Originally Posted by kan148

I've been doing short trips to Burma for last two years because like others posters mentioned you will need weeks to explore all the places. Visited Bagan/Mandalay last month and Yangon/Ngapali back in December of 2009. Thinking of going there again for Inlay Lake and may be Shan State end of this year.

Ballon ride in Bagan is amazing, by the way. Highly recommended. Also, to watch a sunsets, you can only go up to 4 or 5 temples as the bigger and older temples are now closed for climbing. Some temples that you can climb all the way to the top were very crowded so get there a bit early if you want to have the best view. We also did the horsecart ride for a half day and enjoyed it. We requested the driver to take the paths where no cars can go/ be around (instead of taking the shortest and most direct routes between temples etc) and saw the most scenic views of the place. It was pretty awesome.

Stayed at Aureum Hotel (not sure it is government owned or not) and loved it. Good internet access and food (oh, we hated every meal we tried outside of our hotel's restaurant ). Also, hotel is located not too close to the old Bagan where all the temples/tourists are. But, the horsecart route from there to old Bagan is worth staying there

Here are some pictures took with the iPhone 4. Yep!