Even if you take private tours, you'll still be taken first thing to the tourist centre to pay the visitor fee. Although there were 1 or 2 boats in the market with souvenirs for the tourists in them, most people around were genuine locals, trading fruits and veges. The capital city has very little to offer to the tourist. This is it. I hope my dying memory didn't cause me to give too much false information, and hopefully it'll be at least an initial Internet guide to Burma until other travellers who had been there more recently will post their impressions.
Life is like a box of chocolates.
You never know what you're gonna get.