Myanmar (Burma) — Welcome to Myanmar (Burma)

I have arrived in Myanmar (Burma)

March 2015

Finally, I arrived in Myanmar (Burma) at Yangon (Rangoon) International Airport.

The airport was very busy with many guys offering taxis.

My phone found a local network and offered to connect to a data service for a capped fee of RM38 (£7.40; US$11) per day. I decided to accept, but my phone wouldn’t connect. I fixed the problem by turning my phone off and on again. I had 3G.

In 2015, international and domestic flights at Yangon (Rangoon) Airport went from different terminals. The domestic terminal (a very ornate-looking building I spotted as we came into land) was next door to the international terminal.

I left the international terminal, turned left, and walked for about 100 m to the domestic terminal. It couldn’t have been easier.

The inside of the domestic terminal didn’t look like any airport terminal I had visited before.

I loved the wood carving and the columns.

Flying Air Bagan from Yangon (Rangoon) to Mandalay, Myanmar (Burma)

I found the check-in desk for Air Bagan in the domestic terminal.

The desk opened about 90 minutes before departure.

The airline had a strict one piece of baggage at 20 kg policy. But they were kind enough to allow me two bags with a combined weight of 30 kg.

The check-in process was 'old school' in that it was all done on paper without a computer. It all had a kind of nice nostalgic feel.

They used a classic Avery baggage scale from Birmingham, UK, to weigh my bags. We used to have weighing machines like that at train stations in the UK, and it was years since I had last seen one.

And I was given what I can only describe as a hand-crafted boarding pass and luggage labels. This was really old school. Loved it.

Photo by Author — my hand-crafter boarding pass for my flight to Mandalay, Myanmar (Burma)

And for some reason, I had a sticker slapped on my shirt?

I never did find out why they put a sticker on me. I suspect it was to do with boarding, as there are no working status screens in the departure lounge. The staff walked around shouting out the flight numbers and destinations.

Espace Café — Yangon (Rangoon) Airport, Myanmar (Burma)

Past security in the domestic terminal at Yangon (Rangoon) Airport, I found a lovely little café called Espace Café.

They served a pretty good coffee, and they also took US dollars.

At the time, US dollars were the preferred currency in many places in Myanmar. However, they didn’t take any old US dollars. Your dollars had to be new, with no creases or damage.

Flying Air Bagan

Flying Air Bagan was like flying ‘old style’.

The plane was a small turboprop. The type of plane that I call a ‘puddle jumper’. Small and functional, with few passengers.

On the 90-minute flight, we even got a meal.

Which was pretty good. The cabin staff served the food wearing white gloves.

One odd thing with the flight was that I thought I had to change planes. My itinerary showed that we landed at a small airport, and then there was another flight. The time between flights seemed very tight, and I doubted I would make the connection.

Sure enough, halfway through the 90-minute flight, we landed.

Once the plane had stopped, I got up to leave. A cabin crew member came over and explained that I should remain seated as this was a quick stop to drop off some passengers and pick up some new ones. And that was the case. We were a flying bus!

A great flight. A fantastic way to see Myanmar, and the airline was excellent.