SPECIAL MYANMAR CRUISE EXPEDITION WITH PANDAW

Day 1: Arrival – Yangon
Day 2: Yangon  – Heho
Day 3: Inle Lake
Day 4: Inle Lake
Day 5: Heho – Mandalay
Day 6: Mandalay
Day 7: Mandalay – Pandaw River Cruises
Day 8: Pottery Village – Mingun by Pandaw River Cruises
Day 9: Mandalay, Ava – Amarapua by Pandaw River Cruises
Day 10: Yandabo Potteries Village by Pandaw River Cruises
Day 11: Bagan Monuments by Pandaw River Cruises
Day 12: Tan Kyi Mountain – Sale’ by Pandaw River Cruises
Day 13: Taung Ba Lu School – Magwe by Pandaw River Cruises
Day 14: Minhla Forts by Pandaw River Cruises
Day 15: Thayetmyo Frontier Post by Pandaw River Cruises
Day 16: Prome-The Ancient Pyu by Pandaw River Cruises
Day 17: Prome – Yangon Package Tours (By Coach)
Day 18: Yangon Sightseeing Tours
Day 19: Departure Yangon

Day 1 – Special Myanmar Cruise Expedition With Pandaw: Arrival – Yangon Sightseeing Tours

Arrive Yangon’s Mingaladon Airport off flight and will be agree by your guide and transfer to hotel. You have arrived in Myanmar (Burma), a country which has never ceased to fascinate and capture the imagination of foreign visitors through the centuries. Rudyard Kipling said of the country, “This is Burma, it will be unlike any other land you know about” .

Back in 1586, the first Englishman to visit Burma, Ralph Fitch, described Shwedagon: “It is of a wonderful igness, and all gilded from the foot to the top. It is the fairest place, as I suppose, that is in the world.”Again, Somerset Maugham described the Shwedagon Pagoda as glistening with gold, like a suddenhope in the dark night of the soul”. A lady who visited the country recently said, “You cannot go back and not love the country and the people”.

Overnight in Yangon.

Day 2 – Special Myanmar Cruise Expedition With Pandaw: Yangon Sightseeing Tours – Heho Package Tours

Upon arrival Heho, you will be transferred overland to Nyaung Shwe (about one hour drive) the gateway to Inle Lake and transfer by boat to the hotel situated on Inle Lake and surrounded by the Shan Hills (about 45 mins). Simply sit back and enjoy zipping across this serene and magical place, home to the famous Intha people and heavenly views.

Evening program is leisure or explore more of the lake. Then take a wander through this typical lakeside village all the while observing the lives of the local people.

You can discuss with guide as regards your wishes and preferences.

Overnight in Inle Lake.

Day 3 – Special Myanmar Cruise Expedition With Pandaw: Inle Lake Sightseeing Tours

Breakfast at hotel. Visit 5-day market nearest to the hotel. This rotating market changes locations every five days and is where the local hill tribes come to buy and sell their goods.  Items range from hand-made crafts to produce grown on the floating gardens. Take notice of the colorful outfits worn by the different hill tribes as they barter in this lively setting.

After lunch, leisure or explore more of the lake. Then take a wander through a typical lakeside village all the while observing the lives of the local people.

Overnight in Inle Lake.

Day 4 – Special Myanmar Cruise Expedition With Pandaw:  Inle Lake Package Tours

After breakfast at the hotel, begin your day with a boat excursion on the lake through a densely forested waterway to Phaungdaw U Pagoda. It is regarded as one of the three principal shrines of Burma, and is the holiest religious site in the southern area of the Shan state.

This particular pagoda houses five small Buddha images, whose original forms have long been lost under years of plastering with gold leaf by pilgrims. Along the corridor leading to the pagoda are a variety of stalls, some selling Shan handicrafts and others with various antiques and trinkets. Then carry on to the floating gardens to view traditional cottage industries still a mainstay in the Inle Lake economy.

Afternoon visit to the Ikat-style silk weaving industry at Inn Paw Khone Village. Next proceed to Nampan Village where you can witness traditional village life on the lake and observe the blacksmith workshop, cheroot making factory, (experience having a go at trying to make a cheroot – a famous Burmese cigar), and boat builder’s workshop.

Overnight in Inle Lake.

Day 5 – Special Myanmar Cruise Expedition With Pandaw: Heho Package Tours – Mandalay Sightseeing Tours

The last visit for today is Mandalay Hill for sunset. It rises 236 meters (774 feet) above the surroundings countryside. British and Indian troops suffered heavy casualties here in March 1945, storming the Japanese stronghold which controlled the plains around Mandalay.

