Arrive to Yangon. You will be welcomed by your Discovery DMC tour guide and signboard with your name. Transfer to hotel for check-in. Today’s visits include National Museum where you can see some of the royal regalia from the last kingdom of Burma and learn about diverse people of Myanmar.
Enjoy lunch in the local’s all-time favorite Feel Restaurant and get your introduction to tasty Myanmar cuisine.
In the afternoon you will explore Yangon’s colonial past on a Yangon Heritage Trust’s walking tour in the old quarter where many old beautiful buildings remain. After the walking tour visit some art galleries and meet a local artist or curator who will explain you about local art scene.
This evening you will join a Myanmar marionette in a small theatre. Marionettes are vanishing performing art tradition which was popular all over the country until few years ago. After the show is finished you can try to learn new skills from the masters and can see how the puppets are made. End the day with a stroll through lively evening food market in China Town and have a drink at one of the BBQ stations before returning to your hotel.
Early start this morning and witness magical sunrise at the Shwedagon Pagoda. Enjoy the peaceful and holy atmosphere of meditators sitting around facing the majestic golden stupa rising over 100m tall to the sky. After spending enough time at the Shwedagon Pagoda your guide will show you the monastic area near Shwedagon where monks and nuns live. Observe monks and novices going out on their daily alms circuit barefoot. Then it is time for your first Myanmar breakfast which will be in a popular tea shop. Try the Shan noodles, Onyh Khao Souay or Mohinga soup, the national dishes, with Burmese sweet tea or coffee and start the day local way. Explore a hidden morning market where various kinds of crops, seasonal vegetables, fruits and flowers are sold. See crafts men at work producing souvenirs for pilgrims and decorations for shrines and continue to Kandawgyi Park for a photo of the Hamsa bird shaped royal barge. Short drive will bring you to national hero Aung San’s home museum which is also Aung San Suu Kyi’s childhood home. On the way to lunch which will be at the House of Memories Restaurant which used to be Aung San’s office. You will pass Aung San Suu Kyi’s house and NLD her party office which were long under tight surveillance.
After lunch enjoy 1hr social enterprise shiatsu massage by deaf youths who been trained by foreign experts after graduating from school. Then a bit of shopping therapy at a store that makes unique and creative Myanmar retro souvenirs that you will not find anywhere else. You can also visit a Non-profit initiative store where underprivileged groups handicrafts are sold.
Late afternoon we visit the gold covered Shwedagon Pagoda, one of the most sacred and spectacular monuments in the world. This 100m tall stupa is believed to contain Buddha’s hair relics and it is covered in gold plates and decorated with gem stones. Observe the meditators and local families coming here to spend time and soak in the spiritual atmosphere. Like the locals we participate in offering candles, incense and flowers to our birthday Buddha’s for good merit and luck… or for world peace, as you wish. Then, transfer back to hotel to freshen up, relax and dinner nearby.
Morning flight to Bagan. Your Bagan specialist guide will welcome you at the airport and bring you to a view point for introducing Bagan kingdom and archeological area. Today you will explore some of the finest temples in Bagan with mural paintings and unique decorations. Gain an insight to traditional building techniques and architecture of Bagan. Visit local artist making sand paintings and observe how Bagan’s famous lacquerware items are made from fine bamboo strips or horse hair and covered with layers of lacquer before polished etched and coloured or applied with gold leaf.
Late afternoon enjoy a horse carriage or bullock cart ride in the archaeological wonderland to witness a magical sunset from a temple terrace.
After breakfast, we begin the full day excursion out of Bagan, starting with a 35miles/ 1,5hrs drive to the Yokesone Teakwood Monastery, in Salay village. The monastery is one of best preserved teak wood monasteries in the country with embellishments of skilled wood carvings and housing a small collection antiques and the largest lacquerware Buddha image in Myanmar. Continue driving 1,5hrs to Mount Popa, the center for worshippers of the pantheon of Burmese ‘Nat” spirits and visit the Nat shrine at the foot the Popa mountain. Climb 777 steps to a pagoda at the top of the mountain for great views over the surrounding farming land and plains. In the afternoon drive back to Bagan with a stop en-route to observe the process of making the toffee-like palm sugar.
Scenic morning drive to Pakokku crossing the Ayeyarwaddy River over new bridge. Take a stroll through Pakokku’s bustling morning market to experience local life. Continue with a drive Pakhangyi north west of Pakokku for a visit to its well preserved wooden monastery and on to Hpo Win Taung. You might be able see some copper production along the way. Small scale entrepreneurs digging copper rich soil, separating minerals and after processing smelting to copper to bullions. This is seasonal activity and may be discontinued at any time. At the Hpo Win Taung Limestone Mountain you will visit the cave temples that are decorated with mural paintings dating back to the 15th century. Further 25km drive will bring you to Monywa, the most modern and biggest city in the region. Monywa is a thriving riverside trading hub and a port town near the confluence of Ayeyarwaddy and Chindwin Rivers.
After breakfast at the hotel visit the colorful Thanboudday Pagoda, regarded by some people as the “Little Burmese Borobudur”. It’s galleries are filled with over 582,000 Buddha images in all sizes, lending the hall a meditative atmosphere. The drive to Mandalay is 150km/3hrs east of Monywa. On the way visit the peculiar Bodhi Tataung “Buddha Park”, the site of world’s tallest standing Buddha statue at 128m high. Also of interest is the 114m long reclining Buddha and the tens of thousands smaller Buddhas donated to the site by devout Burmese pilgrims.
