Yangon Airport

Exchange rate at the airport is half that at one of the huge markets in Yangon so there's no point in changing to local currency as you are no longer compelled to. US currency is welcomed and five bucks will get you into Yangon and the taxi driver will be your friend for life. "As rough as a Rangoon taxi' is a throw-away line you can use on your return to the "real world". If you want to go up-country to Bagan or Mandalay you might as well pay retail at one of the airline counters at airport. All internal flights seem to cost around $100 one-way give or take. The airport's a tip and it's important to check the time of your connecting flight to avoid being stuck there for an extended period. The air-conditioning system seems to be fighting a losing battle with the temperature and humidity. The airport and indeed the country are third world but the people are nice so you feel everyone’s in the same boat. A western or Japanese woman will full of complaints “too hot too dirty too third world smells bad” as well as hanging on your gun arm. But don’t think you are going to pick up some local company. You go in alone you are likely to stay that way. Myanmar's are far nicer and less bent and violent than Thais so a misunderstanding with a taxi driver is unlikely to end in unpleasantness. The notion of boycotting Myanmar is somewhat misguided as contact with western visitors is more likely to bring about change than isolation.

Yangon International looks like an airport stuck in the 1950s. Make that a Third World 1950s airport. The services are minimal a "healthy" immigration bureaucracy with lots of stamps (you'll go through 4-5 officials before exiting customs) the buses are old Japanese former city buses that haven't even been repainted and the terminal looks drab especially the departures section. Flew in and out of there on both domestic and international flights and the experience was pretty bad always. The atmosphere is a bit chaotic and there seem to be just about five check-in counters in the whole airport which are shared by all carriers. My plane departing the country was several hours late so I was stuck at RGN for a few hours. Thankfully Bangkok Airways has a small lounge area for its passengers where drinks and munchies were available. The outside departures hall was horrible with some walls covered with newspapers perhaps because of some impending renovation. Interestingly the airport in Mandalay which is not the capital like Yangon and has much less traffic was much bigger and actually had jetways. RGN's main terminal will hopefully be completely demolished when they decide to update the airport. "Vintage" cabs (i.e. 1970s and 80s fifth-hand Japanese sedans) should cost about USD 4 to the center of town (you can pay in dollars) but you may be asked for more upon exiting the terminal. There are usually plenty on offer so feel free to bargain.

A passenger has to submit 5 documents on arrival at the Yangon International Airport. This includes a card given by the embassy with the visa a SARS certificate Immigration Card Arrival Card and a Customs declaration. The arrival formalities are rather quick in spite of the red tape. The immigration officers are quite friendly as are the customs officials. They only seem to harass Myanmar nationals. Very few foreigners even declare cameras and an excess of the permissible amount of foreign exchange. You no longer have to exchange 200 dollars for Foreign Exchange Certificates. A pre-paid taxi ride to the Sule Paya area costs 5 dollars. A taxi ride from the city centre to the Airport only cost 2 dollars. The departure formalities are also quite simple. Reconfirmation of tickets is absolutely essential in Myanmar. You risk having an ok ticket cancelled if you don’t reconfirm. The customs staff screens your baggage so be sure not to take restricted items out of Myanmar.

