I'm sure Jeff can help

[Baz Faz]

We are at our daughter's house (in the Cotswolds) but unable to do garden duties because of the weather. So I am doing more forward planning for our Jan/Feb visit to Thailand and Burma. I have enjoyed Jeff's travelogue of their visit to Burma and we'll be visiting places that he went to. Just one query. While the rain rained I googled electrical plugs/sockets in Burma. I was amazed to find that 5 different sockets exist. What to do?

[OnlyMark]

Maybe take an adapter.

[shrjeff]

i second mark's suggestion. We have these rather inexpensive but fused and surge protected adapters... they have a universal socket on one side and a variety of plugs on the other. we also bring a power strip to plug into the adapter so we only have to find one accessible socket to power all our assorted gadgets...

[Baz Faz]

OK, I am dim. I have to plug the adaptor into the socket. The adaptor itself comes with a certain configuration - say 2 round pins. Suppose the socket has a different configuration as this shows:

www.electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk/guidance/advice-for-you/when-travelling/travel-adaptor-for-burma/

[OnlyMark]

I carry a similar one to this. It fits most types of wall socket but not every one.
In countries where there are multiple types of sockets I usually find in a room there will also be two or three different types, and my adapter nearly always fits one of them.
Burma seems to go a bit wild though.
Check out Universal Plug Adapters and see if there is one you fancy, as there are different types -

Plug adapter

Out of the five I see on your link, I think there is only the last one it wouldn't fit.
I'm curious as to what you've done in the past. I use this one all the time.

[kuskiwi]

I use the same one that Jeff uses. I didn't have any problems in Burma. I also have a couple of small simple round prong plugs that can be piggy backed and so far have never had a problem.

[Baz Faz]

Mark, we have never travelled to a country that has more than a single plug. Last year we were in Malaysia (which has a UK type plug) and then Indonesia which has a European type plug. That was fine - we just took one adaptor . It is Burma seems to have weird plugs. I am sure most of the places will be able to produce an adaptor if necessary.

If it were only me, well, I just have a Kindle that needs charging. Because we bought it when we lived in France it has a recharging cable for Europe (and Thailand and other countries) so we have an adaptor plug for the UK. On the other hand Mrs Faz has her camera, her iPad, her telephone as well as her Kindle....

[OnlyMark]

Don't each of those devices have a USB cable for charging?
i.e a cable without a plug on it. On one end you have a normal USB end and the other end sticks into the device? The USB end then normally goes into a plug you then put into the wall.
If so, use one plug that will then fit into a universal adapter and swap over the devices/USB cables as you need to charge something?

Also you can buy adapters with, as jeff has, a surge protector, but it can also have multiple USB ports or a plug like this or even with more outlets. I have a camera, kindle, pad and two phones. This is similar to what I have -



Then all you take is an adapter, this plug (though they also come in different fitting, not just the UK plug type) and the USB charging cables.
The advantage of this is them you just need one plug outlet to fit it to to charge a load of devices and you are not carrying round a load of useless plugs either. This is generally the system I use, universal adapter, USB multiple port plug and that's it other than the devices, most have a common fitment into the device anyway, so just one or two USB cables.

[OnlyMark]

If all your charging cables have a fixed plug attached and the cable isn't separate, the standard cables that fit into most devices, but not Apple, are quite cheap. Buy a couple and something like this. You can also plug into it then with your Apple devices as normal. It was 10 euro on Amazon -

[kuskiwi]

The problem in Burma is they've had such a checkered history and once open to the world the sales people arrived with surplus from everywhere so they have a real mix. My two two pronged plugs piggyback off the larger adaptor and work well as a short term measure in some places. I came across some two pronged ones which were really skinny, and others much fatter. They do charge a bit slower. Also watch the voltage. Some places were working from battery storage so were basically 12v only.
Initially I thought of buying a powerpack to take, then discovered they are not allowed on many airlines so decided it wasn't worth the effort or the money.
The newer and more upmarket hotels all had multi plugs wired in but finding them was a bit of a challenge as some were in places I hadn't thought to look - such as in a false drawer.

Look forward to hearing about your plans in due course.

[shrjeff]

our adapter is the one that mark posted first (white block)... any newer ones will be his last which is basically the same with usb ports... as i wrote earlier, the real secret is also having a power strip/octopus which is plugged into the adapter and into which all the various gadgets' power supplies are inserted... thus only one wall socket is necessary... we also have simple euro plug adapters for airports (lots of my gadgets were bought in the states so it has the us fixed blade plugs)... in albania they have euro sockets but inside a round indentation so we merely used a simple adapter on the power strip to clear the wall plate (as kuski pointed out)...

[Voy]

I have the white one too - so far no problems !