Kim, Lucas and I got back from our trip to Myanmar (Burma) earlier in the week.

This trip felt like a real adventure. Maybe it was partly due to Lucas telling us he wanted to go discover more while we wandered and climbed around temple ruins and other sites around the country!

We had a great time and created lots of new memories which we’ll never forget in possibly one of the friendliest countries that we’ve ever visited. (It seems like when you’re traveling with a little guy, most places tend to be friendlier!) In this post I want to share some things that we got to know about Myanmar thanks to our visit.

Here are 14 things we learned during our trip…

1. Just about everyone loves little kids. Everywhere we went, people wanted to touch Lucas’ face (and arms) and take a picture with him. It was fun at first but by the middle of the trip, Lucas was saying “no pictures” and trying to hide!
2. The people seem to be genuinely nice, friendly and honest.
3. The white stuff that all of the locals have on their face is not dirt. It’s Thanaka, made from tree bark, used as a sunscreen & for other purposes.
4. You can get very nice hotel rooms in the $60 range. We read that the lodging options were pretty bad while 3 of the 4 places we stayed were actually very good.
5. While the food isn’t great, it certainly isn’t as bad as I read and heard it is. It’s also very cheap. We had many meals which cost $10-$11 (some less) total!
6. You don’t need adapters to charge your electronics. We were definitely surprised that we could just plug-in our devices and charge them without any hassle.
7. Myanmar has some of the nicest sunsets (and sunrises too). One of our favorites was by the U Bein Bridge.
8. While April is considered the hot season, it’s a great time to go. We read about how hot it could be but it really wasn’t bad. Due to the season, sites were not so busy. Just be sure to lotion up, bring a hat and buy lots of water (about .30¢ per liter)
9. We all learned a couple of local words. Mingalaba= hello & Tata= goodbye.
10. The internet is slow but it does work, just not all of the time.
11. It’s best to bring cash and you can also pay in US$. However, we did see ATMs in many places but you will pay a fee.
12. Sneakers aren’t necessary. We wore flip-flops everyday since we constantly had to take them off in order to enter the temples. (Just be careful, the stones can be very hot.)
13. All of the local airlines have open seating. Pick where you want to sit kinda like Southwest in the US.
14. Tamarind flakes are awesome! If you want to try out a sweet local treat, this is what you will want.

I’ll be sharing more of our trip to Myanmar in some upcoming posts. Make sure to keep checking back to find out more about our visit to this fascinating country!

Related Posts:

• Postcards From: Mandalay- Pink Monks
• Postcards From: Temple Ruins of Paleik, Myanmar