Pansodan Ferry Terminal

Beware of the ticket scam and local tour guide scam. Never trust any person in this area. No proper tourist place to consult. Don't visit the place across, it's not worth anything, the people and the place will just give you headache. The police can't be trusted either. Please avoid if you are a foreigner.

It can be interesting for the adventurous but is definitely not for the faint-hearted. The surrounding area is crowded and chaotic and the air is filled with all kinds of interesting smells. Watch out for large slimy rodents and stray dogs who seem ready to pounce at the slightest provocation.

This is where you take the ferry across the river to DALA town. The place is old and usually overcrowded. Watch out for people who try to sell you expensive tour guide, even cheap ones are mostly swindle. For foreigners, the ferry ticket price is 4000Kyat per person all round to DALA. Taxi or Grab transport to this terminal will have to pay extra 300Kyat for vehicle entrance fee.

As you get off the boat at Dala, there's a lookout watching for tourists, who wants to try expensive schemes on tourists.... He will offer help and pose as a student. Avoid, anyone approaching you offering cheap or free things, ... Is not cheap or free, not really. Read other comments in this section. Similar stories. Tourist scams. Usually the person to approach you will say they are a student. This is the first place in Myanmar I saw such scams operating. On the Yangon side: The officials played music very loudly, someone official looking tried to tell me I (a foreigner) had to buy ticket for the return as well because the other side didn't sell any foreigner tickets. Another local person then helped established that foreigners CAN buy tickets on both sides of the river ??? now that's a nice surprise isn't it ?. Foreigners pay more, 2000kyat one way, -- there is a special section on the boat set aside for foreigners, that probably justifies the price ??? Actually in reality everyone sits wherever they want. A very local experience, be calm, be broad minded ??? The local ticket price is not cheap for many of the local passengers...

Dala was an impromptu trip...Didn't even know tourist actually visit there. Solo after Shwedagon Pagoda, I decided to taxi to Pansodan to see where the ferry goes and where eVer it goes so will I. It's all about discovery. 4,000k for foreigners is OK. Gotten use to tourist prices. This guy who sold me the ticket "talked" me into Dala guided tour especially since that's where he is from. But he later off-sold me to his mate who is also from there. It's fine w me whoever guides. Since I was headed to the unknown. I like to read up so I googled Dala on the ferry. Kept reading thou my guide wanted to warm up chat. Asking me where I am from, my job, family and where I am staying in Yangon. I ignored him. Becoz it is none is business and my reading plot just got to Dala Scams. Upon arrival he ushered me to his mates rickshaws and I politely refused. I said I don't need a guide as Google maps will be my guide and I like to walk. After a while of walking it didn't seem right due to the blogs saying they have covered so many places on foot. Just as well a rickshaw persuaded me to take his ride. He spoke some English, looked laboured lean, honest and genuinely wanted to make money as I spoke him from 5,000 to 3500kyat per hour. Turned out it is right to have used him. 10km in total tour. Saw Stupas, monasterys, Buddhas, tsunami village, rice paper making, paddy fields, fishing village, waste to craft store, orphanage, etc... We spoke alot so I learned a lot about dala including the now under construction data Yangon bridge by a Korean firm which should be open in 3 years time. All in all. For me was worth it. 3hrs in total. He said 12'000k but I gave him 20,000k which I feel will help him though this low monsoon season. Didn't pay for anything else like orphanage, temples, guides, rice... This is per rickshaw and if you are up for roughing it out. Not happy sights but eye-openers. No tap water, no electric but timed generators. Lots of trash flies and stray dogs everywhere. Sidecar seat is not all that comfy.

If you are a foreigner, stay away from this place. A 4,000 MMK fee for a 2-way ride is reasonable for tourists, but you are vulnerable of getting scammed by a self-proclaimed tourist guide who introduces himself as a student trying to learn English. We didn't ask him to join us, the guy from the ticketing office HANDED him our boat tickets which we paid for instead of giving the said tickets directly to us. He then lead us to his friends who are rickshaw drivers. They toured us around places that are not considered tourist attractions where we found lots and lots of garbage along the streets. It was an eye-opening tour for us, actually. Then, when we reached the ferry terminal, a guy asked us to pay 61,000 MMK for 2-hour ride. We were shocked to know that we had to pay for the guide's fare, too, which is 4,500 MMK for every 20-minute ride. We were shocked to know about it but my husband argued with them and ended up paying 45,000MMK. It was a total SCAM!

Guy posing as student met us at the ferry ticket booth. He was actually in the ferry registration office so we trusted that he was a good guy. The guy said he was practicing English on the weekend and that his tour is no fee - only what we want to pay. He was attentive and it was a good experience. But you can skip this if you are short of time and also if you have visited other rural areas in Asia (Cambodia India Nepal Philippines all have the same type of villages). We paid 4000 kyats per person for the return ferry trip. 10000 kyats per motorbike for an hour (the tour guide didn’t tell us upfront the total cost so it was an additional 10000 for his motorbike). He also tried to take us to donate rice for the tsunami village. We declined and told him to take us back to the ferry. At the end we gave him 5000 kyats tip and he actually told us it wasn’t enough and asked for another 5000. We gave him another 1000 and left. For two people, total cost 44000 kyats for a short trip. We were prepared to pay a bit more as we wouldn’t have known how to get around Dala without an English speaking guide so just be aware if you want to explore across the river from Yangon.

As opposed to many of the reviews here our experience of the terminal was fine. We were with a local guide and I think that makes all the difference. If you want to see a different side (lieraly) to Yangon then it is worth the effort to go and see Dala. This ferry terminal services the local community and is busy and bustling, but get yourself a good local guide and you can enjoy the convenience of the ferry ride from this terminal.