Myanmar (Burma) —Mandalay International Airport (MDL) and the drive to Mandalay

Arriving in Mandalay

March 2015

We landed at Mandalay International Airport (MDL), and three of us got off the plane. As we entered the baggage hall, and my two fellow travellers vanished.

Mandalay International Airport (MDL) was small, yet, taxi drivers still mobbed me as I left baggage claim.

The trip from the airport to my hotel took around 35 minutes and cost 12,000 kyats (US$12; £8). The drive was quite interesting.

I picked a driver at random and got in their cab. And I noticed something odd. The steering wheel was on the right. I thought they drove on the right in Burma, so the steering wheel should be on the left?

I assumed I had got it wrong, and they drove on the left.

As we left the airport, the driver went the wrong way around the roundabout. I thought he was taking a shortcut because no other cars were on the road.

As we left the roundabout, he shot the wrong way up the dual carriageway.

I was now getting worried. What side of the road should we be on, and were we about to have a head-on collision?

At this point, we were still the only car on the road. Then in the distance, I saw a large truck approaching. Were we gaining on it? Or were they coming towards us?

Finally, we passed the truck. They were going in the same direction.

I later discovered that they drive on the right in Myanmar. But most vehicles have their steering wheel on the right.

How did this come about?

Well, they used to drive on the left. Then one day, the military government decided that they would drive on the right. Unfortunately, the vehicles have not been replaced with ones with the steering wheel on the correct side.

One very odd and dangerous consequence of the switch of road sides is that busses drop their passengers into traffic and not on the pavement.

Another thing I noticed in Myanmar was that drivers used their horn a lot. And I mean a lot!

When I was in the taxi going along a very bumpy dual carriageway, the driver constantly sounded the horn. At first, I thought it was a faulty connection, and the bumps were causing the horn to sound. Then I noticed a pattern.

When we came near another vehicle and were going to overtake, the driver sounded the horn. Once when we were still some distance behind, and again when we were in the blind spot. I can only assume this behaviour results from having the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car.

As we drove into Mandalay, I got to see my first pagoda.

As shown in the above photo, Myanmar is very dry. Almost desert-like in places.

And, like in Malaysia, there were motorbikes everywhere. But in Myanmar, there was a new thing, pillion passengers riding sidesaddle.

Photo by Author — pillion passenger riding sidesaddle — Myanmar

I had never seen so many motorbikes.

And, of course, there were the three up on one bike.

In Myanmar, bikers should wear helmets, but as seen in the above photo, this was not always the case. Some riders wore a yellow hard hat.

Taxi in Myanmar — how much?

Taxis in Mandalay seemed a bit random, and I couldn’t work them out, particularly the price.

The taxi from the airport to the hotel, about 35 minutes, cost 12,000 kyats (US$12; £8). A 15-minute taxi ride down the road in Mandalay cost 7,000 kyats (US$7; £5). Based on time, it should have been around 1/3 the price of the airport run, i.e., 4,000 kyats. In terms of distance, it should have been about 2,000 kyats or less.

Later, I was told that taxis in Mandalay were some of the most expensive in Myanmar (why?). The cost is by the hour, which was around 7,000 kyats. So, why did the airport run cost 12,000 kyats? It should have been about 7,000 — perplexing!