JJ Express VIP Bus, Myanmar

yes we wore those stickers 😂

JJ Express immediately came up when my sister and I were researching online which bus company to book for our Yangon to Bagan trip and vise versa. We thought, this bus company wouldn’t be popular if their service isn’t exceptional because that’s how businesses gain a cult following, through word of mouth/referral or good reviews from bloggers and previous customers who experienced their service first hand. 

I always resort to reading reviews from bloggers like myself before I make any reservation because they always provide very useful insights and honest to goodness reviews. According to the reviews I came across with,  JJ Express offers first class service compared to its competitors. Booking a trip with them was also a breeze, you just need to message them through Facebook and they will assign your seat number then advise you to pay at the gate when you get there in Myanmar. 

movies on loop

the culprit

We were early during our trip to Bagan to pay for our tickets so we curiously checked out how their VIP bus look in real life since we only saw the bus' interior online but not the exterior. We found out that, they were those yellow buses parked in front of the terminal because of the JJ Express logo. They are much bigger than our very own deluxe buses (Joy Bus, Victory etc) and they also have oversized windows with one way tint, couple of exit doors although they're not equipped with toilets unlike our deluxe buses which was an amiss in my opinion. With our Yangon to Bagan trip, the snacks were served few minutes after the bus left the terminal whilst on our way back it was already halfway through the trip. 

Amenities:

• Lazy Boy type seats
• Media Player (preloaded with 3 movies)
• Blanket
• Snack Box (contains 2 delicious croissants /mini chiffon bread on our way back ) 
• 1 Bottle of Distilled Water
• 3 Pieces of Chocolate Flavored MARIE biscuits
• Tamarind Candies (optional but free)
• A cup of Soda (Sprite/Orange Soda which I think was Royal)

What's not included? Wifi. Yes, they do not have wifi on board which was also an amiss since it's a long journey and could've been more enjoyable if you have online access plus it's a VIP bus so it was kind of surprising.

my favorite part of the trip--the snack box! 😃

Anyhow, JJ Express will definitely put our very own deluxe buses to shame quite frankly (amenities wise) because theirs was first class. My favorite was their infamous snack box as it contained couple of the most tasteful chiffon cakes I’ve tasted. Seriously, they were really good. The movie player only had three movies, no usb port neither so you won’t be able to watch anything except the ones it was preloaded with. The picture quality isn’t very good neither so on our way back to Yangon from Bagan, my sister and I just watched one movie from my Macbook using our headphones and an audio splitter.  My only concern though on our way to Bagan from Yangon-- the blanket I had smelled of food (more like curry to me) and it was quite disturbing. I was in denial at first that the smell came from my blanket but I smelled it again and confirmed it was indeed my blankie! That kind of irked me because my nose is very sensitive to scents. I’m not a whiner and I don’t wanna be like a ‘Primadonna’ (a Diva) so I just endured it and shrugged off the smell the whole trip lol. 😂

I was not able to sleep comfortably the whole trip though because the ride gets really bumpy at times and you can badly feel how rocky the road is inside the bus which surprised me since the bus looked really new from the outside yet felt old on the inside the moment it started running as you can feel even the slightest bump when the road gets rocky. Anyway, It wasn't a big deal though since we always arrive safely, and that's what matters the most, that we get to our destination safe and sound. Our trip always arrive on time btw, sometimes even early. JJ Express VIP Bus have couple of stopovers, the first is the longest 20-30 minutes as far as I can recall whilst the second is just very short, about 15 minutes. Burmese are very prompt when it comes to time. One of the lady staff at the Yangon ticketing booth was not very friendly though like she has some angry issue or something. Their staff at their Bagan terminal was friendly and accommodating though. My sister had to call up our hotel in Yangon to advise we'll be arriving very late from the bus terminal phone without any problem. The lady staff at the JJ Express terminal even dialed the number for her and spoke in Burmese to the staff at the Galaxy hotel before she passed the phone over to my sister. And oh, let me just say that their bus terminal in Bagan is far more better than their terminal in Yangon. If you happen to arrive early at neither of their bus terminals, don't worry as there's tons of places to eat in the area anyways except people in Bagan are better in English than those in Yangon in my observation.

Overall, my experience with JJ Express VIP Bus was still superb and I would highly recommend them to those who are looking to go to Bagan, Mandalay,  Taunggyi etc. via JJ Express. My suggestions though: Please make sure to keep fresh blankets on board and hopefully free wifi access someday that's all. 😊

JJ Express Bus Terminal (Yangon): Rm. No. (A, 5,6), Mawlamying Street, Aungmingalar Bus Station

JJ Express Bus Terminal (Bagan): No. (A-1), Shwe See Kone Bus Station

JJ Express VIP Bus Facebook