General Information:
Duration: 10 days/9 nights
Tour Routine: Mandalay – Mingun – Amarapura – Sagaing – Inwa – Yandabo – Hnaw Kone – Bagan – Salay – Yangon
Start/End: Mandalay/Yangon
Tour Style: River Cruise, Landscape, In-depth Cultural
Guides: Myanmar Local Guide (English Speaking Guide, Other Languages upon Request)
Transportation: Irrawaddy Explorer Cruise Ship, Private First-class Air-conditioned Vehicles
Brief Itinerary:
Pre-cruise
Day 1: Mandalay Arrival
6-Night Cruise with Irrawaddy Explorer
Day 2: Mandalay Embarkation – Half-day City Tour
Day 3: Mandalay – Mingun – Amarapura
Day 4: Sagaing – Inwa
Day 5: Yandabo – Hnaw Kone
Day 6: Bagan
Day 7: Bagan
Day 8: Salay – Bagan – Fly to Yangon
Post–cruise
Day 9: Yangon – Departure
Full Itinerary:
Day 1: Mandalay Arrival
Mingalabar! Welcome to Myanmar – the land of magnificent pagodas. On arrival at Mandalay International Airport, welcome by Go Myanmar’s local guide then transfers to the hotel for check-in. Enjoy the rest of the day at your hotel.
Day 2: Mandalay Embarkation – Half-day City Tour
This morning is at leisure for you to enjoy your own time at the hotel. You might also stroll along the street to gaze out at the life of the people. If luckily, you will catch the image of the monks and nun calling for morning alms.
Around noon, your guide will come to pick you up to transfer to the jetty and check out at Irrawaddy Explorer. Enjoy a welcome dinner in Customs House Dining Room.
In the afternoon, get off for a short excursion to discover the royal capital city. Make your way to Kuthodaw Pagoda, a famous Buddhist monument which is well-known as the world’s largest Buddhist book.
After that, visit Shwenandaw Monastery, the only original monastery left from the royal era showing the finest example of the Burmese architecture in the 19th century. From here, proceed to a local gold leaf workshop that produces the gold leaf commonly used to adorn Buddha images at temples throughout Myanmar. Later on, pay a dignified visit to Mahamuni Pagoda, home to one of the most venerated Buddha images in the country.
Day 3: Mandalay – Mingun – Amarapura
Wake up in the sound of bird-singing this morning. After breakfast, enjoy a leisurely walking tour of the small town of Mingun. Start the day with a visit to King Bodawpaya’s monumental, uncompleted stupa – well-known as Mingun Pahtodawgyi. To date, it has been left to nature and there are many large cracks created after the earthquake. We continue to Mingun Bell, the second heaviest working bell in the world.
Lately, we will have time to shop in the local market where sell a variety of local art and souvenirs.
This afternoon, follow your guide to the penultimate Burmese royal capital of Amarapura to visit a silk workshop and gain more local experience. As the sun immerse everything in golden light, head to U Bein Bridge, well-known as the world’s longest and oldest teakwood bridge. There is no better way to capture the beauty of the bridge than taking a boat trip to admire the sunset over the bridge.
Day 4: Sagaing – Inwa
The morning of day 4 leads us to Sagaing – an important religious center in Myanmar. The green hills are dotted with countless pagodas and stupas across the hillsides. You will stop to see Soon U Ponya Shin Pagoda on the top of the hill. From here you will see the panorama of Sagaing overlooking at the poetic Irrawaddy River.
Next up we move to a local nunnery to observe the life of the nuns. Leaving Sagaing, we head to Ava, the ancient Burmese capital. Explore the city by horse cart. Visit the beautiful 200-year-old teak wood Bagaya Kyaung Monastery, historical Nanmyin watchtower, and Yadana Hsemee pagoda complex.
Day 5: Yandabo – Hnaw Kone
This morning, leave the ship to take an excursion to Yandabo, a tranquil riverside village which is noted for pottery making. Take a leisure walk through the village for a first glimpse at the life of the rural people. Then you will have an opportunity to visit some family homes and workshops, each with their own style and markings to witness the making and firing of the pottery making.
Following your afternoon sightseeing with a trip to Hnaw Kone village, a typical, rural, river village, with friendly residents and adorable children. We will visit the local handicraft of bamboo cane basket weaving. Watch the villagers splitting the bamboo and weaving the strands into baskets or the largest panels for building homes.
Day 6: Bagan
This morning, your guide takes you to one of the most incredible destinations of Myanmar: Bagan. Start the day with a visit to the massive Htilominlo, built by King Htilominlo on the site where he was chosen from the five sons of King Nadaungmya to be the crown prince of Bagan. Inside the temple preserve the finest plaster carvings which still remain undamaged on the arch pediments. Next, we will climb aboard traditional, ceremonial oxcarts for a short ride through the temples of Bagan. Finally, explore one of the most famous temples of Bagan, Ananda. Dating back to the 1105 CE during King Kyanzittha’s reign, it is one of only four surviving temples from this period.
After a cozy lunch, spend your time to visit a local workshop where the traditional methods of creating lacquerware (known as Yun-de in Burmese) are still practiced. After watching a demonstration of the labor-intensive process required in making each piece, we have time to shop before continuing on our tour. Then enjoy a short scenic drive through the antique stupas to Gubyaukgyi Temple (also known as Great Painted Cave Temple), where the richly-colored paintings are thought to date back to the early 12th century. Follow your guide to see a sand painting demonstration by a local artist. Then we will also discover the nearby Myazedi Stupa, here you will see both a linguistic and historical significance which established Pyu as an important cultural influence in the early Pagan period. Fulfill today’s sightseeing at the Bagan Viewing Hill. Sit back to view the sunset over the pagodas and stupas of Bagan before returning to the ship.
Day 7: Bagan
Start the amazing morning with a visit to Nyaung U Market, the largest open market in Bagan where fresh produce, meats, spices, woodcarvings, longyis, thanaka, and rattan products are sold every day. Stroll around the market area to watch the negotiations and transactions taking place. You will also see local women carry their purchases on their heads.
Leaving the market, head to the gilded Shwezigon Pagoda, one of the most popular attractions in Bagan. Regarded by legend, the golden stupa at its center contains a bone and tooth relic of the Buddha,
After exploring this large temple complex, get on the couch and returns us to the ship and we set sail to Salay
After lunch, enjoy your free time at leisure.
Day 8: Salay – Bagan – Fly to Yangon
This morning, leave the boat to Salay, a small town founded in the 13th century with Bagan-era shrines, famous for era shrines, beautiful 19th-century teak monasteries, and preserved British colonial buildings. We will visit Salay House, a restored 1906 colonial trading company warehouse on the bank of the Irrawaddy. Then head to Yoke Soun Kyaung Monastery served as a museum boasting remarkable wood carvings and artifacts. After that, pass some interesting Bagan-era monuments on our way to Nan Paya, a pagoda noted for a beautiful lacquerware Buddha.
After that, your driver will transfer you directly to the airport to take a flight to Yangon.
Day 9: Yangon – Departure
After breakfast, enjoy your own time at leisure until the driver comes to pick you up to transfer to the airport to take your departure flight. Trip ends.
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