Lunch break in Sagaing.
Drive up to Sagaing Hills for panoramic views over the Ayeyarwaddy River. Visit Buddhist Nunnery where you have the opportunity to learn about life of Buddhist devotees. Continuing to Amarapura and Ubein Bridge a simple yet remarkable teak structure that spans 1,2km over Taungtaman Lake, you have the option to be rowed onto the calm waters (at additional cost to be negotiated with boatman). Ubein Bridge, silhouetted by the setting sun, is a magical experience and a photographer’s dream. On the way to Mandalay (15km drive) you can visit a cottage industry workshop to learn how Myanmar longyis and traditional fabrics are woven.
Good morning Mandalay! Rise up early and join the locals for morning exercise or a walk by the Mandalay palace moat and have local style breakfast in a popular tea room. Then head to a local market where you will visit a Burmese make-up store, popular local snack - tea leaf salad shop and a “pharmacist” selling ingredients for traditional medicine.
Continue to the artisan quarters of Mandalay, where some of the oldest craftsmanship are showcased dating back to the last kingdom of Myanmar. Observe the process of pounding gold leaf, detailing teakwood carvings and embroidering Myanmar tapestry and how bronze and marble Buddha statues are carved, cast and molded. Next visit the sacred Mahamuni Buddha covered in tons of gold leaf; the Golden Palace Monastery, the sole surviving Royal Palace building in Mandalay, offering a glimpse of the original style and architecture of the Myanmar royals; and lastly, the Kuthodaw Pagoda, a compound housing Buddha’s teachings carved in the sacred Pali script on stone tablets and regarded the world’s largest book in terms of surface area. We end our day with sunset panoramic views over city skyline on Mandalay Hill, the highest point of the city.
If you are able to get up very early (4am) you can catch Mahamuni Buddha getting his morning wash and teeth cleaned by a pagoda trustee who does this daily.
Breakfast and transfer to Mandalay airport for the flight to Heho, a quiet transit town with one of the few airport links in the beautiful hills of Shan State. Visit the bustling main Heho market, the meeting point for different ethnic minority groups of the surrounding areas to trade handmade goods and locally grown produce (on market days only). Enroute to Inle Lake, we stop at a local family work shop to learn how Shan umbrellas and paper are made by traditional methods using the fibres of the mulberry tree. Next, we take a 1-hour drive to Inle Lake that descends through the valley with views of the Shan mountains and rice paddy fields. After checking into the hotel, we embark on afternoon explorations of Inle Lake, populated with floating islands and gardens made from the naturally tangled roots of water hyacinth plants and reeds. Delight in the picturesque sights of fishermen who balance and row with one leg, a technique indigenous to the Inn Thar minority group who do this only on Inle Lake.
Breakfast at hotel and join a cooking class in Nyaung Shwe. This half day activity is run by charming local couple in their simple open air kitchen and garden. You will be picked up at 9am in Nyaung Shwe and brought to local market where you will participate in buying ingredients for the food you will prepare in the class. After shopping, head to class room and prepare a delicious local style lunch with the guidance of your cooking mentor. You can choose couple dishes to learn out of many so this class is ideal for those too who have special dietary restrictions and you are always welcome to add your own touches to your dishes. This is a social affair where you join a class with others which is part of the fun. After lunch it is time for light exercise and a bicycle ride to Main Thauk Village 10km where you will visit the Red Mountain Estate vineyard and have the opportunity to taste Myanmar’s premier winery’s harvest. Cycle back to Nyaung Shwe with sun setting behind the distant mountain range in the horizon.
After breakfast visit the rotating morning market of Inle Lake, frequented by hill tribe folks. The market is held 5-days a week, each day at a different location. Continue by boat approx. 3hrs to southern part of the Inle Lake to Sagar, or Samkar as the locals call it. Samkar is a peculiar collection of centuries old stupas perched on the western shore of the lake, some of the stupas being partially under water. In the afternoon walk around and mingle with the friendly villagers and learn about local ways of life.
Transfer to Loikaw, capital of Kayah State by car 2hrs. You will be among the first foreign travelers to visit there. Kayah state tourism has only started to develop softly couple years ago and many displaced Karen’s have returned back to their home region from other parts of the country or Thailand. Expect simple and limited services here.
Today you will visit small Kayah cultural museum in town and drive out to a limestone cave 15km outside of the city. After walk around at the cave return back to Loikaw for a magnificent sunset panorama from top of a majestic limestone karts mountain rising high above the town.
Drive to Demoso and Ban Phe Padaung tribe village which is one of the first community tourism projects in Kayah State and was sponsored by European governments. The project was set up by a team of local and international experts, including Pascal Thwe Oo, the author of the Land of the Green Ghosts. During the village visit you will have the opportunity to learn about local culture and traditions in the region. See how traditional handicrafts are made, and how threads coloured, participate making Kayah sausages and listen to local music and legends.
Some of the Padaung ladies still wear, their trade mark, brass rings around their necks and joints. You may be able to see these ladies in the villages where we visit but this cannot be guaranteed.
Transfer to Loikaw airport for a flight to Yangon. Connect to your international flight in Yangon.
Car will be at your disposal during this day until your departure flight from Myanmar.
