Hansen Inc.

The first option is a taxi bike, only relevant outside Yangon. It’s a tri-bike that mostly assembles an ordinary old-school mens bike without gears fitted with a sidecar. The sidecar can with good will be said to have to passenger seats, however I’ve never seen both seat used. But I’ve seen – and tried – to be in one seat and the luggage in the other. I rode on a taxi bike the first time I was at Ngwe Saung, the trip was the 3 Km from the bus-stop to Tamonnar Oo Resort. I and my suitcase was loaded in the seats and the driver began to push the bike,…

You’ll find them everywhere. The bike is typical fitted with a 75-150 ccm and in scooter design. If you are Burmese you would probably think such a device can seat 3-4 , but I recommend to limit it to the driver and one passenger. In the cities the motorbike taxi can progress faster than the car, because it can circumvent the congestion. Some of the drivers offer a helmet you can wear, the ones I’ve seen are similar what in Denmark is used when riding a bike and be sure it’s one size fits all.

The taxi is a good idea when you are going around in a city, at least it will protect you from the traffic and weary feats, save you time and might be comfortable. If you have only been in a taxi in Europe you think of taxis as a uniform experience, forget it in Myanmar where taxi quality is very different. A frequent taxi is a Toyota Corolla from the late 1980’s or a newer low cost Toyota Probox. For old on the odometer has probably been the full clock around more than once, but the engine is still ticking and the horn works, so it’ll go on. Of course…

I have not tried local buses as all signs, route plans and guidance I found is in Burmese. Intercity transportation can be done via the wide spread and rather efficient bus network. The intercity buses comes like the cars, some are brand-new directly from Scania and some are 2nd, 3rd++ hands. The older ones are imported used typically from Japan and Korea. Buses provide cheap intercity transport, can easily compete with train and plane. VIP buses are the most expensive, but the offer the best quality busses. The air-condition will definitively work, and here is a caveat, as cold is a status they’ll run the temperature down to freezing. When…

Railroads in Myanmar is operated by the government, so if you travel by train you’ll support the government financial – but that might not be so big a problem after November 8th 2015. The railroads are basically the same as the ones the British laid out before they left in 1948, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the same carts that are rolling along the tracks. Locomotives To be honest the condition of Myanmar railroads are miserable. The tracks are made up of light weight rails and when you look down the rail you’ll see that it is laid out wobbly and not straight. If your train experience is…

If you don’t want to rattle and bumping along the roads or railroads of Myanmar, despite it rather low fare charge, you can choose between a number of airlines with domestic operation. The routes covers all of the country from Kaw Thaung in south to Puta O in north. Most domestic routes are operated with turbo-prop planes – the French-Italian ATR planes seems to be popular. This means a lower speed than if they used jets, so a trip from Yangon to Kaw Thaung will take around 3 hours. To secure a better utilisation of the seats most routes are not direct but includes one or more stops to allow…

As the roads of Myanmar in most areas are rather poor or non-existing transport goes on the rivers where possible. The boats sailing on the rivers span from a type of long-tail to regular ferries. The small boats can usually be rented in the same way as you take a taxi. Don’t look for comfort equipment, the boat is made of wood with an engine fitted in the back. The motor looks like the ones mounted in Burmese tractors or something ripped from a car. They are typically fitted with a small and inadequate silencer, so a lot of noise is produced. Seating is either a wooden bench or a…