Take Min as your guide and visit Myanmar - We went on a tour with Min from Tastes of Bagan and I have never met a more patient and more pleasant travel companion. He organized our airport transfer at Yangon and later picked us up at Mandalay. We went around the town and on to Mandalay hill. The next day we stopped at Mount Popa and continued to Bagan. All these places have a very spiritual vibe about them. Everything so calm and quiet. Heartbreaking to see the old cruise ships beached along the Irrawaddy-River which reminded me of the Nile or the Zambezi. Min knows his field very well - can explain every temple or ritual and still has an eye for his guests needs. Always punctual, he takes care of every wish and detour from the plan just to make his visitors happy. One week around Myanmar is of course way to short. When you look for Myanmar these days you will find travel warnings about health, civil unrest, sanctions, no credit card working, security issues - all of it turned out be utter nonsense. I have never encountered a country where the people were so friendly, timid, open and interested in you personally as a guest. Myanmar is the example where pointless Covid-travel restrictions followed by political sanctions have hurt the poorest of the poorest and made the rich even richer. After 7 years with hardly any foreign guests the tourism sector is almost totally relying on locals. Needless to say, Visa and Mastercard work fine, exchanging dollars is no problem at all and you could get the latest western products (so much for the sanctions). Security personnel at airports or at occasional checkpoints is pretty friendly and forthcoming. Myanmar is Asia how it used to be - unless you prefer Chinese bus groups or overcrowded photo spots. It turned out that I was the photo spot - whenever has a group of monks asked you if they can take a picture with you or practice English? One week around Myanmar is of course way to short. So, we will return soon and visit Kachin and the Shan-Highlands together. Thank you so very much!

Myanmar - go there! - We did a wonderful 3 day tour with Min. He picked as up at the airport in Mandalay, he showed us the city, the temple on the mountain and the wonderful sunset on the river. The next day we went on to Mount Popa, the climb was a challenge, but the temple and the view were definitely worth it. I don't want to write much about Bagan, it's simply magnificent and special, not nearly as crowded as Angkor Wat in Cambodia, we were often the only visitors. Min had recommended very good hotels, such as the Tharabar Gate Hotel in Bagan, more of a shady lodge with good food then a hotel. In general, he accommodated all requests and always knew about all the security aspects in the country, so we felt very safe.