Questions

[katie23]

Hi all! I'm in the midst of planning a trip and presently looking at Google maps.

1. Is it possible to travel by land from Yangon to Mawlamyine (1 day?), pit stop in Mawlamyine (maybe 1-2 days?), then travel by land again from Mawlamyine to Mae Sot (1 day?). Or does it take longer than 1 day to travel Y->M or M->MS? What is the mode of transport? Train, bus, minivan, etc?

2. I plan to enter Thailand through Mae Sot, then take the night bus from MS to BKK. Are the night buses safe or is it better to take a day bus? I figure that if I take a night bus, it will save me a day of travel (I'll just sleep on the night bus). I may be meeting a friend(s) in BKK and we'll travel onwards together.

3. Re: safety - is it safe to travel by land alone in Myanmar (Yangon to Mae Sot)? I might be traveling alone in that leg of my journey. I look like a local in any SEA country, so thankfully, I haven't been harassed or stuff like that. When I travel alone, I don't get drunk or stay out late and generally don't do stupid things.

Re: visas, I don't need a visa for Myanmar, Thailand or other SEA countries.

phuketrichard, if you're here & reading this thread, your input would be highly appreciated as you've been there recently.

Thanks in advance!

[beerlaodrinker]

Haven't seen phuket Richard posting here for a while Katie, but seem to recall him doing a thread on mawlamyine? That might of been of been on a forum called Khmer 440 ? Not sure, I only lurk on there sometimes, have a look?

[katie23]

^Thanks for the info, BLD. I might include Vientiane in this trip. Schedule & itinerary is not yet final, but if VTE is included, I'll inform you.

[Phuketrichard]

just back ( yesterday) from this trip

https://teakdoor.com/vietnam-nepal-an...r-myanmar.html


This is the trip i did in Dec; Cambodia Forums ? View topic - Photo essay; Yangon to Kwathoung Myanmar

OK:
Get ur visa online or at the embassy
Yangon to Golden rock , 3 hours bu bus,spent the night,well worth seeing
Than down to Hpa-An by Bus .....a fantastic place

Down to Mawlamyine by boat ( 2 hours)
than there are shared taxi or bus's to the border at Mae sot no problem for single lady in Myanmar
Why do u say u dont need a visa? are you Thai??

[beerlaodrinker]

Katie is Filipino Richard, I'm sure she will love the info, thought you might of been the guy who would know the current info

[beerlaodrinker]

By the way the Thais DO need a visa for Myanmar , Lao citizens do not, my last trip to Yangon via Bangkok don muang airport nearly turned ugly when the Shirtlifter at check in refused to let my Lao wife board claiming that she didn't have a visa, I nearly went ballistic but kept my cool and suggested a quick Google search would quickly give him the answer. The Myanmar embassy in Vientiane is a stones throw from my house in Lao and the wife was with me when I got my visa, of course we checked if she needed a visa. Anyway the fool refused to accept he was wrong and I refused to budge from the long line of punters waiting to check in until his supervisor was summoned. Silly fucker lost a bit of face when his supervisor ripped that gender confused fooker a new one. Getting to damn old to take shit from self important dipshits these days.

Quite enjoyed Yangon to.

BLD

[Phuketrichard]

thais get 15 days visa exempt now :-)

Visa exempt

• Brunei[2]
• Cambodia[3]
• Indonesia[4]
• Laos[5]
• Philippines[6]
• Thailand (by air only)[7]
• Vietnam[8]

[aging one]

Looking at the Burmese Immigration website it seems there is an E visa on arrival available. I think that must be what she is looking at.

[Phuketrichard]

there is NO EVISA available on arrival
it is a pre-approved visa which u MUST apply for online and ONLY valid for flying in

[aging one]

So could it be she plans to apply for it and fly into Yangon? But she does have to get that EVisa that is for sure.

[Phuketrichard]

So could it be she plans to apply for it and fly into Yangon? But she does have to get that EVisa that is for sure.

not if she is for one of the 7 countries i listed that get 15 days visa exempt. :-)

[Phuketrichard]

i see she mentioned she was planning on taking a night bus WHYYYY: sure u save a hotel but u miss the views, not worth it in my book, i have only once traveled by night in Myanmar an that was the overnight (22 hour) train Mandalay to Myyitkyina

[katie23]

Thnx 4 d replies, richard et al. I don't need a visa to Myanmar as I'm a Filipina. I think the visa restrictions were lifted in '13 or '14 due to Myanmar encouraging tourism & the ASEAN integration thing. A colleague travelled to MM last year & she didn't encounter problems - she was just stamped in. Will ask her how many days she got.

@richard: I won't be taking the night bus but will take the night train at one point (mawlamyine to yangon). It's not just to save on hotels but also on time. I only have a few days leave & I have to get back to work after my trip.

Sory 4 txt talk - frm fone.

