The Plan
Riding in a hot air balloon has always been a bucket list item for me. Most Americans ride hot air balloons for the first time through wine country in Napa Valley, California (where I lived nearby for a short time coincidentally but didn’t make it happen), in Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Disney World or somewhere else in the United States. I learned there are a lot of great places around the world to ride a hot air balloon (Here’s a list of top 17 hot air balloon rides). I was lucky enough to check hot air balloon ride off my bucket list in The Valley of Pagodas in Bagan, Myanmar.
I’d seen several pictures of hot air balloons above the ancient pagodas over the years and never thought to find out where the location was. One day I finally took action and learned about the Valley of Pagodas in Bagan, Myanmar. I was living in Bangkok, Thailand at the time so it wasn’t that far away and seemed a very doable solo trip so I started planning.
Visa Requirements
Before committing to the Valley of Pagodas, I looked into the tourist visa requirements. I was concerned about traveling on an American passport because the US Government and the global community were condemning the Myanmar government for Rohingya Genocide. Despite the political climate at the time, I looked into the Visa requirements from the US State Department, the Myanmar Government requirements, and pursued the trip. The US State Department confirmed a tourist visa is required as well as the other typical requirements which are passport must be valid for at least 6 months upon arrival, at least one blank page, $10K USD currency restriction upon arrival and exit, and possible vaccines.
The Myanmar Government website confirmed visa was required, allowed me to apply and pay online, get approval in 4 days, and only need an entry stamp upon arrival. I always recommend applying for your Visa online if you can. You will get through immigration at lot faster in any country you visit if you don’t have to fill out forms upon entry. More importantly, online forms a always more legible than hand written documents rushed at immigration. I was able to secure my Visa no problem. One note, both the US State Department and the Myanmar Government are very firm about which ports you enter and not traveling in the restricted area (Not near the Valley of Pagodas). You will not like the outcome if you decide to go exploring where the Myanmar government doesn’t want you to so don’t even think about it and don’t travel with anyone that would even consider it.
Itinerary
To make the most of my trip, I planned for the following starting from and returning to Bangkok, Thailand, with a night in Yangon, Myanmar on the way back:
Day 1 – Friday
- 0500 Taxi to Don Mueng Airport (DMK)
- 0730 Flight FD251 to Yangon, Myanmar (RGN)
- 0815 Arrive RGN, clear immigration, find a sim card
- 0900-1300 Find something to do in Yangon
- 1300 Be back at airport for 1530 flight to Nyaung (NYU)
- 1530 Depart RGN for NYU
- 1735 Arrive RGN, meet tour guide
- 1830 Be at hotel
Day 2 – Saturday
- Wake up when they tell me and be ready
- Hot air balloon through the Valley of Pagodas
- See local sites with tour guide
Day 3 – Sunday
- Wake up early for tour guide to take me to a view point in the Valley of Pagodas to get pics of the hot air balloons from the ground
- See more local sites
- 1530 Airport
- 1750 Depart NYU for RGN
- 1910 Arrive RGN
- 2030 Arrive hotel
- Walk around city, go to sleep
Day 4 – Monday
- 0600 Depart hotel for RGN to fly back to DMK
- 0845 Depart RGN
- 1030 Arrive DMK
What actually happened
Day 1 – Friday
0500 Taxi to Don Mueng Airport (DMK) – No problem. Done it 75+ times before.
0730 Flight FD251 to Yangon, Myanmar (RGN) – No problem. AirAsia is an amazing airline that I’d recommend to anyone. Not perfect, but price is right. Just bring your own water and snacks and you’ll be fine.
0815 Arrive RGN, clear immigration, find a sim card – Surprisingly, no hassles. Sim card was very affordable and telecom was solid. This was before I had Google Fi which is highly recommended for travelers. While considering what to do between 0900-1300, I ate breakfast at KFC. I have learned to fill my stomach when I can on food I know won’t make me sick to prevent finding myself in a situation where I may have to eat something that will probably ruin my day. KFC, Burger King, Subway, McDonald’s, are global brands and are very good for this. Flying with beef jerky, crackers, chips, nuts, etc, are great to have on standby just in case.
