Climate 
Myanmar has three main seasons, hot season, rainy season and cold season. Hot season is from March to May, rainy season is from June to October and cold season is from November to February. The tropical monsoon is usually cloudy, rainy, hot, humid summers and less cloudy, scant rainfall, mild temperatures, lower humidity during winter. Like the rest of Asia the seasons - especially the rainy seasons are continuing to change in Myanmar with rainfall being unpredictable. 

Food
Burmese food is a blend of Chinese, Indian and Mon influences. Rice is at the core of most Burmese food, and good vegetarian food is widely available. Burmese food is often extremely pungent.  Because the Burmese cuisine is a medley of many regional influences, it has many characteristics. Seafood is more common along the coastline, while preserved meats are more common in inland areas. Many Indian, Chinese, and Shan dishes are served throughout the country.

Money
Myanmar's currency is the kyat (abbreviated K), pronounced "chut/chat". Pya are coins, and are rarely seen.  Kyat  cannot be exchanged abroad, so ensure you spend all of your kyat before leaving.   The Kyat notes of 50,100, 200 and 500 kyat are most of the time in a horrible condition but are generally accepted when making small purchases. The 1000 kyat notes are slightly better, and when exchanging dollars into kyat, check that the banknotes you receive are in a general good condition.

Visitors must bring enough cash with them to cover their entire visit, as there is no easy way to get more without leaving the country. There are NO ATM's which except international credit cards.  However in an emergency, some hotels in Yangon will do a cash advance on a credit card, however the surcharge on this can be up to 20%.  Travellers cheques are not accepted in Myanmar.

Visitors should bring US Dollar in cash only – larger notes receive a better rate in exchange. Exchange of other foreign currencies including Australian dollars is not possible and authorized money changes throughout Myanmar will only accept US Dollars.  Ensure that your notes are newish as they will not be accepted if they are old or damaged in any way.  Be partiulcarly careful when recieving change in US dollars that the notes given to you are in good condition - if they are not you wont be able to use them.

Post
International mail out of Myanmar is reportedly quite efficient. As elsewhere, there is always a risk if you send valuables as ordinary parcels.

Telephone & Internet
There is currently no international roaming available in Myanmar.  Local SIM cards can be purchased for around $20US dollars and can be used for international and local text or voice calls.

Internet is now widely and cheaply available in Yangon, Mandalay and Bagan, but more limited elsewhere. However access is very slow and many sites are inaccessible. Rates are around 300 kyat/hour in Yangon and 1000-3000 kyat/hour elsewhere. Some hotels, although rare, allow free access to the internet.  Please note most free webmail providers (hotmail, gmail, yahoo)  are blocked, however many Internet cafés circumvent this.