Today, there remains only the regimental insignia near the hill’s summit. Two main stairways ascend from the south, under the glare of the ever-present, white chinches which demand the removal of shoes before entering sacred ground.

Overnight in Mandalay.

Day 6 – Special Myanmar Cruise Expedition With Pandaw: Mandalay Adventure Tours

Breakfast at hotel.

Today sightseeing in Mandalay starts with visit to Shwenandaw Monastery. This monastery is of great importance not only as a fine example of traditional Burmese carpentry but as a fragile reminder of the old Mandalay fort. The building is covered inside and out with carved panels.

Unfortunately though, many exterior panels have weathered badly. Then move on to Kuthodaw Pagoda, also known as the Maha Lawka Marazein Paya, which has also been dubbed ‘the world’s biggest book’, for standing around  the central stupa are 729 marble slabs on which are inscribed the entire Buddhist cannon, or Tripitaka. Each slab is housed in its own individual small stupa.

King Mindon convened the Fifth Buddhist Synod and used a team of 2,400 monks to read the whole book in a nonstop relay lasting nearly six months. In 1900, a paper edition of the stone original was printed in 38 volumes each with about 400 pages.

Continue to U Bein Bridge, a long and rickety teak bridge crossing Taungthaman Lake curved to withstand the wind and waves. The teak logs and planks used were from the ruined Ava Palace. You will also observe 1000 or so monks having their main meal for the day at Mahagandayon Monastery, they are prohibited to take any food after midday. A visit to Gold Leaf Beating workshop afterward and view artisans making thin leaves of gold leaf used for offerings, and visits to stone carving, woodworking and bronze casting workshops as time permits.

This evening at leisure. Overnight in Mandalay.

Day 7 – Special Myanmar Cruise Expedition With Pandaw: Mandalay – Pandaw River Cruises

Embark the ship at Shwe Kyet Yet Jetty, Mandalay in the morning for luncheon stream upstream and moore overnight at a jungle village north of Mandalay.

Overnight on board

Day 8 – Special Myanmar Cruise Expedition With Pandaw: Pottery Village – Mingun by Pandaw River Cruises

Arrive to Ngwe Nyein village. Visit the spectacular potteries nearby, where can see manufacturing stages of the famous 50 gallon, handmade water pots and return downstream to visit Mingun to view the Pagoda and largest working bell in the world.

Overnight on board.

Day 9 – Special Myanmar Cruise Expedition With Pandaw: Mandalay, Ava – Amarapua by Pandaw River Cruises

Overnight on board.

Day 10 – Special Myanmar Cruise Expedition With Pandaw: Yandabo Potteries Village by Pandaw River Cruises

Yandabo is a very small rural village that specialises in pot making. We visit the Pandaw School and the new dispensary both built with past donations from Pandaw passengers.

Overnight on board.

Day 11 – Special Myanmar Cruise Expedition With Pandaw: Bagan Monuments by Pandaw River Cruises

We tour a selection of the 3,000 listed monuments in this important World Heritage Site and visit lacquer workshops.

Overnight on board.

Day 12 – Special Myanmar Cruise Expedition With Pandaw: Tan Kyi Mountain – Sale’ by Pandaw River Cruises

Ascend Tan-chi-taung Mountain by foot or by WWII jeep for the spectacular sunrise over Pagan. In Sale we visit a number of te
ak monasteries including the Yout-saun-kyaung with its spectacular wood carvings and we explore an area of splendid colonial-style houses.

Overnight on board.

Day 13 – Special Myanmar Cruise Expedition With Pandaw: Taung Ba Lu School – Magwe by Pandaw River Cruises

If river conditions permit, morning visit to Taung Ba Lu School project sponsored by Noble Caledonia and Pandaw Cruises. In the afternoon, we climb the river bank and wind our way through a labyrinth of passages and paths to reach the magnificent Myat-thalon Pagoda. This pagoda is constructed with solid gold bricks.

Overnight on board.

Day 14 – Special Myanmar Cruise Expedition With Pandaw: Minhla Forts by Pandaw River Cruises

We visit Minhla and Gwechaung, two Italian built forts constructed to keep the British at bay from Royal Myanmar. We climb the Gwechaung hill for the view.

Overnight on board.

