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Fascinating Myanmar
Duration :- 11 Days Tour
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Day 01 Arrive Yangon
Today you are scheduled to arrive Yangon. The city lies in the fertile delta country of Southern Myanmar, on the wide Yangon River, it also gives the impression of being full of trees and shade and shimmering stupas float above the treetops. The city only became the capital in 1885, when the British completed the conquest of Upper Myanmar and Mandalay's brief period of the last Burmese kingdom ended. Afternoon tour includes the Shwedagon Pagoda, which is the highlight of any visit to Yangon, this pagoda dates back about 2500 years and was built to house eight sacred hairs of the Buddha. Its original shape has changed beyond all recognition over the centuries and tts bell-shaped superstructure, resting on a terraced base, is covered in about 60 tones of gold-leaf, which is constantly being replaced. The National Museum with several interesting exhibits, especially the 8m-high Sihasana Lion Throne, used by King Thibaw Min, the last Burmese king, and returned to Burma in 1908 by Lord Mountbatten. The main floor contains jewellery, old black & white photos of Mandalay Palace and Yangon, royal relics, Hintha opium weights and inscribed tablets. The Sule Pagoda has a 48m-high golden dome was used by the British as the nucleus of their grid pattern for the city, when it was rebuilt in the 1880s.
Overnight: Summit Parkview Hotel, Yangon (2 nights)

Day 02 Yangon
Today's sightseeing includes the Bogyoke Aung San Market, also known as Scott Market, the market has over 2000 little shops. Kyaukhtatkyi Pagoda contains a gaudy, modern, 70m-long reclining Buddha, built in 1966, house in a metal iron pavilion. The temple doubles as a monastery and a center for the study of Buddhist manuscripts. Mailamu Pagoda has a series of images of the Buddha in his previous incarnations, and a reclining Buddha image.

Day 03 :Yangon / Bagan (Flight)
Morning transfer to the airport for a flight to Bagan. It's a spectacular plain stretching back from the Ayeyarwaddy River, dotted with thousands of 800-year old temple ruins. Although human habitation at Bagan dates back almost to the beginning of the Christian era, Bagan only entered its golden period with the conquest of Thaton in 1057 AD. The rest of the day tour includes Ananda Pahto, one of the finest, largest, best preserved and most revered of the Bagan temples. Thought to have been built around 1105 by King yanzittha, this perfectly proportioned temple heralds the stylistic end of the Early Bagan period and the beginning of the Middle period. Shwegugyi is built by Alaungsithu in 1311, this smaller but elegant pahto is an example of the Middle period, a transition in architectural style from the dark and cloistered to the airy and light.

Thatbyinnyu Pahto, this 'Omniscient' temple is one of the highest in Bagan, rising to 61m and it was build by Alaungsithu around the mid-12th century. Nathlaung Kyaung is Bagan's only Hindu Vaishnavite temple built probably in the 10th century to serve Bagan's Indian community of merchants and craftsmen. Pahtothamya is probably built during the reign of Kyanzittha (1084-1113), although it is popularly held to be one of the five temples built by the nonhistorical king Taunghthugyi (931-964). Painting remnants along the interior passages may rate as the earliest surviving murals in Bagan. Gawdawpalin Pahto is one of the largest and most imposing of the Bagan temples, it was mostly built during the reign of King Narapatisithu but was finished by his son, King Htilominlo. The name literally means Platform to which Homage is Paid. Bupaya is located right on the bank of the Ayeyarwady, this cylindrical Pyu-style stupa is said to be the oldest in Bagan. Local residents claim it dates to the 3rd century. The distinctively shaped bulbous stupa stands above rows of crenellated terraces.
Overnight: Bagan Hotel, Bagan (2 nights)

