Others have written reviews of the holiday content, so I thought I'd add a few tips about the practicalities of the holiday that others may find useful.
Money - The pre-trip bumf from Just You clearly states the US dollars are not accepted by any hotel, tourist site or by any other trader for any purpose as of 1st November 2015 as the practice was made illegal. Either that rule was rescinded in the meantime after an outcry from businesses, or the locals don't give a stuff about it. Every single hotel and organised site we went to accepted USD for payment - and some /only/ quoted prices in USD. ATMs are now plentiful everywhere we went, with loads sitting on palettes waiting to be connected up at lots of places so this will only increase the number of active units further by the time you go. I recommend C B Bank's ATM in the Yangon Airport baggage claim hall (so before you exit airside) which worked no problem for me. Some people had issues - but it's because they didn't tell their bank they were coming to Burma and needed a phone call to get the block taken off. I found that 300,000 kyat [pronounced chat] (about £170) was an adequate amount for the full length of the trip including all tips and the few meals that had to be paid for. If you're a big shopper then you'll need more. All hotels and tourist sites we went to accepted cards as well, which the bumf says would not be the case (charged in USD for the two purchases I made). I'd recommend withdrawing as much kyat as you think you will need for the whole holiday in one transaction to avoid being charged multiple 6,500 kyat withdrawal fees for each transaction. You could take USD to convert at bureaux de change at the airport, but I didn't see the point as you'd be paying two sets of conversion fees - GBP to USD at home, and then for USD to MMK in Burma. GBP are not accepted for exchange by the bureauxs, just USD and some regional Asian currencies. If you're taking USD, take $100 notes for exchange purposes as the exchanges charge worse rates for smaller notes - the smaller the note, the worse the rate. You don't need singles for tips etc. All tips should be in kyat to make it easy for the locals to spend them.
Critically important: The USD notes have to be in pristine condition and in the coach on the way from the airport we were all given a long hard wallet to hold dollars for the trip. It's not just the usual no wear, no tears, no marks and no writing on them - they cannot have been folded or even bent, EVER. If the note does not sit flat on the surface under its own weight it will be rejected. We were told that this has nothing to do with them being worried about fraudulent notes etc.; a General who got the hump about past US sanctions issued a diktat some years ago that only brand new notes, never folded, not even curved due to a wallet soft-fold are accepted for exchange. The diktat has never been rescinded so the exchanges stick to it rigidly. If a local business accepted a note that doesn't lie flat you might as well have given them a note ripped into 50 pieces - it's worthless and cannot be exchanged by them. A few people tried it on and were quickly disappointed that notes we'd say were brand new were rejected because they had a small bend radius in them. So if you do take USD with you, tell your bank/bureaux to give you brand new notes that have never ever been folded or bent because you are going to Burma and that's one law that they do stick to. If they refuse to guarantee this is what you'll get, go somewhere else as you'll be wasting your time buying unusable notes as far as Burma is concerned.
Feet - All of the temples and other religious sites in Burma insist on bare feet. Unlike Vietnam and Cambodia where socks are perfectly acceptable, in Burma they are not. No exceptions are made for medical conditions. I had a particularly aggressive fungal infection that I was half way through treating on my left foot that made it look like it had been hit by a hammer in a cartoon. I just couldn't risk the infection propagating to others, persisting or being aggravated by going barefoot so I had to miss entering every temple and monument. Oh well, it gives me a reason to go back one day to redo what I couldn't do this time around. One other person was affected for a different medical reason.
Spas - Although a man, I like my spa treatments to relax when I'm on holiday as I just don't have the time at home (never mind having the spare money for UK prices in a decent 4*/5* hotel). Unfortunately there is a depressing assumption that men going for a massage in Burma are only there for one thing - more than what's on the treatment list... I had two massages during the holiday at the 3*/4* hotels and both the masseurs offered a 'special massage' at the end of the main treatment which annoyed me. The only comfort by speaking to the local guide after the first intervention is that all men, regardless of ethnic origin, are offered this so it's not a horrible stereotype that all white westerners are dirty old men. Still, if this is going to ruin your experience by them making the offer, don't go, as they will.