[barrylad66]

there is NO EVISA available on arrival
it is a pre-approved visa which u MUST apply for online and ONLY valid for flying in

Richard,
I was planning a trip to Myanmar in June, and my plan was to cycle tour around, but my wife had different ideas! I did suggest she rode on the buses etc and we could meet at arranged destinations but she was having none of it...anyway, my plan was to cross at techallik and travel from there, but i'm not really sure about the visa situation. Can I do a border crossing or do i have to fly in.?

[Phuketrichard]

u can cross the land border IF u have a a visa in advance from the Embassy (not the one online)

from techallik u need fly onwards, overland travel not permitted passed Kentung ( yet :-) )
Better/cheaper fly to Mandalay and start ur trip there, unless ur living up north.= and get ur visa in CM
some internal flights are expensive ( my last one this month; Mandalay- Khamti) was more than my flight phuket-Bangkok- Mandalay)

[katie23]

Hi all, update to this thread. Am now in Vientiane, having brekky. Met the handsome BLD & his lovely family yday. They showed me around a.bit & gave a good intro to Vte. Maraming salamat, Bld! Am staying at a guesthouse, lots of Frenchies here. Will slowly make my way to burma. Will be at Udon Thani tom. If any1 wants to meet, PM me. -frm fone

[palexxxx]

Are you coming to Chiang Mai Katie?

[katie23]

^nope, CM not in my itinerary. Would have loved to go there as.I havent been, but lack time! Only a few days leave & shld be back at work on Mon (18th). I know there are lots of members here frm CM. Maybe nxt holiday. Have to earn again. Lol

Edit: have taken lots of photos, including pervy ones. For all types, even those for Withnall. Lol. If i have free time when I get home, will make a thread.

[Gazza]

2. I plan to enter Thailand through Mae Sot, then take the night bus from MS to BKK. Are the night buses safe or is it better to take a day bus? I figure that if I take a night bus, it will save me a day of travel (I'll just sleep on the night bus).

Katie, night buses from Mae Sot to BKK are ok but wait until you reach the town of Tak before trying to sleep. The road from MS to Tak has stretches presently undergoing reconstruction and is slow and bumpy and the bus might get stopped as many as 3 times for passport/ID checks.

Bear in mind that overnight buses might still be fully booked up with people returning from the Songkran hols. I did BKK-MS-BKK on March 30-31 and my buses were full.
If so, and regardless of what time you arrive at Mae Sot, you'll always have the option of taking a mini bus (80 bt)to the town of Tak from where you can catch the next available daytime or overnight bus to BKK from destinations further north.

So if you arrive in MS too early and don't want to hang for several hours, go to Tak. Not much to see in MS.

If you should have a choice of seating, get seat A5 if possible which has plenty of leg room and allows you to even place your luggage on the floor in front of you. Seat A5 has the stairs in front of you so you have an unobstructed view of the tv and nobody in front of you reclining their seats taking up your leg room.

[katie23]

^thnx for the info. I won't be taking the night bus to Bkk anymore, as I've changed my route. I am now in Udon Thani. Lots of ppl at the Thai-Lao border due to Songkran. Thnx for the info, maybe I'll use it in future travels.

[baldrick]

even those for Withnall

withnall is a mere amateur when compared to my good self

[katie23]

^lol on that. I took a walk around UT, saw the Central Plaza mall, UD town mall & other places in between. Batt on camera went dead, but I was able to snap some pics for Withnall AND baldrick.

Impressions of UT: it's a small provincial city. Reminds me of other provincial cities back home. Same same but diff. Along the way (even in Laos), I saw spirit houses in the front yard. In PI, it's not spirit houses but a grotto w/ the Virgin Mary. Same same but diff.

Saw many farang in my walk around UT. Most are "silver foxes", but saw 1 or 2 younguns too. Maybe Teflers(?). Most of the silver foxes were, ahem, overweight, but some were fit. Saw many of them w/ GFs. I think 1 had a ladyboy Gf. If it makes them happy then why not? It's my first time in UT, but not in Th. I've been to Ayutthaya & Aranyaprathet, so I saw some of the countryside & not just Bkk.

[Dapper]

The road from Mae Sot to Mae Sariang is superb.

The next journey from Mae Sariang to Pai is outstanding.

Stop at Pang Mapha and take a trip into million year old caves.

Myanmar? - no idea - never been there

[Dillinger]

Saw many farang in my walk around UT. Most are "silver foxes",

Did one walk with a limp? Could well be Withnall up there

[katie23]

Mae sariang not on the list, maybe nxt time (hopefully).

Didn't notice if anyone limped. Lol

Am staying at a hotel now, w/ my own bathroom, yay! The previous places I've stayed (KL & Vte) had shared bathrooms. I chose to splurge a bit in UT & have my own b/r, so that I can wash clothes! They're now drying there as I type. Shld be dry tom morn. At least I wont be classed w/ the great unwashed of Kao San Rd. Lol

But hey, most of the backpackers I've met DO wash. But then, they're not soap dodgers. Lol. Lots of Frenchies & Germans in the hostel in Vte, but a few silver foxes too.

Met some Pinoys on the bus frm Vte to UT. They're teachers in Laos & escaping the madness of Pi Mai (sp?). Some went frm UT to Phuket for a beach holiday.