Be a Local in Mandalay Duration: Full day Tour Pick Up:          8:00am @ your hotel (City  area) Drop Off:        7:00pm @ your hotel (City area) Start your tour with a visit to the top of Mandalay Hill, rising 240 metres above the city. This is an excellent opportunity for a grand overview of Mandalay. At the base of the hill, stop to visit Shwe Nandaw Kyuang, noted for its intricate wood carvings and Kayuk Taw Gyi Pagoda, home to a huge marble Buddha. Finally, visit Kuthodaw Pagoda, considered ‘the world’s largest book’, housing a collection of more than 700 marble slabs inscribed with Buddhist teachings. Take a break midday for lunch at a local curry shop or tea house and experience one of the city’s famous noodle dishes. Mandalay has also long been known as a centre of skilled craftsmanship. This afternoon, you’ll take a tour of traditional workshops and observe marble masonry, Kalaga tapestry and gold leaf making. OPTION: Visit a local craftshop, to create your very own marionette. Select the style and dress of your marionette and put together your unique souvenir. A perfect personalized memory of your Mandalay holiday. USD XY per person (depends on clients choice) In the late afternoon, Continue to 63rd street and participate in lively local activity. This street comes to life around 16.00 as locals gather outside the temple. Here, you will find street vendors selling snacks, temple offerings and small toys for children. Inside, the temple is busy with Buddhists preparing offerings or earning merit through tasks such as feeding fish, grinding thanaka on large stones to make scented water and praying at the many shrines. After this glimpse of local life, return to your Mandalay hotel.

Explore the Wonders of Mandalay Duration: Full day Tour Pick Up:          8:00am @ your hotel (City  area) Drop Off:        7:00pm @ your hotel (City area) Today we start with a visit to Sagaing. Boasting over 600 white-painted pagodas and monasteries, Sagaing Hill is considered to be the religious centre of Myanmar. As such, it is home to 3,000 monks and 100 meditation centers. Immerse yourself in this spiritual heritage visiting pagodas such as Swan Oo Pon Nya Shin and U Min Thone Sae. You will visit Sagaing’s local market and discover locally made pottery, silver and other handicrafts. Next, stop at a small pottery village for a demonstration of creating the water pots found throughout Myanmar. Next, drive along the Irrawaddy River to Mingun to the unfinished Mingun Pahtodawqyi, left as such after an astrologer predicted the King’s would die should the temple be completed. Then, see the 90 ton Mingun Bell, considered the world’s largest uncracked ringing bell. Continue your visit at the beautiful white Hsinbyume Pagoda resembling the mythical Mount Meru.  Enjoy lunch on your return boat ride.  Your next stop will lead you to Amarapura, the ‘City of Immortality’. Visit a silk weaving workshop producing exquisite handmade products, then visit Mahagandayon monastery, home to over one thousand monks. Take a stroll along the 200 year old teak U Bein Bridge. The bridge was constructed of 984 teak posts that were once part of the deserted Inwa Palace and it is 1.2 kilometers in length making it the world’s longest teak span. Enjoy a stroll along the bridge and the fabulous views of the surrounding farms and streams. Return to Mandalay late this afternoon. 

Experience a Spiritual Morning in Mandalay Duration: Morning Tour Pick Up:          04:00am @ your hotel (City area) Drop Off:        09:00am @ your hotel (City area) Begin early this morning as your guide and driver picking you up at your hotel at 4.00. Visit Mandalay’s most important religious site, Mahamuni Pagoda. The main Buddha image here is more than 3.5 metres high and covered with golf leaf. Witness the monks who gather every morning at 4.30 to wash the statue’s face with scented water and clean his teeth with a soft brush. This early morning ceremony is rarely experienced by tourists. Next, continue to a local neighborhood to witness the red robed monks collecting the daily alms from the locals. The morning alms collection is an important part of making merit for the monks and for the Burmese people. After these beautiful ceremonies, head to the morning market in central Mandalay. This large, bustling market is filled with vendors selling mounds of fresh produce, meats, flowers and other items. Observe villagers arriving by trishaw or motorbike, monks and nuns collecting alms and sample some of the exotic fruits, dried meats and sweets. Visit a local tea shop for a cup of tea and a bowl of noodles for breakfast. Mandalay is famous for its mee shay (noodles with pork or chicken, bean sprouts, toasted chickpea flour, rice flour gel, soy sauce and various herbs) and nan gyi toke or mont di (rice noodle with a chicken curry- the difference is the size of the noodles). Then transfer back to your hotel.

