hilltribe trekking

In February my wife and I are going to Myanmar for 14 days. We want to visit some hill tribes.

Is it anyone how can recommend us a god place to go to?

We are also open for other tips to see and visit.

Ola / Sweden

hilltribe trekking

Would recommend going to Kiang Tong. We were there in October and did 2 x day trips visiting the hill tribes with a local guide - fantastic experience. We booked through Columbus Travel in Yangon. As this was our 2nd visit we only spent 2 days in Yangon (went to Golden Rock Mountain stayed overnight), then flew to Mandalay 2 nights, Lake Inle (don%26#39;t miss visiting here), then to Kiang Tong. Previous visit included Bagan.

Kay/NZ

hilltribe trekking

Thank you very much fore your information. Pleas tell me were Kiang Tong lies in Myanmar.

Can you also tell me if it’s possible to get a visa on the airport in Yangon? If you can, is it any difficulties to get it?

Do you have any hotel that you can recommend at Lake Inle?

Inle Lake: In Oct06 we stayed at Paradise B Hotel which is on the lake so you need to get there by boat. Make sure it is Paradise B and not Paradise Inle Resort Hotel which is alongside Paradise B Hotel.

There are hotels in the town if you don%26#39;t want to stay on the lake, but it was a nice experience.

Kyaing Tong is South-East of Mandalay, very close to the border of Laos. We stayed in the Princess Hotel (very comfortable) in the town [ Has been upgraded since the write up in the Lonely Planet Guide dated Oct 2005 publication]. Our guide (Paul) met us early each morning and took us to the market to shop and experience the marketplace then we headed off to the hills, stopping off on the way to meet the local people, experience rice harvesting, taking photos etc.

We arranged our itinerary beforehand with Columbus Travels in Yangon: columbus@mptmail.net.mm or directly with Ms Ohnmar - columbus03@baganmail.net.mm. T. +95 1 229245. They arranged for a guide to met us at Yangon airport and take us to our hotel (Yuzana Hotel - magnificient view of Shwedagon Pagoda from room). Briefly, our itinerary included: Yangon/Kyaikhtiyo (Golden Rock Mountain';/Yangon/Kalaw(Inle Lake)/Mandalay/Kyaing Tong/Yangon - 9 October - 19 October.

You can read up on the above in the Lonely Planet Guide.

Our earlier visit in 2004 - Yangaon/Bagan/Mandalay/Inle Lake/Yanagon.

Lovely people, magnificient country. We plan to return.

We have used Columbus Travels twice and very satisfied. High quality guides.

Re currency: US dollars - clean notes i.e. no marks, pen or ink marks. Don%26#39;t change currency at airport. All hotels will exchange. Our guides happy to exchange from US to local currency.

Re Visa: We got ours before leaving NZ. See other postings on the forum for other advice. I see that visas can be obtained in Thailand.

See other postings on forum re currency etc. Also, look up Seattle Traveler 21 May 06 page 5 and the response from TomBonyc. He has useful information on Kyaing Tong.

Happy to answer any queries.

If you book through Columbus request Paul for your guide in Kyaing Tong - he speaks all the hill tribe dialects and has a great rapport with them. I also have his direct contact details, but only by post, no email address, so will take time.

I am very grateful for all this information.

It would bee great to get Pauls address.

You can send it to ola.lundberg@telia.com

Will send info by email

Kay/NZ

Hi Ola,

Just to add a few comments re Myanmar. You can get a visa in BKK but you can also waste a day to 3 days doing so. Better to have it when you arrive. (Of course, like many things, you can spend more and have a BKK travel agent get it for you and not lose so much time.)

Lonely Planet is the best guide I found for Myanmar. Lake Inle recommendations for hotel - Bright Hotel. Also Paradise Hotel in Nyung Shwe - not on the lake. I stayed in both - the one on the lake was okay overnight but I felt it was confining, lights out when the generator goes out, etc.

Although I didn%26#39;t do this, others I met had gone to the beaches and enjoyed them. I%26#39;ll try that next time. I found Mandalay the least interesting place I visited.

My time was short and I didn%26#39;t get to visit the hill tribes. Good luck with this - I think it would be a very interesting experience.