Saturday November 1, 2025
Breakfast was a very good buffet at
the hotel, and we took the shuttle to the airport. While we were waiting for
the plane a young lady from Ukraine came over to tell me I looked beautiful.
(seriously?)
On arrival in Mandalay at the airport we
produced our approval letters from the tour company to get our eVisa for entry into
Myanmar. We started in one line to show the letter and then another to get our passports stamped. It went pretty smoothly all things considered.
We got in around 1:00 and had nothing
scheduled for today. Myint Swe was our guide and our driver was Wyn. (not sure
on his spelling) They picked us up and it was a small van, and we had to put some
of our luggage on our laps and around our feet.
We had an hour’s drive from the airport
to the hotel. A few days ago, we learned that we should switch hotels from the Rupar
Mandalar Resort due to them hosting an event and it might be noisy. Jason said
we could pick any room we wanted at the Hotel on the Red Canal, so we picked a
larger one (Kachin room). When we arrived at the hotel they took us to a Chin
room. It might have worked for one person since the bed was crammed against the
wall and there literally was no room to put even 1 suitcase. The hotel told us
that it was an “upgrade”.
I showed them the email from Jason,
and they took us to the next larger sized room. (still not a Kachin room)
We said we wanted what we booked, and they
took us to a Kachine and said they would remove the 3rd bed. We said we’d do
the other one, but we couldn’t open luggage in it and said we’d take the bigger
one. Too late, as it had already been rented and I did see people going into
it.
They then took us to the top level,
and it was the largest room they had so we stayed there. (meanwhile they are
dragging our arrival fruit plate and our luggage from room to room and the gift
bag from the guides’ travel company) The room was dark, but at least there was
some space. The new room had 2 flights of stairs and then a spiral staircase.
We were still sore from the hike so, ugh.
Jason said the hotel told them the
first room they gave us was an upgrade and he believed them. (their website says
otherwise) He did say they would get a larger vehicle for the rest of the trip. We had the same guide for 2 weeks and he was a bit annoying and chatty as he
repeated things over and over.
Turns out, the room was also hot, and
the power went out often. (pretty much the story all over Myanmar)
We had dinner at the hotel, and they
were doing something interesting with the exchange rate. Charging in their
currency but the menu listed the price in USD. They used an inflated exchange
rate. (we paid about 3 times what should
have been charged) I emailed Jason on that, and he said he would discuss it
with the guide. The guide arranged it so we could pay in USD. It was still
expensive compared to all the rest of the meals we had in the rest of the country.
We used an ATM which was a better exchange rate, but it was at least double the
published rate. (more on that later) So, between the two it was ridiculous.
Tomorrow, we have a full day tour of
Mandalay.
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