Day 1. Arrival at Yangon Airport.
Day 2. Have breakfast at your hotel. Enjoy a full day excursion in the colonial city of Yangon culminating in a visit to the breathtaking Shwedagon Pagoda.
Day 3. Early morning transfer for your flight to Bagan. A transfer car will meet you on arrival to take you to your chosen hotel. Enjoy a full day tour of the archaeological zone with sunset from one of the tallest pagodas.
Day 4. Have breakfast at your hotel. Optional dawn champagne balloon ride over the pagodas of Bagan. Commence your second full day tour of Bagan, a ‘tentative’ world heritage site. Visit the 11th Century Shwezigon Pagoda and the beautiful Ananda Pagoda amongst others. Sunset photographs from a different pagoda.
Day 5. Today we take to the hills on the Mt Victoria jeep safari. Meet up with WWII jeep and guide and hit the dirt roads to Mindat at a cool 1482 metres.
Day 6. Today we continue to Che Chaung and a short trek to a Chin village to observe life in this remote area. The villages boast sacrificial posts, a symbol of wealth. Some of the older Chin women have tattooed faces, a custom dying out in the modern age. Overnight in a local home adorned with animal skulls.
Day 7. Continue by jeep this morning into the National Park. We climb through levels of evergreen forest and pine to the Rhododendron forest. From here we trek through excellent birdwatching territory to the summit at 3180 metres. In the afternoon we return to the jeeps and drive onto the old colonial town of Kampalat.
Day 8. Today is spent in and around the town of Kampalat, visiting local animist Chin settlements to observe their way of life.
Day 9. Today we head off back down the dusty dirt roads to the Ayeyarwady River before arriving back in Bagan late afternoon.
Day 10. After breakfast transfer to the airport for the short flight to Mandalay. After checking into your hotel, continue to the great Ayeyarwady River for a boat journey to the giant, unfinished pagoda of Mingun. Return to the city via Kuthodaw Pagoda, ‘the world’s largest book’ and enjoy the panoramic sunset views over the city from Mandalay Hill.
Day 11. Enjoy your breakfast then embark on a tour of the ancient cities area to the South of Mandalay. Continue in the afternoon onto Sagaing, the religious centre of Myanmar home to some 500 pagodas. Sunset photographs at the famous U Bein Bridge.
Day 12. Following breakfast meet your transfer car to the airport for your flight to Kengtung. On arrival we will meet you and transfer you to your hotel. Take a walk around the central lake this remote unique Shan town.
Day 13. After breakfast visit the central market where traditionally-dressed hill-tribe peoples come to trade. Continue by car to the trailhead from where we trek into the hills to visit Akha and Lisu villages.
Day 14. Visit the water buffalo market this morning before continuing by car to the end of the valley. From here we walk along trading paths in the forest to an Akha and then an Animist Eng hill-tribe village. The Eng are famous in this region for their tradition of blackening their teeth.
Day 15. Today we head down the scenic road towards the Chinese border and the villages of the Loi tribe. The Loi live in longhouses, several families residing under the same roof.
Day 16. After breakfast meet your driver for the journey up into the hills to the cool heights of Loimwe hill station. Visit the old Governor’s house and sample the Strawberry wine at the market before returning via some traditional villages.
Day 17. Breakfast at the hotel and a transfer to the airport for the short flight to Heho. On arrival your car will be waiting for the drive through the scenic Shan hills to the town of Pindaya. Explore the town and caves before nightfall.
Day 18. This morning, trek to Htutni village, home of the Danu hill tribe. Continue to Sikyainn via plantations of Cheroot leaves and pineapples and then further onto the Palaung village of Yasakyi. Overnight here at a village home or the local monastery.
Day 19. After breakfast continue your trek to Menetaung village. We continue onto Pinseinpin, Htinshugone and Taungbawgyi village, where we can rest and explore this village of the Danu people. In the afternoon we trek onwards and return to Pindaya.
Day 20. After breakfast meet your car for the drive through the cool hills to Inle Lake. This afternoon take to the water for the first time to explore this ‘tentative’ world heritage site and ASEAN heritage park.
Day 21. Set off for a full day’s exploration of the Inle Lake area. Photograph the Intha fishermen’s leg-rowing technique then continue onto a 5-day ethnic market. Meet the local tribal people and observe the fascinating local cottage industries. Visit the now famous ‘jumping cat’ monastery and Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda with its five sacred gold-covered Buddha images.
Day 22. A relaxing morning today. Wander Nyaungshwe, the main town in the region and visit the main morning market. After lunch meet your car for the transfer to Heho airport and flight to Yangon. We will meet you on arrival and bring you to your chosen city hotel.
Day 23. Our air-conditioned car will meet you after breakfast for the drive to the historic capital of Bago. Visit sights such as the huge Shwemawdaw Pagoda, taller, at 376 feet than the more famous Shwedagon of Yangon. Continue in the afternoon to magical Mt Kyaiktiyo – The Golden Rock.
Day 25. Depart from Yangon Airport.
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