Day Trip to Pyin Oo Lwin Duration: Full day Tour Pick Up:          08:30am @ your hotel (City area) Drop Off:        05:00pm @ your hotel (City area) This morning, leave Mandalay for a scenic two-hour drive to the former British hill station of Pyin Oo Lwin, also known as Maymyo. Pyin Oo Lwin is home to many ethnic tribes as well as a considerable numbers of Nepalese and Hindu who migrated during the British occupation. Many reminders of the colonial era are still present in Pyin Oo Lwin, including brick and timber houses. Enjoy a horse and carriage ride through town. Stop at the Botanical Gardens, 432 acres of leafy gardens home to a diverse mix of botanical species from around the world. Continue to the local market to see the multicolor flowers and vegetables on sale. After a today tour you will go back to Mandalay.

Excursion trip to Padalin Cave Duration: Full day Tour Pick Up:          07:30am @ your hotel (City area) Drop Off:        06:30pm @ your hotel (City area) You will be picked up and drive to Kume around about one and half hour then continue to drive about one and half hour again to a narrow dirt road to Kindar Dam 21 miles from Kume. After crossing the dam by boat approximately about 30 mins and continue one hour trekking to the Padalin Cave. It is at the western fringe of Shan Plateau near a path from Nyaunggyat to Yebock, on a spur of Nwalabo mountains within the Panlaung Reserved Forest. Padalin Cave is famous for primate which is situated since 13000 year ago. And you could also see oldest wall painting, and other weapon which is made by animal bone and sharp stone. Myanmar Government preserved that land for historical record and observe how primate move on. Enjoy your lunch with the lunch box near the cave. Sightseeing around Padalin Caves(2 cave big cave and small cave) and you could see rare bird species and other wild animal near Padalin Cave. Explore this Unique site and after that return back to Mandalay in the afternoon. 

Ancient Cities around Mandalay Duration: Full day Tour Pick Up:          08:30am @ your hotel (City area) Drop Off:        05:00am @ your hotel (City area) Depart for an excursion around Mandalay to explore the former capitals of Ava, Sagaing and Amarapura.  Start driving to south of the city to Ava, the capital from 14th to 18th centuries, where a short ferry ride will take us across the river to where our horse and carriage are waiting. Visit the old wooden Bagaya Monastery and the remains of the Royal Palace and Fort. There are many small villages located amid Ava’s ruins and as you travel by horse and cart you’ll get a glimpse of local life in the Burmese countryside. Then, cross a bridge over the Irrawaddy River to Sagaing. Covered with 600 white-painted pagodas and monasteries, Sagaing Hill is widely regarded as the religious center of Myanmar.  It is home to 3,000 monks and 100 meditation centers and you will visit pagodas such as Swan Oo Pon Nya Shin and U Min Thone Sae.  We will stop for lunch at local restaurant. We’ll also visit Sagaing’s local market, a typical Burmese market that few tourists visit. Here you will find a range of items for sale including locally made pottery, silver and other handicrafts. We will also stop at a small pottery village to see the process of making the ubiquitous water pots found throughout Myanmar. Return toward the city and stop at Amarapura, a former capital whose name means ‘City of Immortality’. First visit a silk weaving workshop which produces exquisite handmade products. After touring this tranquil site, continue to U Bein Bridge for a walk along this 200 year-old teak bridge. The bridge was constructed of 984 teak posts that were once part of the deserted Inwa Palace and it is 1.2 kilometers in length making it the world’s longest teak span. Enjoy a stroll along the bridge and the fabulous views of the surrounding farms and streams. 

