Secrets of Myanmar – 11 days land only

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- Return airport/hotel transfers at selected times
- Internal flights from Yangon to Mandalay, Mandalay to Heho & Heho to Yangon
- 10 nights hotel accommodation
- Breakfast daily, 5 lunches & 6 dinners (including Be My Guest)
- Touring by by luxury air-conditioned coach
- Assistance of a professional Travel Director & local guides
- Sightseeing & VIP entry, including Insider Experiences
- All hotel service charges & tips, baggage handling fees & local taxes.
- VISITS: Yangon, Mandalay, Bagan & Inle Lake

You'll enjoy Insider moments like...watching golden rays reflect off Shwedagon Pagoda, as you join local people at sunset for a traditional lamp lighting ceremony. And getting to know three generations of the same family in Bagan, as you savour a delicious home-cooked meal together.

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Arrive Yangon

Welcome to Myanmar. Upon arrival at Yangon International Airport, transfer to your hotel. This evening meet your fellow guests and Travel Director for a Welcome Reception drink with local appetisers.

Yangon sightseeing

This morning, begin your walking tour of Yangon in the colonial heart of the city. See the City Hall, the former Immigration Department, the High Court and the red brick General Post Office before continuing to the luxurious Strand Hotel, built in 1901, for a well-earned refreshment. Later take the opportunity to try 'Mohingar' for lunch at one of Yangon's latest Tea Houses. It is considered to be Myanmar's National dish; a fish broth with noodles served with various accompaniments. In the afternoon meet the students and teachers at a local monastic school before visiting the nearby Ngar Htat Gyi Pagoda with its huge sitting Buddha. Return to the hotel to relax before an evening visit to the Shwedagon Pagoda. Take part in an oil lamp lighting ceremony before enjoying the sunset over the glistening pagoda. Later return to your hotel for an evening at leisure.

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Yangon - mandalay - Sagaing - Amarapura - Mandalay

This morning, transfer to Yangon Airport for the short domestic flight to Mandalay. Visit Sagaing; the hills here are dotted with numerous pagodas and monasteries. Proceed to a nunnery for lunch alongside the nuns who live there, a Cultural Insight. Next drive to Amarapura and take a stroll on the U Bein Bridge, which is believed to be the longest teak bridge in the world. In Mandalay visit the Mahamuni Pagoda and observe local male devotees applying gold leaf to the spectacular Buddha image. Later stop at local workshops to see Kalaga tapestries being made and gold leaf being beaten into paper-thin pieces by Local Specialists. From here, continue to Kuthodaw Pagoda, where the Theravada Buddhist scriptures are inscribed on 729 marble slabs, giving rise to its nickname 'the world's largest book'. Afterwards, visit the beautiful, teak-carved Shwenandaw Monastery, the only Royal Palace building to survive the World War II bombing.

Mandalay - free time - river cruise - Minguin - Mandalay

Enjoy some free time and in the afternoon, board your own private boat and cruise up the Ayeyarwady River to Mingun. Enjoy the peaceful scenery passing by on either shore and observe the small longtail boats, bamboo rafts and ferries going up and down the river. On arrival visit the Mingun Bell, which at 87 tonnes is the world's largest ringing bronze bell. Continue to the beautiful white Hsinbyume Paya, which rises in seven terraces representing the seven mountain ranges around Mt. Meru and see the unfinished but mighty Mingun Pagoda, which was built to be the world's largest but never completed due to local superstition. Later cruise downriver back to Mandalay.

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Mandalay - Monywa

This morning, enjoy a scenic drive along quiet roads to the town of Monywa. After lunch in a local restaurant cross the Chindwin River to visit the sandstone caves in the Po Win Hills, named after a famous alchemist who once lived here. The numerous caves are richly decorated and full of Buddhist statues and murals, which are thought to date from between the 14th and 18th centuries. Nearby, visit Shwe Ba Daung, which features many caves and temples carved out from the surrounding volcanic rocks and filled with ancient Buddha images. Later return to your hotel for dinner and a relaxing evening.

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Monywa - Pakkoku - river cruise - Bagan

This morning visit the Thanboddhay Pagoda, the richly decorated central stupa has no less than 845 smaller stupas around it. Next, drive to Pakkoku, an unspoilt village famous for its tobacco trade and many small family run businesses producing a variety of goods such as traditional Burmese slippers, checked cotton blankets, paper mâché animals and dolls and wood carvings. Take a stroll around the village, visit several of these workshops and stop off at a cheroot maker's to observe a Local Specialist making cigars. Visit a small market selling Thanaka, a yellowish-white traditional cosmetic made from ground bark, a Cultural Insight. It is seen commonly applied to the face and sometimes the arms of the local people. Later take a private boat and cruise down the Ayeyarwady River to Bagan as the sun sets over the numerous pagodas, which dot the landscape.

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Bagan

Today visit the most important of the 2200 pagodas and temples which are dotted in and around Bagan. Visit the golden Shwezigon Pagoda, built by King Anawrahta in the early 11th century. See the 13th century frescoes adorning the corridors and walls of the Gubyaukgyi 'Cave' Temple before visiting Taung Bi village. In the afternoon, continue to the Ananda Temple, a whitewashed masterpiece of Mon architecture with four standing Buddhas. Learn from a Local Specialist how lacquerware is produced in one of Bagan's famous workshops. Later see the sunset at Bu Paya Pagoda before enjoying a Be My Guest dining experience with a local family in their home.

Bagan - Heho - Inle Lake

This morning fly to Heho. On arrival continue on to Nyaungshwe and board your private long-tail boat for the journey to Inle Lake. Take a scenic trip across the lake to Indein passing through the busy village of Ywama, the largest on the lake, with its many channels and tall teak houses on stilts. Disembark at the jetty and walk through Indein village to reach the 14th-18th century pagoda ruins of Nyaung Ohak. A covered walkway popular with handicraft sellers leads up to Shwe Inn Thein Paya, a complex of weather-beaten 17th-18th century zedi, some of which have been newly reconstructed. Continue to the Intha village of Sema and then travel by boat downstream to your hotel for dinner and your overnight stay.

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Inle Lake

This morning make an early start to visit a local market which offers a Cultural Insight into the life of the ethnic Pa-O, Danu and Intha people who visit the market to sell and buy goods. Travel by boat across the lake, its calm waters dotted with floating vegetation and fishing boats, to Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda, the holiest religious site in the area. See the lake's unique leg rowers, Intha fishermen, who row standing up with one leg wrapped around a single oar, leaving their hands free to manipulate the conical fishing net. Then, participate in a hands-on cooking class with a Local Specialist. Select your own vegetables from the organic herb garden and prepare various traditional dishes which you'll later enjoy for lunch. This afternoon your choice of activities gives you two Cultural Insight opportunities: to visit a vineyard for wine-tasting or take a guided village walk to see local people making rice crackers and fishing nets.

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Inle Lake - Heho - Yangon

In the morning transfer by boat to Nyaung Shwe and proceed to Heho Airport for your flight to Yangon. Enjoy some free time at the hotel and later perhaps take a stroll around Bogyoke Aung San Market to buy some last minute souvenirs. The market was named in honour of Myanmar's national leader who was assassinated in 1947 but many people still refer to it as Scott's Market, its original name. For your last evening in Myanmar enjoy a Farewell Dinner in a local restaurant with your fellow travellers.

 Depart Yangon

After breakfast, transfer to the airport for your onward flight.

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