364
DIRECTORY A–Z
Maps
The best available is the
1:2,000,000 Periplus Editions
Myanmar Travel Map, a fold-
ed map with plans for Man-
dalay, Yangon and the Bagan
area, or the ITMB 1:1,350,000
Myanmar (Burma). Another
choice is the 1:1,500,000
Nelles Myanmar, a folded
map on coated stock. Good
places to buy maps online
include International Travel
Maps and Books (www.itmb.
com) and East View Map
Link (www.maplink.com).
Myanmar-based Design
Printing Services (DPS;
http://www.dpsmap.com) prints use-
ful tourist maps of Myanmar,
Yangon, Mandalay and Bagan;
get a free one online. Some-
times these maps are sold lo-
cally for about K1000 or given
away by tour agencies.
In Yangon you can pick up
the full-colour, folded To u r i s t
Map of Myanmar, published
on coated stock by DPS, from
many hotels and bookshops.
Sometimes you can grab one
free at the Yangon Airport
arrival hall.
The Myanmar govern-
ment’s Survey Department
publishes a very good
1:2,000,000 paper sheet
map of the country, simply
entitled Myanmar. It’s big
and the uncoated paper
decays rapidly. You can fi nd
it on Bogyoke Aung San Rd
in Yangon, just east of the
market.Money
See p 12 for details on costs
in Myanmar and p 23 for tips
on spreading your budget
through the private sector
rather than giving it to the
government.ATMs, Credit Cards &
Travellers Cheques
None of Myanmar’s few
ATMs accept overseas cards.
Credit cards and travellers
cheques are also useless in
Myanmar, a situation that isunlikely to change in the near
future.
However, a couple of high-
end hotels in Yangon and
Mandalay do accept credit
cards, and sometimes give
cash back – albeit with a
hefty surcharge.Banks
There was a mass emigra-
tion of foreign banks from
Myanmar following the
2003 sanctions by the EU
and USA. The few national
banks that remain are of little
use to travellers, as offi cial
exchange rates massively
overvalue the kyat.Currency
Myanmar’s national cur-
rency, the kyat (pronounced
‘chat’) is divided into the
following banknotes: K1, K5,
K10, K20, K50, K100, K200,
K500, K1000 and K5000;
you’ll rarely come across
the smaller denominations
and if you do they’re often in
tatters.
The US dollar acts as an
alternative currency with
most guesthouses and hotels
quoting prices and accepting
payment in the greenback. If
you choose to pay in kyat, it
will be at a disadvantageous
rate (perhaps a diff erence
of K50 or K100 to the dol-
lar). Some hotels, shops and
government ferry clerks give
change in kyat or with tornUS bills that you can’t use
elsewhere in Myanmar.
Government-run services
(such as archaeological sites,
museums and ferries) and
fl ights are paid for in US dol-
lars or FEC notes (see p 365 ).
Items such as meals, bus
tickets, trishaw or taxi rides,
bottles of water or beer and
market items are usually
quoted in kyat.Moneychangers
Avoid the offi cial exchange
counters, which undercut
black-market rates substan-
tially (K7 per dollar, rather
than K850).
You will be asked to
‘change money’ many times
on your trip. Technically, the
only reasonable way to buy
kyat is through the ‘black
market’ – meaning from
shops, hotels, travel agents,
restaurants or less reliable
guys on the street. You can
change US dollars or euros
in Yangon, but generally only
US dollars elsewhere.
The $100 bill gets a better
exchange rate than a $50
or $20, and so on. And sup-
posedly the exchange rate is
marginally better early in the
week (Monday or Tuesday).
It’s safest to change
money in hotels or shops,
rather than on the street. The
moneychangers standing
around just east of the Maha-
bandoola Garden in Yangon
have a reputation for short-
changing new arrivals.
Never hand over your
money until you’ve received
the kyat and counted them.
Honest moneychangers
will expect you to do this.
Considering that K5000 is
the highest denomination
(roughly $5.90), you’ll get a
lot of notes. Moneychangers
give ready-made, rubber-
banded stacks of a hundred
K1000 bills. It’s a good
idea to check each note
individually. Often you’ll fi nd
one or two (or more) with a
cut corner or taped tears,
neither of which anyone will
accept. We heard from some
travellers that Yangon mon-KYAT &
DOLLARSPrices in this book
alternate between kyat
(K) and US dollars ($),
depending on the cur-
rency in which prices
are quoted. Be careful
to keep some US dol-
lars with you in case
you’re turned back by a
strict museum cashier
who will not take kyat.
For more information,
see p 364.