Day 04 Bagan
Day excursion to Mount Popa and Salay. Mount Popa, rising 1518m from the flat surrounding Myingyan Plain, is said to be an extinct volcano last active 250,000 years ago. It is considered the abode of Myanmar's most powerful nats and, as such, is the most important nat worship center. During the Late Bagan Era (12th-13th centuries), Salay developed as the expanding spiral of Bagan's influence moved southward along the Ayeyarwady River. Among the Burmese, it's most famous as the historic home of Salay U Ponya, a Bagan Era writer / poet whose works are read by students all over the country.
Payathonzu is an interconnected complex of three brick shrines with sikharas. All three shrines contain some form of mural painting, but the most extensive painting graces the third one in the series, located to the south west. Thadanayaunggyi Kyaung is an ancient monastery, which has been in continuous use for several hundred years. It is locally famous for its views. Mogok Vipassan Yeiktha is a meditation center near the ancient monastery. Nan Paya is home to a large lacquer Buddha sheltered in a 19th century shrine. This Buddha, said to date back to the 13th century, may be the largest lacquer image in Myanmar. Hkinkyiza Kyaung is an old brick-and stucco Buddhist scripture library. Unlike similar libraries in Bagan, this one bears an intact superstructure and there is also some original stucco relief remaining on the lintels and pediments. Youqson Kyaung is the oldest surviving wooden monastery hall in the Bagan area, south of Pakokku. Only 2 sides of the 23m-long hall actually bear original 120-year-old sculptures, which include nearly three-dimensional carvings of 19th century court life, Jatakas and Ramayana tales.

Day 05: Bagan / Mandalay (Drive 200 kms / 124 miles)
Morning depart by road to Mandalay, the last capital of Myanmar before the British took over so it still has great importance as a cultural center and historically. It's the most Burmese of the country's large cities. Mandalay's Buddhist monasteries are among the most important in the country - about 60% of all the monks in Myanmar reside in the Mandalay area. The city takes its name from Mandalay Hill, the 236m-high bluff that rises just to the north east of Mandalay Fort and its royal palace.
Overnight: Novotel Hotel, Mandalay (3 nights)

Day 06: Mandalay
Full day tour includes Mandalay Fort with is imposing walled palace compound in constructed in 1857 with a channel from the Mandalay irrigation canal filling the moat. After the British occupied the city in 1885, the compound was named Fort Dufferin and became the seat of the colony's government house and British Club. Mandalay Museum & Library containing a collection of Mandalay regalia, royally commissioned art and palm-leaf manuscripts that were formerly housed in the palace. Most of the articles dated from the reigns of the last two Mandalay kings. Kyauktawgyi Pagoda, built between 1853 and 1878 and is chiefly interesting for the huge seated image of the Buddha carved from a single clock of marble. The marble block from the mines of nearby Sagyin was so colossal that it required 10,000 men laboring for 13 days to transport it from a canal to the current site. Sandamani Paya is a cluster of slender whitewashed stupas built on the site of King Mindon's temporary palace - used while the new Mandalay Palace was under construction. The Paya enshrines an iron image of the Buddha cast in 1802 by Bodawpaya and transported here from Amarapura in 1874. Shwenandaw Kyaung is a monastery of great interest, not only as a fine example of a traditional Burmese wooden monastery, but as a fragile reminder of the old Mandaly Fort. At one time, this building was part of the palace complex, and was used as an apartment by King Mindon and his chief queen, and it was here that he died. After Mindon's death, King Thibaw Min had the building dismantled and reassembled on its present site in 1880 as a monastery. Shwekyimyint Paya, founded in 1167 by Prince Minshinzaw during the Bagan period. He was the exiled son of King Alaungsithu and settled near the present site of Mandalay. The shrine is notable because it contains the original Buddha image consecrated by the prince.

