View the route
Date of the journey:- February 2020
Distance travelled:- 298 miles
Leaving India and entering Myanmar was a reasonably quick and simple process.
From Moreh in India, there are two border crossings into Myanmar. These are referred to as Gates 1 & 2.
Gate 2
Currently, as of February 2020, closed to foreign nationals. This is a pain, as it is the closest crossing point to Moreh town, actually being at the bottom of the town itself.
Gate 1
A further mile down the road. The Indian immigration office is past the bridge and up the hill on the right-hand side. On entering the compound, go up the drive and turn left at the signpost marked “passengers”.
The immigration officer adjacent to the door takes passport information. Done prior to allowing you to proceed to the departure desk for the exit stamp in your passport. Once you have the exit stamp, your luggage has to go through the scanner, and then you proceed to the next desk to complete the departure form.
Once this form is completed the exit from India process is complete. You are free to go back down the hill and cross the bridge into Myanmar. We chose to take a tuk tuk from our accommodation to the Indian immigration office, asking him to wait while we cleared immigration, then drop us at the border bridge crossing. On crossing the bridge the time zone changes, going forward by one hour.
Immediately across the bridge, the Myanmar immigration building is on the right. An arrival form is required to be completed and you will also need to present a copy of your tourist visa approval letter. This is emailed to you when your application for a Myanmar e-visa has been approved.
Simply fill in the online application form, pay the required visa fee, 50 USD for a 28 day single entry tourist visa, receive your approval letter within 3 days. The Myanmar visa will then be stamped into your passport together with a stamp being placed on the approval letter. This completed, you are now free to go. The whole process for both immigration checks took us about an hour.
There were tuk tuks available to go into the town of Tamu, a mile or so away. From there direct buses run to Mandalay. The tuk tuk driver took both Indian Rupees and Myanmar Kyat for payment.
In both Moreh and Tamu, we could not find anywhere to exchange money, either way, although there were ATM’s in both towns.
The buses that leave Tamu are “proper” coaches, that European travellers are more accustomed to. These buses are located off the main India Myanmar Friendship Road. When coming along the road from India, turn left at the first set of traffic lights. There is a fire station on the corner.
As soon as the corner was turned, the buses were lined up on the left, in front of Independence Park. There are shops all along the right-hand side of the road and a ticket office is located within this row of shops opposite the road between the play parks.
Buses only leave for Mandalay in the morning, the last one departing at 1230hrs. This is the bus we chose to take as it was the VIP luxury bus. We wanted to be in comfort for the 16 hour overnight journey, which cost 28000 Kyat per person.
Our bus left on time and was extremely comfortable having reclining seats. We were provided with blankets and water. Blankets were required as the AC made it cold during the night. During the journey, the bus made 3 stops for toilet/food breaks and 4 stops for immigration checks. Passports and visas were checked at these immigration checkpoints. Road conditions started off by being nice and smooth but got bumpy later on.
Before it got too dark to see, the scenery was beautiful, passing through numerous villages with traditional wooden houses. The bus had to slow down to pass over the many single track bridges.
Arrival in Mandalay was at Thiri Mandalar Bus Terminal, an hour earlier than expected at 0345 hrs. At the bus terminal there were both taxis and tuk tuks, so getting to our hotel was easy.
Hotels are generally ok with allowing early check-in. Although we got caught out, as our hotel was full. Having to wait for a room to become available and housekeeping to clean it. This gave us the chance to have breakfast though.