Myanmar Water Festival and Burmese New Year Tour

Sunday 13^th April  – Yangon

• Arrive at your convenience into Yangon – the capital city of Myanmar. It is well connected to Asia and Europe.
• Transfer to our centrally located hotel.
• Pre-tour meeting will be held at the lobby of our hotel at 6:00pm to discuss tour itinerary and to meet your fellow travellers and Pioneer Adventure Travel guide.
• Today is the first day of the Water festival. This is a day of preparation, with people building and decorating temporary pavilions called mandalas. As we spend our first evening in Yangon, we will witness the preparations.
• We’ll go and explore the nightlife of Yangon. For this we will need to go to Chinatown, or at least the Yangon version of it. There, we’ll find 6 real pub type places, as well as a plethora of BBQ joints selling beer and BBQ to the masses. The street food here is also some of the best in Yangon!
• Dinner and overnight in Yangon

Monday 14^th April – Yangon

Morning

• Prepare your ammunitions (water balloons) and get ready for the craziest walking tour of your life, for today is the day when the real water throwing begins! People take to the streets armed with buckets, hoses, and water guns, and everyone gets soaked.
• That won’t prevent us – quite the contrary – from exploring the city centre and its fabulous mix of architecture and sites. The streets are filled with historical buildings many of which have a faded colonial charm not seen elsewhere in Asia. You’ll learn about the fascinating history of the city as well as get a taste of the more modern side of it.
• We’ll check out the stunning Kandawgyi Lake, Reclining Buddha, and Temples (pack trousers or a skirt that cover the knees, and something to cover your shoulders).
• We’ll also see the Kandawgyi Lake, where dozens of water spraying stations and stages are built for the festival.

Afternoon

• Lunch on some local delicacies.
• We will check out the Martyr’s Mausoleum, housing Aung San – father of modern Burma – and containing the remains of various people including the former Secretary-General U Thant, but more famous in recent history for being the site of an assassination attempt on the South Korean president by North Korean agents.
• In the late afternoon, we will set off to see the sunset at the breathtaking Shwedagon Pagoda, one of the most beautiful sacred sites in all of Myanmar. The exterior of the stupa is plated with 8,688 solid gold slabs, its tip set with 5,448 diamonds and 2,317 rubies, sapphires and topaz. A huge emerald sits in the middle to catch the first and last rays of the sun.
• At the pagoda, we’ll observe local pilgrims and monks offering their devotions and enjoy the amazing sunset view.
• In the evening, we’ll be back in the city centre for more water fights, more street food, and more drinks. Depending on the bar, one can get a local mixed drink for as little as $1.
• Overnight in Yangon.

Tuesday 15th April – Yangon – Naypyidaw (The Ghost Town)

Morning

• After breakfast at the hotel, we will drive to Naypyidaw, (367km), which takes around 5 hours on the expressway. On the way, we’ll make some stop for refreshment.
• On this day of the Water Festival, people visit temples to pour water on Buddha images as a sign of respect and devotion. We’ll make some stops on the way to see it.

Afternoon

• Naypyidaw is the capital city of Myanmar. It is 7,054 square kilometres in size, roughly four and a half times the size of London, but its population is only 924,608 people. With 20-lane highways and wide streets designed for a future of expansion, the city seems like a ghost town.
• We’ll explore the city and see buildings such as the seat of the government of Myanmar, the Union Parliament, the Supreme Court, the Presidential Palace, and official residences of government ministries and military.
• Similar in size to the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, the 99-meter tall Uppātasanti Pagoda is impossible to miss. It houses a Buddha tooth relic and was completed in 2009.
• Overnight in Naypyitaw. As an almost empty city, the nightlife there is quite… absent. But we’ll congregate with the locals at the water gardens in the centre of the city to see the musical light show and have a couple of drinks. It’s likely that, as the only foreigners there, we’ll be the star of the show for the lone inhabitants.

Wednesday 16th April – Bagan

Morning

• After breakfast at the hotel, we’ll drive to Bagan, which will take around 4 hours. On the way, we will make some stops for refreshment and photos opportunities.

Afternoon

• Big city tour of Bagan, an ancient city steeped in history and home to the largest and densest concentration of Buddhist temples, pagodas, and ruins in the world.
• Today is the last day of the Water Festival. It is customary to buy a live fish and then release it in the open water of rivers or lakes.
• From the 9th to 13th centuries, Bagan city was the capital of the Pagan Kingdom. More than 10,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries were constructed in the Bagan plains at that time, of which the remains of over 2200 temples and pagodas survive. We’ll visit a selection of them.
• We’ll head to the river for sunset.
• In the evening, we’ll head to the Night Market/Carnival. This is a real party place and quite the eye opener! As it is the end of the Water festival, so it’ll be extra lively.

Thursday 17th April – Bagan

Morning

• Transfer to hot air ballooning (optional extra) for one of the best sunrises in Myanmar.
• Our exploration of Bagan will continue today. We’ll start by visiting a busy local market in Bagan. Today is the Burmese New Year’s Day, so we expect to see a lot of celebrations in the streets.
• More than just temples, our tour aims to provide you with a great overview of Bagan’s history, culture and local lifestyles. That’s why we’ll continue by visiting villages near Bagan to view the real way of life for most Myanmar people.