RGN is a small compact airport but it is not necessarily simple process to arrive. After having bus-hauled to the terminal from the plane immigration counters were the first to encounter. Most tourists had their visa (a colorful one which occupies entire page) stamped before arrival. Next proceeded to FEC (Foreign Exchange Certificate) exchange counter. Tourists are required to exchange $200 cash with FEC (value equivalent to US$). There were some chaos at the line. Some airport staffs escorted some passengers and cut straight to the counter and exchanged for the escorted then they could proceed to the baggage claim before non-escorted. Count your FEC before leaving the counter. I was given in $10 FEC coupons and 1 coupon short! By the time you get to the baggage claim mine was already on the floor. The claim hall was very airy with very high ceiling big contrast to the passport control area which was very cramped. Baggage carts were not well kept. Many of them did not go to there direction where you wanted to. Passed the customs with minimum questions and the customs officers checked my passport again! (?) The chaos began when you stepped out of the building. Porters tried to grab my baggage even there was someone picking me up. 3 porters helped me for my one luggage! They just tried to make some living. It was very unusual confusing chaotic and animating. Leaving was the same chaotic process. It seems there were more guests than travelers. Paid $10 airport fee before check-in. A local lady cut in the line as I was handing my $10 bill and the staff took care of line cutting lady first not very organized. It seemed the line-cutting was way of life at the airport. Waiting lounge was dated and had only hard plastic seating. Air conditioner was noisy and seemed it would break down in any minutes. Toilets were old some with broken toilet seats. A couple of TV sets running local program inaudibly. Restaurant was very unattractive. There was nothing to make waiting time go fast. It was very outdated airport and had 1960-70's feeling. It was quite unique experience.

We flew to this airport from Bangkok. We were welcomed on the platform by friendly people and were ushered to a nondescript building and not to the glamorous terminal next to it. Later we heard that only the local government bobo’s had access to this site. We were guided into the standard arrival terminal and this one served for the customs to get the visa for entry. We were the first visiting group which got here under a new rule our visa instead at the embassy in Bangkok. Can you imagine a bare big place hardly any sitting facilities and toilets. We had to wait approximately about one hour before the next hurdle could be taken queuing-up in front of the passport control. Luckily our Burmese guide used some money in order get our luggage quick through without a check on valuables. We needed about 21/2 hours before we arrived “in the country”. The next encounter with this airport was a domestic flight to Mandalay for which we had to check-in very early in the morning. We arrived at the airport and it was still dark our driver dropped us outside the entrance gate and before we knew what was going on a lot of porters were fighting over our luggage. We were not allowed to carry our own stuff and had to follow the two guys which were chasing our suitcases through the crowd to the departure hall. Both porters stayed with us until after check and double-check all with printed-out passengers lists at the boarding counters. Finally they put our luggage on a transport lorry were tipped-of by us they gave us a big smile and vanished in the overcrowded place to pick-up a new load. We were ushered through customs why is a question because it was a domestic flight and arrived in a hardly lighted departure hall looking for a place to sit and wait for our plane to leave. We found a place but were chased away; we had to sit in the foreign lobby. This place was identical to the first one and was also crowded by a majority of locals. Both lounges were unkept dirty sitting facilities inadequate and the toilets as expected very unclean. Two weeks later at arrival from Heho on this airport we did encounter the same hectic. After leaving the plane we were waiting in the arrival hall for our luggage to appear but nothing came. The lorry with suitcases stayed outside and suddenly a guy stood in front of us and asked for our flight tickets. He told us that he needed them in order to be able to get our luggage of the lorry. He was double-checked by an officer that he had the right stuff and he brought us to our in advance chartered taxi which was parked outside the gate. This was heavy work two suitcases of approx 20 kg each and a weekender with this load he manoeuvred agile through the crowd. The last encounter with this airport was a few days later when we had to fly back to Bangkok. The same procedure with our luggage at arrival until the check-in counter here porters were not allowed to stay and had to get out the building. Than to our amazement at the international departure everything was electronic registered. We went through the customs very smoothly and arrived in the international departure lobby. There were 6 up to 7 small stores with the usual souvenirs and other expensive stuff. Further there was enough place to be seated but these were not well kept for Burmese standards relative clean the air-condition did not function well because it was sticky hot and the illumination level was rather low. Conclusion: This airport does not meet the international standards but it is quite an experience to have been there. We did mostly encounter friendly people and you have to be acquainted with the way of working and the hectic about the luggage. Apparently it is a play between the taxi drivers and the porters that they drop the passengers outside the gate so a next person can earn a living. We did encounter the same organisation at the domestic airport of Heho where we were dropped-off 500 meters insight of the main gate.