Myanmar: Tourist Entertainment Guide

Throughout Myanmar, even in fairly non-descript towns, you’ll find small food stalls where you can eat good native food. Most of them are places where the bulk of the food is cooked right before your eyes – they’re functional, no-frills eating-places where they may not have a menu or even a place to sit, but at least the food is wholesome and cheap. If you’re looking for international cuisine, you’d best head for Yangon or Mandalay- both cities have a decent enough sprinkling of restaurants serving foreign food- mainly Chinese, Thai or Indian. One thing to note: the Burmese tend to eat early, so if you’re going out for dinner, aim to reach the restaurant by 8 or 8.30pm at the latest: most places shut down by around 9pm.

Myanmar, even in its cities, is a country which doesn’t offer much in the way of night life- larger cities like Yangon and Mandalay do have restaurants, and a few bars, but that’s about all- no karaoke lounges, discotheques and the like. Some large hotels have cultural performances, but these are few and far between. If you actually want to see Myanmar’s culture at close quarters, local festivals are the best time- that’s when food stalls are set up, there’s singing, dancing, music, puppetry and theatre, and it’s a quite entertaining.

If you’re the outdoors type, then Myanmar can be quite fulfilling- there’s lots of scope for adventure, including climbing, trekking, swimming and other activities. The mountain areas of the north and the east are particularly rich in opportunities for 'doing your own thing’.