Day 07: Mandalay
Day excursion to Inwa (Ava), Sagaing and Amarapura. The ancient city of Inwa, for a long time a capital of Upper Burma after the fall of Bagan, is on the Mandalay side of the Ayeyarwady River close to the Ava Bridge. From 1364, Inwa was the capital of the Burmese kingdom for more than 400 years, until the shift was made to Amarapura in 1783. Nanmyin is the 27m-high masonry watch-tower is all that remains of the palace built by Bagydaw, the upper portion was shattered by the 1838 earthquake and the rest has taken a precarious tilt. Maha Aungmye Bonzan is a brick-and-stucco monastery built by King Bagyidaw's chief queen for the royal abbot Nyaunggan Sayadaw in 1818. Bagaya Kyaung, a monastery built of teakwood and supported by 267 teak posts. The main hall stands on a raised platform, separate from the monk's quarters, and is designed so that space between the walls and roof allows air to circulate. Sagaing is located on the right bank of the Ayeyarwady River, it is widely regarded as the religious center for Myanmar. It is popularly known as 'Little Pagan' as the Sagaing ridge is crowded with around 600 pagodas and monasteries in which there are more than 3000 monks. There are also around 100 meditation centers in the area. Thabyedan Fort, built by the Burmese as their final resistance against the British forces in the Third Anglo-Burmese was in 1886. Kaunghmudaw Paya is Sagaing's most important temple, tt was built by King Thalun in 1636 and styled after a Ceylonese (Sri Lankan) pagodain commemoration of the re-establishment of Ava as the royal capital. Tupayon Paya was constructed by King Narapati of Inwa in 1444, Tupayon is of an unusual style for Myanmar as it consists of three circular stories each encircled with arched niches. Hsinmyashin Paya, built in 1429 and known as the Pagoda of Many Elephants, because of the elephant statues stationed at each entranceway. Amarapura means City of Immortality, but its period as capital was brief, founded by Bodawpaya as his new capital in 1783, not long after he ascended the throne, on the advice of court astrologers. His grandson and successor, Bagyidaw, moved back to Ava in 1823. The four pagodas that marked the four corners of the city walls still remain as well as the watch-tower and treasury building. Pahtodawgyi, built by King Bagyidaw in 1820, this well-preserved pagoda stood outside the old city walls. The lower terraces have marble slabs illustrating Jatakas (scenes from the Buddha's life). Bagaya Kyaung, built when Bodawpaya moved the capital to Amarapura, it was destroyed by fire in 1821. It was rebuilt several times and it is now no longer a monastery, but houses a museum and library, of interest for its collection of palm-leaf manuscripts. Palace Ruins have little remains of the palace except for two masonry buildings - the treasury building and the old watch-tower. King Bagyidaw and King Bodawpaya were both burnt here on the site of their 'tombs' and their ashes placed in velvet bags and thrown into the Ayeyarwady River.

Day 08 Mandalay / Kalaw (Drive 200 kms / 124 miles)
Morning depat for Kalaw, a popular hill station in the British days. It sits high on the western edge of the Shan Plateau and is still a peaceful and quiet place with an atmosphere reminiscent of the colonial era. The small population is a mix of Shan, Indian Muslims, Bamar and Nepalis. Afternoon tour includes Aung Chang Tha Zedi, a glittering stupa (Buddhist religious monument), covered in gold-colored mosaics. Dhamma Yon, a two-stories temple which from upstairs has fair views of the town, Dhamma Yanthi Paya and the ruins of the Hsu Taung Pye Paya. Nee Paya is located west of the town, it features a gold lacquered bamboo Buddha. Christ The King Church, a brick Catholic church under the supervision of the Burmese Father Paul, and the Italian Father Angelo Di Meo, who have been in Myanmar since 1931. The Christ figure over the altar came from Italy, and Father Angelo painted the mural background.
Overnight: Pine Hill Resort, Kalaw (1 night)

Day 09: Kalaw / Inle Lake (Drive 100 kms / 62 miles)
Morning depart by road to Inle Lake, located in Shan State. The lake is beautiful, with very calm waters dotted with patches of floating vegetation and busy fishing canoes. High hills rim the lake on both sides. The lakeshore and lake islands bear 17 villages on
stilts, mostly inhabited by the Intha people.
Overnight: Inle Princess Resort, Inle Lake (1 night)

Day 10: Inle Lake / Helo / Yangon (Drive / Flight)
Morning boat trip on Inle Lake then drive to Helo to catch a flight back to Yangon.
Overnight: Summit Parkview Hotel, Yangon (1 night)

Day 11: Depart Yangon
Morning transfer to the airport for the departure flight.
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