Hi all,

We've just crossed Myanmar by motorcycle from Thailand to India (well, were delayed at the border because of bureaucracy). We did or crossing with Burma Senses, organised by Win. The crossing has been great, with no hassles or drama, but there was some information we wanted to share which we did not realise beforehand.

Burma Senses is a subsidiary of Asia Senses, a Vietnamese company. They subcontract and purchase the actual tour from a local company called Myanmar Senses (not affiliated with Asia or Burma Senses). They also hire a local independent guide to do the actual guiding. For us, on two motorbikes, we have a van accompanying us with 3 people: a local guide, a man from Myanmar Senses, and a driver. Burma Senses is merely the middle man in the arrangement.

Don't get us wrong, Win at Burma/Asia Senses is very helpful and easy to deal with, but if we were to do it again we would probably cut the middle man and deal directly with either Myanmar Senses, or the local guide directly, to save on costs. Whilst we are stuck at the border, Myanmar Senses (not Burma Senses) is covering our accomodation costs, and the boss is coming from Yangon to Tamu to try and help rectify the situation.

The guides name is Soe Myint Htay, he is a young (31 years old) local guy who has been guiding for about a decade, and knows his country very well. He speaks fluent English, and even understands all idioms. He has his own motorbike, and can accompany tours on that. Easy going and pleasant to get along with, and a great sense of humour.

His email is (with permission): soe060@gmail dot com. You can contact him directly for overland border crossings. I would not hesitate to use him for a tour (he is the only one of the three who speaks English).

Interestingly, in Myanmar they are not allowed to use the term 'Burma', so Burma Senses is able to capitalise on he fact that that is the name most of the world knows them by.

Just our two cents, as we thought we were dealing with a local company

Cheers,
Mike

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Thats just the sort of info we are after. We plan to cross in about April next year. I shall make contact. I'd already emailed Asia Senses, but was unaware of the tangled web of company's.

Cheers

Graeme

I'm not sure about that solution. I crossed Myanmar last fall and I understood that the third person was a "governmental guide" and that she had to be there possibly to keep an eye on us.

Burma Senses organised everything very well and I was very pleased to make that tour. Thanks to Win and Aung.

Hello everyone I want to share too my experience with this company. I'm one of the first (if not the first) traveler who cross Myanmar in 2014 with Burma Sense, and we had (me and other 13 travelers more) a similar situation, we paid to Burma Sense but they didn't run the tour, they contracted a local company (in my case Osuga Myanmar Travels) to do it.

Also Burma Sense made a mistake with the dates, because the road to reach Mae Sot was only in one way, and our day was in the wrong way for us. So we were one day more in Myanmar, but Burma Sense didn't pay the hotel for the extra night, they ask us for more money. Finally, the Osuga owner arrange for free the day extra for everyone.

If somebody want, you can contact Osuga at info@osugamyanmartravels.com

Would anyone who has already done this care to share the price they paid along with the details of your trip....the company you used, how many in the party, how long it took, and what was included? Would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Hi Graeme,

Are you still looking at crossing Myanmar April 2017?

I'm looking to travel share and bring down the cost.
Would you also be interested in travel share?
I'll be travelling on motorbike.

Cheers

Spiro.

Thanks mike.

Hey there,

We are also planning on going into Myanmar in April-May 2017. Do you have specific dates for your trip, maybe we can join?

Hey there,
we are also looking to share the costs for Myanmar crossing, we would like to cross from Thailand / Mae Sot first week of April 2017, in 15 days to India.
greetins
Happy Crew

Hi everyone,

I know it's very situation dependent, but...

How much are people looking to spend to get across with a guide?

Thanks
Jacob

likewise, what are the guide costs?

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Hi,
we are looking to make a crossing and share costs if anyone is interested.
Tachileik ideally, to Pansaung or close. We are quite adaptable with dates and routes. In Thailand at present, next to Cambodia and Laos, back into northern Thailand to connect up with a guided tour through Myanmar.
We are travelling in a 1968 series 2 Land Rover from Singapore to UK.
Rgds,
Nobby

How much was it for those who have done the crossing please ?

Very helpful advice and points, just wanted to say thanks.

And at the same time I'd like to check if anyone is interested in joining up and cross Myanmar from India to Thailand around summers end/autumn 2020? Will be riding solo.

Jack

I just did an overland from Myanmar to the Netherlands (as I am living in Myanmar and running a travel agency here) and since May 2019 travelling with your own vehicle has become much cheaper as there is no longer a compulsary "caravan tour government minder" required.

We manage to arrange all vehicle papers, insurance and travel permit including insurance for 200 Usd application fee and 125 Usd / day (for the compulsary local guide, his food, accommodation etc) as long as you have 1 seat in your car. A visa is easily applied for online: https://evisa.moip.gov.mm/

This means that a 7 days trip from india to Thailand with 2 vehicles and 4 person costs 1075 Usd in total.