Day trip to Fishing Community Duration: Full day Tour Pick Up:          08:30am @ your hotel (City area) Drop Off:        05:00am @ your hotel (City area) We will pick you up at 07:30 am by car and transfer to Mandalay jetty to board the Living Irrawaddy Boat. En route, we will visit Sin-Kyun Community and learn about bamboo hat making. Then, we will depart for Sein Pa Kone Community. Then, you will have a lunch. After lunch, you will introduce dolphins and cooperative fishing presented. Here, you will learn for one hour to become fishermen/women. Casting a net looks difficult but is surprisingly fun to learn. You will be taught by the fishermen using specially designed, light weight nets. You will try and catch your own fish! Then, depart for the village to watch the dolphin along the way. Depending on time and your interest, you will visit to Mingun Stupa. You will return to the jetty by 17.30 pm after a full but unforgettable day. Finally, back to your hotel in Mandalay.

Mandalay Markets & Fine Food Duration: Full day Tour Pick Up:          07:00am @ your hotel (City area) Drop Off:        03:00pm @ your hotel (City area) Mandalay is known for its food and interesting market showcasing food from all around the country. Today no temples or pagodas for you but food and markets. We start early morning with a local breakfast (Nan Gyi Thoke) and visit to the vegetable market. Continue with a stroll to a lively neighbourhood with house industries showing you how to make Mandalay sweets, local cakes and noodles. We continue to the country side and stop at a farm to see where all the food actually comes from. A typical home made Mandalay lunch is served at one of the lesser known monasteries in the country side where we donate and help planting a few “Sein Ta Lone” mango trees – producing in a few years the best mango in the country – as a Burmese saying says: “the best time to plant a mango tree is 10 years ago – the second best time is today”. Return to the hotel around 3PM or continue to the fish market which is starting around this time.

Mandalay to Bagan – the scenic way by bus and private boat Duration: Full day Tour Pick Up:          07:30am @ your hotel (City area) Drop Off:        03:30am @ your hotel (City area) A full day excursion to explore more of the country side with the experience of public bus and a fantastic boat ride on the Ayeyarwaddy River. We take you from your hotel to the Mandalay bus station where you take 4 hours’ drive with a public bus to Pakkoku. We start the tour visiting the colourful market, a local slipper factory and see where the famous Pakkoku blankets are made. A private boat is ready for you at the jetty in Pakkoku for a leisurely boat trip downriver while lunch is being served on board. About 1.5 hour boat ride we stop to visit Kyauk Gu Ohnmin cave temple that rarely sees foreign visitors and continue in about 1.5 hour to Bagan where you arrive at the end of the day. 

Temples & tortoises - private car from Mandalay to Bagan Duration: Full day Tour Pick Up:          07:30am @ your hotel (City area) Drop Off:        03:30pm @ your hotel (City area) A full day excursion to explore more of the country side with the experience of visiting a hidden cave temple and Burmese star tortoise in the wildlife sanctuary. With a private car and driver, we take you to a hidden cave temple - Ta Moke Shin Pin Shwe Gu Gyi Pagoda the excellent creatures of its exterior with plants, animals and characteristic of myths. From here, we continue drive to visit Burmese star tortoise at the Minzontaung Wildlife Sanctuary. The Burmese star tortoise is an endangered species originally from the dry zone in Myanmar and in urgent need of protection. The Minzontaung Wildlife Sanctuary has been doing an excellent job in breeding tortoises and setting them back out in the wild. The simple visitor centre and the breeding centre to see more of the tortoises gives you more information about this endangered and oh so cute little animal. Your visit to the centre will support the project. After the visit to the tortoise centre, a local lunch at a nearby restaurant and continue about 2.5 hours leisure drive to Bagan.