I hate to kill the “eat like a local” fantasy but keep in mind you will get diarrhea like a foreigner if you’re too adventurous. Disagree with me in the comments below all you want. I’ve lived overseas for five+ years and this is the best practice to avoid the trots. You will find a lot of good food when you travel and you should try it, but consider where you are. There is a big difference between Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia and Japan and Singapore. Think about the purpose of the trip. Is it to try exotic food or see the Valley of Pagodas? You don’t want the most memorable part of your trip to be diarrhea in a bathroom with no toilet paper or running water.
0900-1300 Find something to do in Yangon – While eating, I looked at Trip Advisor Yangon to find a local attraction and decided on Shwedagon Pagoda. This amazing Pagoda is the number one attraction in Yangon and I figured I should go there since I probably wasn’t going to be back in Yangon anytime soon. It was a quick ride via Grab, which is an Uber / Lyft car service from Singapore that operates throughout Asia, if you’re not familiar. It’s big in Asia and pretty solid in countries like Philippines, Malaysia, & Myanmar.
The ride to Shwedagon Pagoda was painless. The Grab driver spoke very good English. The car was older but safe. There were several mosquitoes flying around in the car. One got me on the leg and left a welt that didn’t last long. I always appreciate a windshield tour of a city where I can get some candid shots of the locals and get some do’s and don’ts from the driver.
Shwedagon Pagoda
Shwedagon Pagoda was a pretty amazing site. It’s an active religious site so respect is required. I say that not to be captain obvious but to say, don’t be like me and show up in shorts. Many temples or religious places throughout Asia will overlook when a man shows up in shorts even though the sign says no shorts allowed (Bali, Bangkok, Phenom Pen). Luckily for me, since this place is serious about the dress code, they have Lyongi’s you can rent for very cheap, which is a traditional Burmese man dress.
The Lyongi was very difficult to wear and I didn’t have a belt to hold it up. Instead, I had to learn how to do some fancy wrap and fold to get it to stay in place. The guys that wear this everyday have no problem. I, on the other hand, had a lot of problems and even caught some people laughing at me. At one point, a young man came up to help me when he saw me struggling with it. That was pretty cool of him. He didn’t speak English and he didn’t ask for any money. He was just trying to help me out. That made me feel welcome to the temple.
I ran through Shwedagon Pagoda rather quickly. There is a lot to see but when I’m traveling solo and without a tour guide, I have a tendency to spray and pray (take a ton of pictures) and look at them later. i do stop to observe and take it all in, but I’m not there to become an expert so I move pretty quickly. Additionally, when you’ve lived in Thailand for 3 years and been to several temples, you pretty much get the gist and want to see the feature that makes this the number one attraction in Yangon and little more. Here is a more in depth post about Shwedagon Pagoda here:
After the temple, I took another Grab taxi to a main mall/walking street. It was Friday so everyone was working and going about their normal routine. I like to observe the locals in this environment to see how they do things. It’s interesting to see how they park to drop of deliveries that creates a road block and others deal with it in an understanding way. I like to walk down streets and see street vendors and what they’re selling. It was pretty hot so I ducked into a foot massage place and got one of the strongest foot massages I’ve ever had. It hurt like hell during but felt good after once I could walk again. The obstacle with the foot massage was a language barrier. While I’d assume the lady knows harder and softer in most of her customer’s languages because it’s her business but I was wrong. It was funny.
Back to the Airport
At 1300, I headed back at airport for my 1530 flight to Nyaung (NYU) – I ended up back at the airport around 1230 but that was fine. I didn’t really have enough time between the foot massage and 1300 to go to another place. Back at the airport, I saw a Burger King. If you read my travel history page, you’ll see that I’ve had a lot of Whoppers from around the world. It’s just something I like to compare when i visit different countries. I’ve created the Whoppers category for this website to share them. Probably not the best use of my time, but what can I say. Maybe Burger King will sponsor my travels some day? In the mean time, I had my Whopper, took my pictures, and then went to security so I could get to my gate. You can read about my Myanmar Whopper here.
1530 Depart RGN for NYU – No issues. Myanmar National Airlines flight UY5-201 took off on time headed for NYU. There was a sandwich and water provided on the flight. It was only a light snack and very simple. The flight seemed quick and there was an amazing sunset from above the clouds.
