YANGON & SHAN STATE ADVENTURE

Itinerary

Day 1: Arrive Yangon

Stop At: Yangon (Rangoon), Yangon (Rangoon), Yangon Region
• On arrival, you will be met and transferred to your hotel for check in. Relax at the hotel or take a walk on the nearby streets and explore this historic city.
Duration: 1 day

No meals included on this day.
Accommodation included: overnight inn Hotel Shwe Yee

Day 2: Yangon

Stop At: PansodanGallery, 1st Floor, 286 Pansodan Street, Kyauktada Township, Yangon (Rangoon) Myanmar
• After breakfast, you will be met and drive downtown to the Central Post Office from where you will start your walking tour. Walk along Strand Road passing by the landmark Strand Hotel and the Pansodan Jetty. See the daily life of the local people including workers, busy street vendors and the shoppers during rush hour. Go up Pansodan Street famous for some of Yangon’s most impressive colonial buildings. Arrive at Mahabandoola Road from where you have the perfect view on Sule Pagoda, City Hall and the High Court. Cross the greens of Mahabandoola Garden and continue to 31st street well known for second hand book shops as well as typical historical shop houses. Continue your walk by discovering the gold shops of Shwe Bontha Street and from there head to Bogyoke (Scott's) Market with hundreds of food, clothes, handicrafts and gems stores (closed on Mondays and on public holidays).
• In the afternoon, cross to the animated Indian District of Anawrahta Road to reach a Hindu Temple. Stop for a refreshing drink at a typical Myanmar tea shop crowded with people who have completed the day’s tasks. Go further down on Kon Zay Dan Street and complete your walking tour in the busy area of Chinatown visiting a Chinese Temple. Drive to the Shwedagon Pagoda and visit one of the world’s most spectacular monuments. View the sunset here, spend time walking around and exploring this amazing site, then return to your hotel. Total walking time approximately: 4½ h.

Duration: 1 day

Meals included:
• Breakfast
Accommodation included: overnight inn Hotel Shwe Yee

Day 3: Yangon – Heho – Kalaw

Stop At: Pindaya, Pindaya, Shan State
• After breakfast, you will be transferred to the airport for domestic flight to Heho, a quiet transit town with one of the few airport links in the beautiful hills of Shan State. Transfer from Heho airport to Pindaya (approximately 45 minutes), an attractive drive up into the hills and across the Shan Plateau, through fields of mountain rice. Visit magnificent Pindaya Caves, set in a limestone ridge overlooking a picturesque lake, where thousands of different types of Buddha images are on display in the various cave chambers. Afterwards, continue to local workshop where Shan paper and parasols are made.
• In the afternoon, drive from Pinday to the former British hill station of Kalaw (approximately 1 hour 15 minutes) a charming town featuring British-style bungalows set in leafy surroundings

Duration: 1 day

Meals included:
• Breakfast
Accommodation included: Overnight in Kalaw Heritage Hotel

Day 4: Kalaw – War Kyi Myaung village (Shan Hills Trekking)

Stop At: Palaung Taung, Myanmar (Burma)
• After an early breakfast, we will drive 40 minutes to Thayatpu Village and start your walking tour to La Mon Kwe village, en-route passing through some interesting scenery on a narrow, winding and bumpy road through the Shan Hills. Continue your trek to Palaung Villages on the rim of the mountains. Simple boxed lunch will be provided. Enjoy trekking through mountain plantations and the scenic surroundings. Proceed to War Kyi Myaung village. Simple dinner will be served. Overnight stay at the old monastery * in the village.

* Sleeping facilities are local style. Simple mattresses on floor with bed linen, pillows and blankets in a shared room. Personal mosquito nets are also provided.

Duration: 1 day

Meals included:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner
No accommodation included on this day.

