Upon arrival, you will be greeted by your Guide who will accompany you as you transfer to the hotel.  Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon, is a relatively quiet and charming city. Its impressive colonial and spiritual heritage makes it one of the most fascinating cities in Southeast Asia. Your Myanmar tour begins with a tour through the city center stopping at the glittering Sule Paya and tranquil Mahabandoola Park as well as walking past the fading colonial-era courthouse and city hall. You’ll also stop by Nanthida Jetty, a great place to see the local lifestyles of the Yangon people.

This afternoon, your sightseeing continues with a visit to Kyaukhtatgyi Pagoda, which houses a 70-meter reclining Buddha. Continue via Kadawgyi, Royal Lake, which is home to a hamsa-shaped floating barge. After a short tea break, head to Shwedagon Pagoda, the most revered Buddhist temple in Myanmar. The central stupa is over 90 meters tall and gilded with gold leaf- a breathtaking and colorful sight that dominates the city skyline.

We start motorbiking today. Set off this morning for a fabulous ride through the eastern outskirts of Mandalay. After adjusting your motorcycles and helmets, it’s time to start.

A full day of motorbiking trip to the former capitals of Amarapura and Ava. The day begins with a visit to the 18th-century capital, Amarapura. A walk over the 200-year-old U Bein bridge, constructed entirely from teak. Visit a silk weaving workshop, the craft specialty of Amarapura.

Proceed to Ava, the capital from the 14th to 18th centuries, and a visit by horse and carriage the old wooden Bagaya Monastery and the remains of the Royal Palace and fort.

Breakfast at the hotel. The journey covers 20-30 kilometers (depending on the start point and optional uphill climb) and is mostly on flat, sealed roads. The first 4-6 kilometers take you out of the city, leaving behind the concrete buildings and moving on to a quiet road surrounded by fields and dotted with small villages. Our first stop will be at a morning market where a range of fruits, vegetables, local snacks, and other items are for sale. Walk around, take photos and interact with the friendly vendors.  Continue toward the east, arriving at the base of Yankin Hill, a popular pilgrimage spot for the locals, and turn south. This next stretch of road is shaded by large trees and there are many monasteries, temples, and schools on the sides. There is little traffic aside from the school kids and monks walking or biking alongside you.  We then reach Yeh Dagon Hill, where many Burmese come for meditation retreats. If you’re feeling fit, a short 6km loop will take you up the hilly switchbacks for fabulous views.  From here we turn back toward town on a different road and ride through more fields (growing sugarcane, sunflowers, beans, and sometimes rice). We’ll stop at a small village to make traditional paper fans before making our way back to the city. Reach your hotel at midday where it’s time to say goodbye to your guide.

Total Distance: 20-30 kilometers; 90% sealed roads, 10% hard pack; 100% flat roads (except optional 6km loop)

After breakfast at the hotel, Today we have a motorbike to Bagan. Thousands of ancient stupas and temples in this area make Bagan, one of the most remarkable archaeological sites in Asia. From the 11th to the 13th century, when Bagan was the capital of Myanmar, the rulers constructed huge stupas and temples, many of which are still standing today on the banks of the Irrawaddy River.

Spend a full day of motorbiking around the ancient temples. Start with a visit to the colorful Nyaung Oo Market where the locals come to buy and trade fresh produce and handicrafts. Continue to Shwezigon Pagoda, known for its magnificent golden stupa, and Wetkyi-In Gubyaukgyi, a cave temple with exquisite jatakas murals paintings. Your final visit this morning is at the elegant Htilominlo Temple noted for its fine plaster carvings and glazed sandstone decorations.  Take a break from the midday heat for lunch (own account) and a chance to relax.

This afternoon, observe the process of traditional lacquerware, one of Myanmar’s best-known handicrafts and a specialty of Bagan. Then, visit Ananda, an architectural masterpiece reflecting the early style of Bagan temple construction and containing four impressive standing Buddha images. Continue to nearby Ananda Okkyaung, one of the few surviving brick monasteries from the early Bagan period.

After breakfast at the hotel, Depart for Kalaw through the mainland observing the dry zone of Myanmar as well as twisting and turning hilly drive through the Shan plateau. Kalaw is a former British hills station town, cool, spring-like weather, pine forests, tea plantations, and colorfully clad hill tribes make this town a natural magnet.

Departure for a motor ride toward Pindaya by passing through the Shan Hills. Visit Pindaya’s limestone cave with its maze of chambers displaying more than 8,000 Buddha statues. After lunchtime, enjoy a scenic motor ride to Pindaya through the picturesque countryside of ShanState, passing fields where often people of the Pa O hill tribe with black clothes and colorful orange headdresses are working.

From Nyaung Shwe, morning motorcycle trip to Nam Pan village where the boats will be waiting. (60% sealed roads, 30% hard pack but with large stones, 10% dirt track) The ride will take around 1.5 hours depending on the stopping time. If the day’s market is in Maing Thauk or Nam Pan we will leave a bit earlier so that we can stop and visit the market on the way.

Upon arriving in Nam Pan we will meet our boats for a private boat tour of Inle Lake (5 pax/boat) and stop for lunch at a restaurant nearby (client’s account) See leg-rowing fishermen, the floating gardens, built up from strips of water hyacinth and mud and anchored to the bottom with bamboo poles. Visit Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda, the weaving village of Inpawkhone, and the jumping cat monastery.  Return to Nyaung Shwe early evening, and overnight there.

 

After breakfast at the hotel, transfer to Heho airport for your domestic flight back to Yangon/Mandalay.