Arrive in Bagan
1735 Arrive RGN, meet tour guide – The plane landed on time. It was very very dark. Really dark. Scary middle of no where dark in a foreign country all alone where only a few people know where you are, dark. This is where I started reconsidering how wise it was to travel by myself for a hot air balloon ride to a country the whole world is currently condemning for genocide. Out of know where, I see someone in a reflective vest holding a sign with my name on it. He wasn’t the travel guide I prebooked and the big flag was that he didn’t speak English. He tried to tell me something that sounded like my flight back to Yangon was being changed. it wasn’t totally clear so i told him to find my travel guide and talk to her.
Traveling throughout Asia has taught me that you need to get stuff resolved with the least amount of people in a language that the decision makers are fluent in. If you aren’t fluent, then you need an advocate. When issues like this come up, tour guides pay for themselves!!!
The issue was my flight back to RGN was being delayed from 1750 to 2145. This is a huge problem. I scheduled the 1750 flight purposely to give me some room in case it was delayed giving me the chance to end up on an unreasonably late flight to still leave NYU and end up in RGN on the day I wanted. A flight scheduled at 2145 is more than likely going to be cancelled at the last minute instead of flying out at 0200.
Did I mention how dark it was in this remote area? They don’t get a lot of planes here. If my Sunday night flight gets cancelled, I miss my Monday morning flight back to DMK. Can’t do it. I explained this to the tour guide and she went into action. It’s a small town and she’s a tour guide so she’s connected. She talked to the airline worker and got his phone number. The two of them were going to find a solution for me. It seemed pretty cool that they actually cared about my issue. Meanwhile, it was time to get to the hotel.
Tourist Tax
Buttttttt…before leaving the airport, I have to pay the foreigner tax. I’m typically skeptical when there is a foreigner tax. I want to see it in writing and I want a receipt. In this case, there was a large sign and I was given a cool little souvenir for a receipt. The foreigner tax is actually for the Archaeological zone fee. The fee is 25,000 KYATS which is $17.94 USD at the time of this writing. Whatever…tourist fees happen.
1830 Be at hotel – I was at the hotel by 2100. The hotel was nicer than expected and included breakfast. I was eager to get to bed since I had an early morning the next day.
Day 2 – Saturday
Wake up when they tell me and be ready – I was told to be in the lobby of the hotel at 0515. The van taking me to the Valley of Pagoda’s launch site showed up at 0520 which is pretty punctual. It was a pretty nostalgic old school van with no suspension that made a lot of noise and was a very rough ride. There were a few people already on when I boarded and we picked up a few others along the way.
Sunrise Hot Air Balloon Ride through Valley of Pagodas, Bagan, Myanmar
Hot air balloon through the Valley of Pagodas – The bus arrived at the launch site around 0555. It was still pretty dark but it was getting lighter quickly. The tourists were grouped and given light beverages and morning snacks. The ground crew started assembling the balloons in the background. The area slowly started to come alive. First there were lots of vehicles showing up. Then tarps were laid out. The balloons were stretched out over the tarps. After that, the ground crew filled the balloons with air and they started show signs of life. You could hear the sound of several fans running right before you started to hear and see flames that were used to heat the air inside the balloon in order to stand the balloon and basket up.
https://youtu.be/sUxJfVNqAY4
Once all the balloons were upright, the tourists were pulled in for an orientation/safety brief. The sun was close to rising above the horizon. We boarded the balloon when told to. The captain did his thing and the balloon lifted off the ground to sail through the Valley of Pagodas. The ground crew waved good bye with smiles and cheers as the balloons floated up and away. It was pretty cool. It’s hard to describe the feelings I had. First of all, I had a DSLR camera that i wanted to get awesome pics with, then I had my cell phone that I wanted to get awesome pics with, meanwhile, I wanted to look around and take it all in. To be in a hot air balloon above thousands of ancient pagodas from the 11-13th centuries is pretty insane. It’s ancient lands and very overwhelming.
The Pictures
The view was just so amazing. The hot air balloons over the different pagodas really make for once in a lifetime photos that you have to experience to fully appreciate. The balloons sailed through the valley of pagodas, over some houses, and then over some farm land where it landed. The sunrise trip was about an hour but it seems like five minutes. We could see the villagers going about their daily business. Two young kids were waving up at the balloons. It was very tranquil and undeveloped.