Day 5: War Kyi Myaung village – Inle Lake (Shan Hills Trekking)

Stop At: Inle Lake, Nyaungshwe Myanmar
• After a local style breakfast, hike through Shan local villages, which sit on the mountainous area dotted with farms and bamboo forests. Trek through Ye U villages and finally you will reach Khaung Daing Village located beside a magnificent lake. Lunch will be served at a local restaurant.
• After lunch embark on an afternoon exploration 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

Duration: 1 day

Meals included:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
Accommodation included: Overnight in Inle Garden Hotel

Day 6: Inle Lake

Stop At: Indein Village, Inthein, Taunggyi Myanmar
• Explore a 5-day rotating market (if your visit coincides with the schedule) which offers an insight into the life of the ethnic Pa-O, Danu and Intha people who come to these markets to sell and buy goods.
• Continue by long-tailed boat across the lake to Indein, at the western end of Inle, for one of the most scenic trips on the Lake. Passing through the busy village of Ywama, the largest on the Lake, with many channels and tall teak houses on stilts; enter a long, often tree-lined canal, either side of which farmers cultivate their land against the backdrop of the Shan Hills.
• Disembark at the jetty and walk for 15 minutes through Indein village to reach the 14th - 18th century pagoda ruins of Nyaung Ohak. Many pagodas here remain charmingly unrenovated, with plants and even small trees growing out of them, making the area very atmospheric. A covered walkway popular with souvenir stallholders leads up to Shwe Inn Thein Paya, a complex of weather-beaten 17th - 18th century zedi; some newly reconstructed.
• Returning to the river you continue by boat downstream past Yethar village, watching local life on the banks and birds in the trees until rejoining the Lake. Stop at Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda, the holiest religious site in southern Shan State.
• Today, you are invited to join a family for lunch. You will enjoy a traditional Intha meal cooked by your hosts according to their family recipes. Take a look around the house, peek in the kitchen to discover some traditional cooking techniques and share a convivial moment with the inhabitants of the lake.
• Continue to Nampan village, meeting with residents to witness traditional Ikat weaving techniques firsthand. Continue to Inpawkhon village, where you interact with locals, immersing yourself in village life. Visit a boat builder’s workshop, blacksmith shop and cheroot making factory, where you can try your hand at making the fabled Burmese cigar.

Duration: 1 day

Meals included:
• Breakfast
Accommodation included: Overnight in Inle Garden Hotel

Day 7: Inle Lake

Stop At: Sagar Village, Taunggyi Myanmar
• Board a long tail motorboat for a journey to Sagar, a sleepy village at the far southern reaches of Inle Lake. The boat trip takes 2.5-3 hours and passes through stunning scenery, with lush mountains forming a backdrop for the small villages and fishermen on the water. Relax and enjoy the passing views.
• Arrive at Sagar and start exploring the various sites on the water’s edge. Visit the iconic ‘sunken’ stupas of Sagar, a collection of 108 stupas dating back to the 16th century. Several months a year, the water level rises and partially submerges the stupas thus giving them their nickname. Go ashore near to the stupas and take a walk through the compound and its neighbouring village.
• Continue to the village of Thaya Gone, home to Pa-Oh, Shan and Intha people. The village is famous for its high-quality, homemade rice wine. Watch the process of distillation and then sample some of the local brew. In Thaya Gone there is also the chance to climb to a hilltop for sweeping views of the lake and surrounding villages.
• Nearby is Sae Khaung, a small pottery village. Take a walk through the village to see the underground kilns and traditional tools needed to create oil and water pots. One last stop will be made in Tar Kaung, a series of more than 200 stupas set on the western shores of the lake.
• Around 2.30 the boat will begin its journey back to the main section of Inle Lake. Although the route is the same as in the morning, the trip takes on a different feeling. The afternoon light casts a different glow on the lake and there is usually more activity in the villages. Arrive at the hotel in time to freshen up and watch the sunset

Duration: 1 day

Meals included:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
Accommodation included: Overnight in Inle Garden Hotel

Day 8: Inle Lake – Yangon – Departure

Stop At: Yangon Region, Yangon Region
• After breakfast, transfer by boat to Nyaung Shwe and overland to Heho Airport (32 km – 1 hour) for a domestic flight back to Yangon and with connecting flight to next destination.
Duration: 1 day

Meals included:
• Breakfast
No accommodation included on this day.