Day 15 – Special Myanmar Cruise Expedition With Pandaw: Thayetmyo Frontier Post by Pandaw River Cruises

This pleasant colonial town once guarded the border between Royal Myanmar and British Myanmar following the 2nd Anglo Myanma War of 1855 and many of the buildings including the covered market date from this period. We visit the market, see the colonial houses and ride out by horse and cart to see the countryside and golf links.

Overnight on board.

Day 16 – Special Myanmar Cruise Expedition With Pandaw: Prome-The Ancient Pyu by Pandaw River Cruises

Visit the 5th-8th century archaeological site of Thiri-ya-kittiya, former centre of the Pyu civilization with a fascinating museum of early Buddhist artifacts and sculpture.

Overnight on board.

Day 17 – Special Myanmar Cruise Expedition With Pandaw: Prome – Yangon Package Tours (By Coach)

Disembark at Prome and transfer to Chatrium Hotel Yangon by coach (included in cost of cruise). Arrive at the hotel in the afternoon (Around 1.00 pm – 2.00 pm).This afternoon you will visit one of Burma’s most famous sites – and indeed of the world — the spectacular and awe inspiring Shwedagon Pagoda, shimmering above the city of Yangon, for an unforgettable sunset. 

Whilst the origins of the pagoda are shrouded in legend, it was certainly well-established by the time Bagan dominated Myanmar in the 11th century.  All around the Shwedagon one finds the calm activity of a religious village, for a great pagoda is the focus of secular as well as religious life, none more so than the Shwedagon. 

It is an important event for Myanmar families who make a pilgrimage to the pagoda to be able to buy a packet of gold leaf at one of the pagoda bazaars, and paste their offerings to the Shwedagon, another stupa, or a Buddha image at the pagoda. 

Illuminated by the misty glow of the sun, the Shwedagon is most admired at dusk or dawn. To wander around this religious monument, with all its legends and history and to witness a breathtaking sunset over the crumbling skyline of Yangon is one of

Asia’s best kept secrets. Overnight in Yangon.

Day 18 – Special Myanmar Cruise Expedition With Pandaw: Yangon Sightseeing Tours

After breakfast at the hotel, you will visit Botahtaung Pagoda, one of the most important in Yangon. Meaning “thousand leaders”, Botataung was named after the thousand military leaders who escorted the relics of the Buddha brought from India over 2,000 years ago.

Botataung is hollow inside and is a sort of mirrored maze with glass showcases containing many of the ancient artefacts. Above the interesting interior, the pagoda’s impressive golden spire rises to 132 feet. A photo stop at Sule Pagoda considered the centre of Yangon, where colonial buildings are extant. Continue to visit Chaukhtatgyi Reclining Buddha, 220 feet long magnificent reclining Buddha famous for its mystic smile.

In the afternoon, you will also visit the National Museum. The showpiece of the museum is the Lion’s Throne, on which King Thibaw sat in his hall and gave an audience in Mandalay Palace.

Then proceed to Bogyoke Aung San (Scott) Market, the largest of Yangon’s markets.  You can find under one roof all the consumer goods a Myanmar family could possibly need or want.

Overnight in Yangon.

Day 19 – Special Myanmar Cruise Expedition With Pandaw: Departure Yangon

Breakfast at the hotel.

Today you will be transferred to the airport for your departure flight.

End of services!

IMPORTANT NOTES FOR MYANMAR:

• Please note that credit cards and traveler cheques are not accepted in Myanmar and that visitors must be bring sufficient cash (best in US Dollars, but Euros also increasingly accepted) to change and make any purchases and payments. Please bring new US Dollar bills (“big heads” instead of “small heads”) and with series numbers not starting with CB as these are not accepted in Myanmar due to rumours these series are counterfeit.
• Furthermore please inform passengers that they should NOT change money at the exchange booth at the airport just after immigration, as the market rate in town is MUCH better. A surcharge might apply for peak season dates (Water Festival 12-18 April, X’Mas, New Year, etc.
• Travelers to Myanmar are required to have a travel insurance covering the cost of medical evacuation flights. is available at all international airports (Yangon & Mandalay).
• The visa application form is also available at all international airline linked with Myanmar or on-line. To apply on arrival visa, one must have 2 passport photo (4×6 cm) taken within last 6 months and passport must be valid 6 months after arrival date.
• For more detail information, please contact sales@vietlongtravel.com The schedules of domestic flights in Myanmar are provided as an indication only. Once a booking is confirmed we can provide more precise timings, but these remain nevertheless subject to change without notice by the airlines until travelling date. It might therefore in some cases be necessary to amend your program and itinerary due to such schedule changes. We thank you for your understanding.