At the end of the ride, we braced for impact. We landed on farmland way past the other balloons for some reason. We unbuckled when told to do so and exited the basket. The ground crew arrived and started disassembling the balloon. Other crew members set up a table for light snacks and a champagne toast. There were other non-alcoholic beverages available as well. We were given certificates from the captain that stated we did the balloon ride and then were driven back to our hotel. It was a very fast adventure.
https://youtu.be/Ji7DRQS8wZc
I was provided breakfast when I returned back to the hotel. It was a pretty simple, kind of European attempt with a really crazy looking pancake that came with jelly, thick butter, and honey. It was pretty good and hit the spot.
Touring Bagan, Myanmar
The tour guide showed up at 1000 with the driver and took me to see the town and start the tour. We went to the local market, then to see several noteworthy pagodas and other local attractions.
First stop, the local Bagan market.
Additional stops included Valley of Pagodas highlights, Ananda Temple, Tharabar Gate, Thatbyinnyu Temple, and much more. Here is a more detailed post about the local sites in Bagan, Myanamar.
The tour guide received a phone call from the airline when we were in between attractions. She told me that the airline was cancelling the Sunday night flight and I would be put on the first flight out on Monday. I told her that was unacceptable and I couldn’t do that. Her and the guy talked some more and then she said there was a flight with another airline in 3 hours that I could be on if I wanted. I had to think really fast and make a decision that seemed really hard at the time but really wasn’t in hindsight. What would I be missing if I left early? But how big is Bagan, Myanmar anyway?
I accepted the flight even though it meant I wasn’t getting a refund on my Sunday morning pictures tour and no refund from the hotel leaving a night early. Bagan isn’t that lively so it wasn’t a big loss. It also meant I had to find a hotel in Yangon for Saturday night which would be an extra cost. It was that or lose my Monday morning flight so I took the early flight on the other airline. I was a little unhappy about missing the Sunday morning ground pics of the hot air balloons but it’s okay. The hot air balloons travel for one hour which is really quick. Staying just to take pictures of that didn’t seem wise.
Leaving Bagan Early
The driver took us back to the hotel. I packed real quick and checked out. Half an hour later, I was at the airport where the guide and I parted ways. I had her number in case I needed assistance. I sat in the airport for about an hour and wasn’t sure that I would get on the flight or not. Eventually I was herded through security and found a seat at the terminal. A few hours later I was in Yangon and headed to a hotel in China Town. The hot air balloons and the Valley of Pagodas were behind me and a new adventure awaited in Yangon.
After checking into the hotel, I walked the nearby streets to find some dinner. There wasn’t much open and China Town seemed dead. The reviews online said China Town was happening but I didn’t see that. The main market street closed early. The weather wasn’t very nice but wasn’t horrible. I called it a night. I found out later, as my unfortunate luck would have it, March 2 is actually a Myanmar national holiday for Peasant’s Day. That explained why everything was closed. Note to self, remember to look up national holidays prior to visiting developing countries.
Day 3 – Sunday
What was supposed to be a busy day in Bagan, turned into a very lazy day in Yangon. I moved to my original hotel. Had dinner at an interesting restaurant that was very dark with low lights. I went to two bars and one night club to see how Yangon parties. The bars had no customers so I went to a highly rated club next to my hotel (proximity not a coincidence). The club had a cover charge that came with a free drink. I walked into the bar and saw no people. What a waste…I got a Myanmar beer. I drank it and left. I went back to my room and packed my bags so that I would be ready for tomorrow’s travel day. After a few hours I went back to the club.
When I returned, the club was out of control. It was a really awesome techno dance vibe with several live djs. I hung out for a while and drank a few more beers. The video below shows how awesome the the place was. It wasn’t cool to be alone. Left me in the position to keep losing my real estate when I wanted a second beer or went to the restroom. I called it a night around 3am.
https://youtu.be/R6grBvfDlw8
Day 4 – Monday
0600 Depart hotel for RGN to fly back to DMK – I woke up at 0500 after going to bed at about 0315 and took a Grab to RGN.
0845 Depart RGN – Flight took off with no delays.
1030 Arrive DMK – I arrived on time and headed to home sweet home.
Conclusion:
I learned that the Valley of Pagodas in Bagan, Myanmar can be done in three days if you really want to push the limits. Make sure you have a contingency plan when traveling in a country that doesn’t have reliable transportation. I can still remember the hot air balloon ride like it was yesterday and it’s been almost two years at the time of this writing. Overall, The Valley of Pagodas was an amazing trip that you have to do if you’re ever in the area.
