Nightbus from Inle Lake to Mandalay

After already having survived two night bus rides in Myanmar (they were okay) I didn’t think my nightbus from Inle Lake to Mandalay would be different. This time however, I had the chance to walk around and compare prices. In the end I booked it with a shop in town for 13k. It was a different bus company than the one before but the amenities were pretty similar.

Hotel pick-up and bus amenities

Again I was picked up at my hotel with a shared benched taxi and in about 30 minutes we were chauffured to the main road bus stop. The bus was fully booked with mostly Burmese and Thai people, two Germans, three French and me. We received a coffee (exactly what you need to be able to sleep on a night bus… No coke this time), a box with two pasteries and a small water. Again there was a blanket but unfortunately no neck rest. I will have to get one of these inflatable ones for my next travels. How could I travel without them so far?

Nightbus from Inle Lake to Mandalay

Again we stopped at a restaurant and shop area at 10.30 pm alongside other buses. I didn’t see my old company and the only bus with English writing was Famous Traveller. There was one English guy on it and I started talking to him just because we had in common that we weren’t Asian.

Somehow the road to Mandalay felt less curvey than the one when we came to Inle Lake although at the beginning it was the same road. Maybe we had a calmer driver.

Arrival in Mandalay

The bus station was 7 km out of the city center. At 5 am I didn’t know wether it would be worth hurrying into the city since I didn’t know whether my hotel would be open. But I ended up taking a taxi with the French guys. My road actually was very busy already as a big ceremony was going on in the temple. Luckily, my hotel was open and they even let me check into my room already. But that’s all I have to say about Mandalay as otherwise I was pretty disapointed by this city and wouldn’t recomend to stay there. But it did make sense for me to fly out of here and not return all the way back to Yangon first. However instead of spending a day in Mandalay go to the nearby cities instead and visit the amazing temples there.

What was your opinion of Mandalay and what would you recommend?