370DIRECTORY A–Z
or twice! In cases such as
these you’ll need more of a
reason than simply ‘tourism’
for receiving another visa. Be
creative.Extensions &
Overstaying Your Visa
Tourist visas cannot be ex-
tended and you can run into
problems if you choose to
stay longer than the allotted
28 days. Hotels are obliged to
report travellers whose visas
have expired to the authori-
ties and, if found to have not
done so, will be in trouble
themselves.
Also, you may have diffi -
culties with airport immigra-
tion if you’re planning do-
mestic fl ights, particularly in
far-fl ung airports (like Sittwe
or Myitkyina). If you do over-
stay, it’s wise to stick with
land routes and places within
easy access of Yangon, as
we’ve heard stories of such
tourists being instructed to
leave the country immedi-
ately when discovered by the
authorities.
All this said, overstaying
your visa a few days – even
a week or so – is possible. At
research time, Yangon Air-
port’s immigration charged
$3 per day, plus a $3 ‘regis-
tration fee’ for visitors who
go over the allotted 28 days.
Have exact change ready
(they’re not likely to change
your $100 bill and they won’t
take kyat) and arrive early
enough to fi ll out the neces-
sary forms.Volu nt e e r i n g
Offi cial opportunities to vol-
unteer are greatly limited. A
list of NGOs that may have
volunteering opportuni-
ties can be found on http://www.
ngoinmyanmar. org, although
mostly their postings are for
specifi c experienced workers
(often in medicine). Don’t
let this sway you. Everyone
in Myanmar wants to learn
English, and few can aff ord
to. Ask in towns or villages to
sit in at an English class.
One or two smaller opera-
tions have fought their way
through government- and
sanction- inspired red tape
and set up low-key projects
to improve lives. The follow-
ing are able to accept both
skilled and unskilled volun-
teers, but give them as much
advance notice as possible.
Growing Together School
([email protected]) Swiss-
run project with two schools
based in and around Yangon.
It generally requires volun-
teer trained and untrained
teachers and builders and
handypeople for at least six
weeks.
Eden Centre for Disabled
Children (%640 399; http://www.
edencentre.org) Myanmar-run
NGO working to better the
lives of disabled children in
the city.
Myanmar Charity Group
(www.myanmarcharitygroup.
org) Provides assistance for
the education and generalwelfare of disabled and
orphaned children.
Unicef (www.unicef.org/myan
mar/index.html) Runs various
programs to protect children
and improve public health.Wom e n T r av e l l e r s
As in most Buddhist coun-
tries, foreign women travelling
in Myanmar are rarely hassled
on the road as they might be
in India, Malaysia or Indone-
sia. However, we have heard a
few reports of sexual harass-
ment. Dressing modestly
should help reduce this risk:
wear a local longyi instead of
a skirt above the knee, and
any old T-shirt instead of a
spaghetti-strap singlet.
Few Myanmar women
would consider travelling
without at least one female
companion, so women travel-
ling alone are regarded as
slightly peculiar by the locals.
Lone women being seen off
on boats and trains by local
friends may fi nd the latter try-
ing to fi nd a suitably respon-
sible older woman to keep
them company on the trip.
If you didn’t bring tam-
pons, one good place to fi nd
them is Yangon’s City Mart
Supermarket.
‘Ladies’ (per the posted
signs in certain areas) cannot
go up to some altars or onto
decks around stupas, includ-
ing the one aff ording a close-
up look at the famous Golden
Rock at Kyaiktiyo, or apply
gold leaf on the Buddha
image at Mandalay’s Ma-
hamuni Paya. Also, women
should never touch a monk;
if you’re handing something
to a monk, place the object
within reach of him, not di-
rectly into his hands.
Most locals tend to visit
teahouses, restaurants or
shops with members of the
same sex. Asian women, even
from other countries, travel-
ling with a Western man may
encounter rude comments.VISA ON ARRIVAL?In 2010, Myanmar test-ran a tourist-visa-on-arrival
system for fl ights into Yangon, but at the time of our
research in early 2011, it didn’t appear to be operating,
despite many websites making it seem as if it still did.
We have since heard that visas on arrival are once
again available at Yangon Airport, but only in very
specifi c circumstances. To get one, you need to enter
Myanmar on the scheduled Myanmar Airways Interna-
tional fl ights from either Guangzhou or Siem Reap.