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 Myanmar travel tales
Our customers who stayed at Parkroyal Hotel Yangon share their experiences.
Read about first hand stories on travel tips and guides, events, entertainment,shopping, food, business and transportation.
Also, you might want to read our
Bagan city guide,
Inle Lake city guide,
Mandalay city guide,
and Yangon(Rangoon) city guide.
Pages (1 of 4):
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| L Kenyon |
21 February 2005 |
Stayed at Grand Plaza Parkroyal Yangon - Yangon, Myanmar.
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Augustines near Green Elephant Restaurant is still the best for antiques. Ask for Mark!
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| A Barthelt |
20 December 2004 |
Stayed at Grand Plaza Parkroyal Yangon - Yangon, Myanmar.
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Golden Rock is worth to travel, but take care about the Local travel agents. We booked a day trip with a local travel agent, which supposed to be includes a Car+driver+guide and all their expenses. Back to the hotel in the night our guide ask us to pay for his expenses again. Next day we went to the Travel Agent to complain as in our Agreement was clearly mentioned that we do not need to pay for any other extra charges. Finally we got some part of the money back.
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| B Bullen |
14 October 2004 |
Stayed at Grand Plaza Parkroyal Yangon - Yangon, Myanmar.
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Didn't know what to expect on the trip to Myanmar. I loved the temples I'd read about and wanted to see them for myself. It was easier to deal with once I got there. Found some good restaurants in Yangon, went to the Schwedagon Pagoda and the Sule Pagoda. The local market has amazing shopping. The best part of the trip was the people. Many of them speak English and are interested in Americans. It's very exotic seeing the cute girls with the yellow stuff they put on their face and in traditional dress. Also make sure you go to Bagan, which is awe-inspiring.
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| S Redman |
16 September 2004 |
Stayed at Grand Plaza Parkroyal Yangon - Yangon, Myanmar.
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We started in Yangon and then flew up to Bagan for a few days and then on to Inle Lake for a few days and then ended up back in Yangon. We used an outstanding tour guide company that was well worth the money ($530 US / person) that was all inclusive except for lunch and dinner. They exchanged money for us, arranged for all the travel (flights & cars) and then escorted us around daily. Inle Lake is a must see as well as Bagan as both have very different and unique cultures associtated with their areas in the country. The company we used was HAMSA Travel & Tours CO. Ltd.
Tel: 95-1-298170 / 200642 . (email: hamsa@mptmail.net.mm)
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| T Bergreen |
14 April 2004 |
Stayed at Grand Plaza Parkroyal Yangon - Yangon, Myanmar.
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The shopping Plaza next door is super convenient. There is a great Chinese restaurant on the top floor with an amazing view of Shwedagon outside the window. The food and service are great. The only thing you have to watch out for is the size of the portions: they are Myanmar sized, not Chinese sized. Myanmar plates tend to be very small, but at least in a Myanmar eatery they will refill them as often as you request it. I took 6 guests for a Chinese meal here. We ordered about 8 dishes and all left hungry. We ended up having dessert next door in the hotel lounge.
Also, there is a beauty salon in the shopping center. I went for a shave, very relaxing facial and a shampoo. The whole process lasted about an hour and cost something like 2000 kyats, in my opinion a great deal. The place is always packed with locals spiffing themselves up, testament to its good service. I gace 700 kyats as a tip to the woman who did my shave/facial/shampoo, and she could not have been more grateful and gracious.
Dining in Myanmar is always a casual affair. Myanmar and Chinese food are everywhere. I enjoy Myanmar food, but for those who are timid eaters I would be careful about which establishments one patronizes. Some of the more down and dirty ones have very good food, but you might spend your meal wonderfing whether or not there will be vacation interrupting consequences to your stomach while you eat. Myanmar is my favorite travel destination in Asia, mostly because of the people. I cannot recommend it enough...
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| J Kerr |
10 March 2004 |
Stayed at Grand Plaza Parkroyal Yangon - Yangon, Myanmar.
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The Shwe Dagon Pagoda is a must. The Scott Market and Indian Market were interesting and afternoon tea at the Strand Hotel was lovely. As 2 females travelling alone, we felt very comfortable walking around the streets of Yangon and found people to be very friendly and helpful.
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| E Norton |
26 January 2004 |
Stayed at Grand Plaza Parkroyal Yangon - Yangon, Myanmar.
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Yangon is a very interesting city, fascinating markets, good buys. Augustines' Antiques has good buys. Green Elephant and Ashoka are good restaurants. Be prepared for very poor communications (telephone and FAX) within Myanmar and very expensive international communications. We were ripped off at the "official" exchange rate booth at the airport just after leaving customs. Try to change most of your money at the hotels or in the markets. Otherwise, officials are for the most part friendly and helpful. Bagan is a must place to visit. We have visited Luang Prabang, Angkor Wat, and Bagan, and found Bagan the most fascinating.