Afternoon

• Visit to the traditional lacquer ware workshop to observe the production of one of Myanmar’s best-known handicrafts.
• We’ll continue to Ananda Temple, a 900-year-old architectural masterpiece and one of Bagan’s most beautiful temples. We’ll enjoy an unforgettable sunset over the plains from one of the elevated viewpoints. Sit back, relax and be amazed by the beauty of Bagan as you watch the sun slowly set behind the ancient Pagodas.
• Overnight in Bagan.

Friday 18th April – Kalaw

Morning

• After breakfast, we’ll drive from Bagan to Kalaw (268km about 4-5hrs drive) a former British colonial town. On the way, we’ll stop at some local villages and sightseeing. Kalaw’s hill is 1300-meter above sea level.

Afternoon

• On the way to Kalaw, the scenery is beautiful. We will see paddy filed, local flowers filed, and meet with ethnic tribe.
• Upon arrival at Kalaw, transfer to your hotel for check in. The town still feels like a high-altitude holiday resort – the air is cool, the atmosphere is calm and the tree-lined streets still contain a smattering of colonial-era architecture.
• Overnight in Kalaw, where we will stroll along the bustling night market

Saturday 19^th April – Kalaw and Inle Lake

Morning

• In the morning, the heart of Kalaw is its market, where villagers from the surrounding hills come to sell their produce.
• A pleasant walk from the central market will take us to the Hnee pagoda, in which we will find a 500-year-old bamboo Buddha.
• We’ll then drive to Nyaung Shwe where we pick our boat & transfer to our hotel for check in.

Afternoon

• We’ll have a full tour by private boat in Inle Lake. We’ll visit the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda, the most holy religious site in southern Shan State, and also check the local handicrafts, silk weaving, wooden handlooms and traditional blacksmith methods along the way.
• Visiting Inle Lake is not just about being on the water but also about discovering the Shan and Intha villages on the banks of the river. We’ll pass the endless floating gardens, houses, monasteries built on stilts on the lake.
• We’ll stop at Nga Phe Kyaung Monastery then proceed to Nampan village and see local cheroot factory (where the Burmese cigars are made) and canoe carving.
• Overnight in Nyaung Shwe

Sunday 20^th April – Inle Lake

Morning

• Today our boat tour will begin with a visit to the market, which rotates locations every five days and where hill tribe people dressed in colourful, traditional outfits barter for goods and produce.
• We continue our sightseeing in Inle Lake, manoeuvering by boat though long, scenic channels. We will visit the fascinating village of Indein, with its complex of ancient shrines and stupas and walk though exotic colonnades of stairways and shop stalls.

Afternoon

• After a local lunch, we’ll visit the “long neck” tribal women, and weaving and craft villages perched on stilts.
• We’ll see the lake’s unique “leg rowers” – the Intha people row standing up with one leg wrapped around an oar. It is a feast for the senses and a photographer’s dream.
• Overnight at Inle Lake

Monday 21^st April – Yangon (group A) – Mandalay (group B)

Group A members

• After breakfast at the hotel, we will drive back to Yangon. It is a 8-9 hours-long drive, but we’ll have the opportunity to stop at local villages for refreshment, photo opportunities, and to stretch our legs.
• Upon arrival, we’ll transfer to our hotel and head out for a farewell dinner and drinks.

Group B members

• After breakfast at the hotel, we will drive to Mandalay. It is a 5-6 hours-long drive, so we’ll make sure to stop on the way at some local
  villages for refreshments.
• Our patience will be rewarded as we arrive at Mandalay in the late afternoon and drive to the top of Mandalay Hill as the sun begins
  to set to enjoy magnificent views of the city and Irrawaddy River.
• Overnight in Mandalay.

Tuesday 22nd April – Yangon (group A) – Mandalay (group B)

Group A members

• Breakfast at hotel
• Tour concludes with airport drop-off arranged according to your flight details – Pioneer Adventure Travel is also able to arrange advice for flights.

Group B members

• After breakfast at the hotel, we will visit local artisans’ workshops of gold leaf making, tapestries, woodcarving and marble carving.
  Many of the techniques used to create these have remained unchanged since the times when they were used to craft items for
  the Royal Court.
• In the afternoon, visit the beautiful Golden palace teak monastery, the only remaining building from the 19th century Royal Palace. This grand teak building is known for its exquisite woodcarving.
• We’ll continue to the Kuthodaw Pagoda, which is known as “the world’s biggest book” due to the Buddhist scripture carved on 729 marble slabs.
• Before sunset, we’ll visit a 200-year-old teak bridge, the world’s longest teak bridge built by Mayor U-Bein. It is one of the most photogenic sights of the country and not to be missed.

Wednesday 23rd April

• After breakfast, group B members will transfer to the jetty and you’ll board a private local boat for a trip up the Irrawaddy river to Mingun (45 min each way).
• There, we’ll visit the Mingun Bell, the world’s largest intact bronze bell, the unfinished Mingun Pagoda (built with the intention of being the world’s biggest pagoda) and the Hisnbyume Pagoda, a white-washed temple built to resemble Mount Meru.
• Throughout Mingun there are small neighborhoods crafting traditional basketry and other artistic items and there is plenty of time to stop and interact with the craftsmen and friendly locals.
• Back to Mandalay and transfer to the airport and take of your domestic flight to Yangon.
• Upon arrival in Yangon, transfer to hotel for check in. Overnight in Yangon.

Thursday 24th April

• Breakfast at hotel
• Tour concludes for group B members with airport drop-off arranged according to your flight details – Pioneer Adventure Travel is also able to arrange advice for flights.