However, the road to Rangoon is a bit bumpy compared to many other roads I have traveled previously. Perchance the wait--as in twelve years--for the possibility of travel into Myanmar to become feasible constitutes the biggest bump. I certainly do hope so, especially now that the wait is virtually at an end. Another bump--though certainly not as big--tourist travel to Myanmar has surged ahead of available tourist infrastructures, apparently, so the market principle of supply and demand has accommodations pricier than will probably be the case in a year or so when the boom in current construction reaches completion. Hence, Myanmar does not classify as a cheap Asian destination...at the moment. It has been, and it will probably be less expensive in a year or two.
But here in space and time as October begins its downhill run into November, my friend Tammy and I have flights to Myanmar and a tour itinerary in place. I use the term "tour" loosely because Tammy and I are the only participants on our tour. We have accommodations, transfers, and transportation in country arranged through the Asian travel company I used for my first trip to Vietnam: Buffalo Tours.
More bumps. Unless one is a citizen of the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, or Indonesia, one must obtain a Myanmar visa. Our travel agent strongly encouraged us to obtain our visas directly through an embassy rather than mess with the online version: apply on line, receive a special letter of approval, and then secure the visa on arrival at the airport. Still way too problematic our travel agent insisted. When I informed her that neither Tammy nor I currently resided in the USA, she remained adamant that obtaining a visa through the Myanmar Embassy in our respective countries of residence would be a much better option.
SIGH.
Well, Tammy lives in Germany but not particularly near Berlin where the Myanmar Embassy is located. I live in Korea--Seoul, to be exact, where the Myanmar Embassy is located. My bump may not be as big as Tammy's bump. Tammy and I both inquired online through our respective embassy websites whether or not US citizens could obtain a Myanmar visa through their embassy. Tammy received a reply outlining what she needed to do. I received no response whatsoever. I started exploring further online and located forms for a visa application written in English. Then I found a blog post written by an American working in Korea about how she and her husband obtained a Myanmar visa last spring. According to Jessica (see this), all I needed to do was show up at the embassy between 9:30 and 11:30 with the following things:
- Tourist visa application: You can get this at the embassy. (I filled out one form for myself, and one for Simon and they did not question anything.) Questions include physical description, permanent address, workplace and phone number, father’s full name, date of trip and other basic information.
- 2 color passport photos taken recently: Mine were 2 inch by 2 inch, the same as what the Indian embassy requires, whilst Simon’s were normal passport photos. Both were accepted.
- Alien registration card: For people without an alien registration card, the instruction form in the embassy states tourists in Korea without this card cannot get a Myanmar visa in Seoul.
- Flight schedule/itinerary to and from Korea. Ours were round trip from Bangkok, and those were fine as well.
- Trip Itinerary including activities and cities you are visiting. If you don’t exactly know, make one up. Ours was a rough itinerary stating the days we would be in Yangon, Inle Lake, Bagan, and then back to Yangon.
- Passport with 6 months validity and space for a full page visa sticker.
- Visa fee of 25,000 won.
From the embassy website I printed a copy of the application and filled it out at home. I had one photo left in my stash of "visa" photos that I have learned to keep on hand traveling here in Asia. Although online instructions always state that 2-3 photos are required, inevitably the officials at the airport--where I usually complete my visa work--seem to only want one. Not willing to gamble with the protocol here, I had my photo taken at the mini-mall on post: four visa size photos for $11. ("Most Koreans are very picky about what photo to print," the Korean photographer says to me when I tell him he can choose which shot to print, "and you don't really even care." He doesn't know quite what to make of me. SIGH. I point out that the photos will disappear into some file never to be viewed again. He smiles weakly.) Copies of the flight itinerary and the tour itinerary I had at the ready.
Although I kinda sorta knew the neighborhood referenced by the address for the Myanmar Embassy, I took a taxi. My plan was to offer the application, photos, itineraries, passport, and fee and then improvise regarding any fallout due to a missing ARC if necessary. No one ever requested identification beyond the passport (YES!) and I certainly didn't volunteer anything. Only one photo was required. TOLD YOU! The English-speaking girl handling the transaction with me (there were three Korean men in the room feverishly filling out applications while I stood at the grated window) then instructed me to return in three days between 3:00 and 4:30 to pick up my passport with a visa inside. She reiterated that I could only pick it up between 3:00 and 4:30.
As I departed the rather small and unassuming building housing the Myanmar Embassy, I considered my passport-less state and the fact that I had nothing to verify or vouch for my having surrendered my passport to the Myanmar Embassy in Seoul. Oh, the risks we take to wander the planet!
On the afternoon of the third day I returned to the Myanmar Embassy. At the same grated window where I had submitted my passport and paperwork, I now stood behind a Korean man receiving a stack of Korean passports--maybe six--held in place with a fat rubber band. When he stepped away, a different girl than the one who had helped me previously looked at me, and I said in English that I had come to pick up my passport. There was a noticeable moment of silence, and then she asked me--in English, thankfully--"What country are you from?" I didn't appear to be Korean, I guess! After locating mine, she began thumbing through it. She did it three times, and I felt my anxiety escalate. Finally she said with a rueful smile, "I can't find the visa in your passport." Well, that wasn't good! The reality is, though, I have an abnormally fat passport because it has a ten-page extension in it. That and she kept getting side-tracked by the China visa, the Cambodia visa, and the Vietnam visas--of which there are THREE! And just when I thought I might have to SIGH aloud, she did find that Myanmar visa! Looking visibly relieved, she proudly showed it to me. I smiled big-time because I was definitely relieved, too, whether visible or not!
And so, dear readers, I now have a Myanmar visa in my passport good for a single entry into Myanmar of no longer than 28 days in duration to occur at some moment in time before January 16, 2015.
Road to Rangoon: Myanmar visa (CHECK!)