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| J Loh |
21 January 2004 |
Stayed at Grand Plaza Parkroyal Yangon - Yangon, Myanmar.
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The first must-see is Shwe Dagon Pagoda - huge awesome gilded pagoda built on highland. You need tough soles - you have to walk barefoot (even socks are not allowed!) in the scorching sun on the floor and tiles and when you pause to compose a photo - you will wish you had even thicker skin!
I have learnt to get the locals - whether from the pagoda, or from the market, or from the restaurants, to help me hail taxis and to tell them exactly where I wanted to go and to ask the price (to ensure I don't get fleeced or sent to the wrong destinations).
So with an elderly lady's help at the pagoda, I headed for “must-see” number two - the Bogyoke/ Aung San Market, where I bought a tiny pendant from two very sweet sisters. J's Irrawady Dream - a craft/ souvenir shop cum bistro in a garden setting. It's supposed to be pretty famous, having been featured in home décor publications; even their ads look alluring.
I decided to have a snack at the enchanting garden and was pleasantly surprised they served “French country food and French bread baked in Yangon”. I ordered pumpkin soup and a tomato pie but the soup came with five huge pieces of bread and the pie came with a large salad. Ah, French food, American portion!
If the Burmese have been labelled ‘laid-back’, they should not be equated with tardiness, which is so common among other Asians I have encountered - like Singaporeans, Thais, Indonesians and Malaysians.
The Burmese are very punctual too, if not early. From car pick up, to hotel transport to airport on my departure, to my guide to Bago, 80 km from Yangon. In fact, the guide was 35 minutes early for my tour and I had to rush through my shower to meet him! It turned out that he had wanted me to arrive at the Kyetkhawai Monastery in good time to see the daily procession of monks going for their 10.30 am lunch.
It was a good two-hour bumpy drive and when we arrived, I had to walk barefoot from the road where I alighted to the monastery - dirt, heat, and all... It did not help that I needed the toilet and was led to one wet and slimy squat style one... still barefoot.... While waiting for the procession to start my guide decided to take me to the backyard to “see a lovely river and take a picture. Don't worry - we can wash our feet when we return to the monastery,” he said.
The gong sounded and scores of monks in orderly lines shuffled past in their maroon robe and bowl slung across their shoulder. They filed past two huge metal receptacles from which a monk on duty at each receptacle dished out rice into each monk's bowl.
Then they entered into the dining hall. Lunch was a Spartan affair of rice, boiled cauliflower and vegetable soup. Their first meal of the day had been 6 am and this was their second, and last. At a separate table the principal of the monastery - the chief monk - had a lavish lunch - meat, an uncountable assortment of dishes to go with the rice and even sweets to go after that. At other tables, where the teacher-monks ate, it was still lavish but perhaps less elaborate with more “countable” dishes.
I suppose it is also the same in any country where you have a melange of the poor, the rich and the super rich. The rich locals get to saunter into Feel Myanmar Restaurant to savour local cuisine - even for breakfast.
The hotel concierge recommended Feel when I asked about a place for local cuisine for dinner. Ever so considerate and not wanting me to venture out too far, he suggested either Feel or Sandy, rather than the more famous Green Elephant.
I could understand his concern. Even though I have been reading about how safe the country is, no one wants to be in the middle of a lonely road when there is a blackout, which, according to my tour guide, happens frequently. In fact he was out with a friend the previous night without a torch and the total blackout caused his friend to fall into a hole or ditch.
It was a bit of a surprise when I arrived at the restaurant. It resembled more like a dining hall with a nasi padang stall! I was greeted warmly and led to the stall to select the many pre-cooked dishes. They didn't look terribly Burmese and very much similar to what you can find at foodcourts back home.
Nevertheless, it surely must mean something - for both local and tourists alike to frequent the place! My meal of rice, three vegetable dishes, complimentary condiments, appetisers, desserts and tea totalled less than USD 2.
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| M Ishii |
01 January 2004 |
Stayed at Grand Plaza Parkroyal Yangon - Yangon, Myanmar.
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Cafe Aloma is a good cafe. You can have nice espresso coffee, sandwich. If you like chinese food, you can take noodle soup, located near Sakura Tower, across the Traders Hotel.
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| P Verdnik |
01 December 2003 |
Stayed at Grand Plaza Parkroyal Yangon - Yangon, Myanmar.
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MUST-SEE PLACES IN YANGON: Shwedagon Pagoda, The Strand Hotel, Bogyoke Aung Sang Market. MUST-SEE PLACES IN MYANMAR: Inle Lake, Bagan, Mandalay. Recommended restaurant: "Dolphin Seafood Restaurant" (at the Royal Lake - in front of the aquarium - very good food, friendly staff, nice athmosphere and live music every night from 8 pm).
Getting around: TAXI (average 1000 kyats for a ride). Travel agent: Adventure Myanmar, Botahtaung Condominium - 6th floor, phone: (95-1) 203500.
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