Following on from Jonah's excellent review of the first ever JY trip to Burma, I did the 3 night add-on to Ngwe Saung. The entire trip was outstanding, and far exceeded my expectations - it is now up there with my Spirit of India trip as No 1 out of 16 tours. I'll try not to repeat what Jonah said, but every turn of the head was a "wow" moment - and I'm not exaggerating! 

Before I get on to the Add-on review, a few things. This country is a photographer's paradise, so make sure you take plenty of large capacity memory cards, and vitally several rechargable batteries. Your camera will get dusty, so a lens cleaner is useful. On one occasion a couple of our cameras were affected, briefly, by the humidity - the wee crystal bags that you get with some electrical items, are useful to keep in your camera bag. For those of you who crave a bath as well as a shower, only 2 of the hotels had baths, and the rest were wet rooms. This holiday is not for anyone with severe mobility problems as you have to get in and out of trains and boats, along with the usual, sometimes steep, steps and stairs. This was a real test for my new hip, and I was fine, although I needed a push up on a couple of occasions, and the odd helping hand getting in and out of boats!

The add on to the Eskala hotel took about 5 hours on the coach, excluding stops. This journey I am sure will be tweeked, as it took a lot longer with stops (lunch, due to slow service, took about 2 hours!). The countryside is fascinating. The hotel is right on the beach, and has only been opened for about a year. The staff were exceptional, particularly the Executive Chef. The beach is one of the best I have ever seen - wonderful sand, no rocks, pebbles etc. and you can swim in the Bay of Bengal out to the marker buoys before you get out of your depth. You don't need to bring a beach towel, or a mosquito net as these are provided. The food in the hotel was excellent and not expensive, so we ate there every night - I can thoroughly recommend the grilled prawns.

You can pay your bill in a mix of dollars and kyat if you want. There is a lovely pool and hammocks in the gardens. The fishing village is about a 10 minute walk, the walk along the beach to the two stone pagodas is about 35 minutes each way. You can have a massage on the beach for $20 for an hour (this is linked to the hotel). Drinks in the hotel were about $4 for a beer or G & T and about $7 for a glass of wine (the wine was good!). When I get the JY questionnaire I will add that an additional 2 nights here would have been ideal.

Some general things about the overall tour - I spent $500, but I'm a bit of a shopaholic, and you don't need to have a massage/buy jade buddhas etc. etc. You can do the trip for a lot cheaper as food and drinks are so cheap. Some of us had a meal in Bogyoke Market (formerly called Scott Market) and for sweet and sour chicken and a huge plate of vegetable fried rice, cost about £3! Vegetarians are very well catered for. Some of us ladies had thanaka  put on our faces, as the majority of Burmese use this as a moisturiser and sunscreen (some men use it too) - it was a great ice-breaker for all the local women, and they thought it was wonderful that we were immersing ourselves in the local customs. The majority of people are delighted to have their photos taken (ask first obviously) and show them the photo afterwards.

There is a lot more I could say about this incredible tour and country, but will let you experience it for yourselves. If you are interested in the current political situation and Aung San Suu Kyi in particular, no question goes unanswered now, where in the past few years Burmese would have been imprisoned for just mentioning her name. Her house is about 5 minutes by taxi from the Yangon hotel, but you can only view the gates.

My advice is book this holiday before it gets sold out - you will have the experience of a lifetime!

Cheers,

Hils

PS Any questions, please ask.

Following on from Jonah's excellent review of the first ever JY trip to Burma, I did the 3 night add-on to Ngwe Saung. The entire trip was outstanding, and far exceeded my expectations - it is now up there with my Spirit of India trip as No 1 out of 16 tours. I'll try not to repeat what Jonah said, but every turn of the head was a "wow" moment - and I'm not exaggerating! 

Before I get on to the Add-on review, a few things. This country is a photographer's paradise, so make sure you take plenty of large capacity memory cards, and vitally several rechargable batteries. Your camera will get dusty, so a lens cleaner is useful. On one occasion a couple of our cameras were affected, briefly, by the humidity - the wee crystal bags that you get with some electrical items, are useful to keep in your camera bag. For those of you who crave a bath as well as a shower, only 2 of the hotels had baths, and the rest were wet rooms. This holiday is not for anyone with severe mobility problems as you have to get in and out of trains and boats, along with the usual, sometimes steep, steps and stairs. This was a real test for my new hip, and I was fine, although I needed a push up on a couple of occasions, and the odd helping hand getting in and out of boats!

The add on to the Eskala hotel took about 5 hours on the coach, excluding stops. This journey I am sure will be tweeked, as it took a lot longer with stops (lunch, due to slow service, took about 2 hours!). The countryside is fascinating. The hotel is right on the beach, and has only been opened for about a year. The staff were exceptional, particularly the Executive Chef. The beach is one of the best I have ever seen - wonderful sand, no rocks, pebbles etc. and you can swim in the Bay of Bengal out to the marker buoys before you get out of your depth. You don't need to bring a beach towel, or a mosquito net as these are provided. The food in the hotel was excellent and not expensive, so we ate there every night - I can thoroughly recommend the grilled prawns.

