Myanmar, formerly Burma, is in transition to "guided" democracy. I spent a week there this month to see how it was progressing. I had not been to Myanmar before so had no real idea what to expect. The main arrival airport is Yangon (formerly Rangoon) International Airport. The three letter airport identifier is still RGN.
Money changing at an airport and the taxi fare to town are usually good indicators of how an economy is progressing. At the airport there are several bank foreign currency exchange booths offering competing exchange rates, with preference for US dollars. There was little interest in Australian dollars unless one is prepared to accept a very poor exchange rate. US dollars have to be in mint condition to be accepted, which is somewhat paradoxical given the local kyat notes are invariably torn and grubby.
The taxi to the hotel was a fixed rate of 9000 kyat for the one-hour ride to downtown Yangon. That is about $A12 at the unfavourable exchange rate, or about $US7 at the favourable one. Getting around Yangon is cheap but slow because of the heavy traffic. A 10-kilometre taxi journey can take an hour. Taxis do not have meters so you negotiate the fare beforehand which means the passenger is not out of pocket for any delays. (Courtesy of TheAge)
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