You can pay your bill in a mix of dollars and kyat if you want. There is a lovely pool and hammocks in the gardens. The fishing village is about a 10 minute walk, the walk along the beach to the two stone pagodas is about 35 minutes each way. You can have a massage on the beach for $20 for an hour (this is linked to the hotel). Drinks in the hotel were about $4 for a beer or G & T and about $7 for a glass of wine (the wine was good!). When I get the JY questionnaire I will add that an additional 2 nights here would have been ideal.

Some general things about the overall tour - I spent $500, but I'm a bit of a shopaholic, and you don't need to have a massage/buy jade buddhas etc. etc. You can do the trip for a lot cheaper as food and drinks are so cheap. Some of us had a meal in Bogyoke Market (formerly called Scott Market) and for sweet and sour chicken and a huge plate of vegetable fried rice, cost about £3! Vegetarians are very well catered for. Some of us ladies had thanaka  put on our faces, as the majority of Burmese use this as a moisturiser and sunscreen (some men use it too) - it was a great ice-breaker for all the local women, and they thought it was wonderful that we were immersing ourselves in the local customs. The majority of people are delighted to have their photos taken (ask first obviously) and show them the photo afterwards.

There is a lot more I could say about this incredible tour and country, but will let you experience it for yourselves. If you are interested in the current political situation and Aung San Suu Kyi in particular, no question goes unanswered now, where in the past few years Burmese would have been imprisoned for just mentioning her name. Her house is about 5 minutes by taxi from the Yangon hotel, but you can only view the gates.

Finally, Suzanne Brown is an amazing Tour Manager and couldn't do enough for us, and made this trip more wonderful for me. Naing our local guide was also exceptional, and answered every question (even political) that I fired at him - he also always dressed for the daily occasion!

My advice is book this holiday before it gets sold out - you will have the experience of a lifetime!

Cheers,

Hils

PS Any questions, please ask.

all the best

Dave

An amazing review. I am so glad you had a wonderful time.

I am going to look at this holiday for next year.

Have you booked Namibia yet?

Warm regards

Julie (your Caml Air Pal)

Delighted you all had such a fantastic time on the Burma tour!  I'm planning to book it very soon....

Cheers,

Bob

Yes you are right, as I said the tour is full on and defo not for anyone who has mobility problems.  For a nation of petite people, their steps are very steep!!

Yes you are right, as I said the tour is full on and defo not for anyone who has mobility problems.  For a nation of petite people, their steps are very steep!!

Thank you for the additional information about what sounds like a wonderful holiday. I will definitely be adding it to my wish list and hope to go in 2018!

Glad you new hip stood up to the rigours of the tour.

Regards

Lesley

Thanks a lot .

Meryl

Great to hear your hip is behaving Hils, have a great time in Borneo.

Julie - you and Bob on a holiday together is a recipe for a great trip!

Sally

This tour just sounds better and better. Thanks for the tips.

Angie

Cheers,

Bob

Looks like I will need to make a new booking. You should come too.

Glad you enjoyed your trip to Mexico etc. Here's hoping your next trip to Croatia will be just as good.

Warm regards Julie

Many thanks for the great review, I'm going on the 31st October trip and really looking forward to it.

Katy

I did add this on the original review, but there is obviously a quirky part of my PC! Suzanne Brown is a fantastic Tour Manager (she was my first ever TM to Morocco), and she really helped to make this tour so wonderful with her "added" little touches! Naing, our local guide, was one of the best I have come across, and you could ask him anything, even political questions, and he dressed appropriately for every occasion!

Wonderful review- Hils, Is it as full on as India - That was NON stop, up at 0500-0600 out at 0800 back to Hotel at around 2030?? Enjoyed every min of it. 

Alex

I did add this on the original review, but there is obviously a quirky part of my PC! Suzanne Brown is a fantastic Tour Manager (she was my first ever TM to Morocco), and she really helped to make this tour so wonderful with her "added" little touches! Naing, our local guide, was one of the best I have come across, and you could ask him anything, even political questions, and he dressed appropriately for every occasion!

Wonderful review- Hils, Is it as full on as India - That was NON stop, up at 0500-0600 out at 0800 back to Hotel at around 2030?? Enjoyed every min of it. 

Alex

Hi Alex,

The Burma tour is as full-on as India, if not more. 0600 was a lie-in! We had 3 internal flights, trains and boats!

Glad you enjoyed India - Burma is now up there as joint Number 1 JY trip (out of 16). I think maybe I warned about the bottles of booze being confiscated at Khajuraho Airport - drinks in Burma are much cheaper, and the wine was good too!

Cheers,

Hils

Quick question - did all the hotels provide hairdryers and toiletries?

Thanks

Sally (on the verge of booking this one!)

Hils

Quick question - did all the hotels provide hairdryers and toiletries?

Thanks

Sally (on the verge of booking this one!)

Hi Sally,

As far as  I remember there were hairdryers (my hair is so short now that I let it dry naturally in hot countries!) and the usual toiletries.

Book it - you'll love it! Don't do what I did though, and mistakenly delete 1,000 photographs - my IT guy is coming this afternoon and hopefully he will be able to recover them. I'm sure you know how I feel!

Cheers,

Hils