Myanmar and Cambodia Cultural Tour

breakfast and lunch

Drive to the airport for onward flight to Mandalay in the early morning. Upon arrival, your local guide and driver will pick you up and have some time to rest. Our sightseeing tour in Mandalay starts in the afternoon, after a lunch on at a local restaurant.

Mandalay is a city breathing the air of Buddhism and our first stop will be Shwenandaw Monastery. This exquisite monastery used to be a part of the royal palace and a textbook example of royal teak wood architecture.

Saunter in the ground of Kuthodaw Pagoda and the World's Largest Book and your tour guide will explain some scripture carved in the tablets of the "book". Finish your day at the top of Mandalay Hill and enjoy a sunset view of the city.

Kuthodaw Pagoda

breakfast and lunch

After breakfast in hotel, we will set out to Amarapura. On the way, you will see monks getting around the villages to collect alms, which contributes their daily austerities and food.

Driving out of Mandalay, you will be in time to visit Mahagandayon Monastery when thousands of monks lining up for daily lunch. What's more, you will have a chance to offer alms to those young monks at the back of the line, who rarely get any alms when the big crowd clears away before noon.

Arrive at Inwa Ancient City, was the imperial city of Burma from the 14th to 19th centuries. Take a horse cart to get around the ancient city with many historical relics, including Ava Palace, Maha Aungmye Bonzan Monastery and Yadana Hsimi Pagodas.

Getting back to Amarapura, you will take a boat trip under the longest teakwood bridge in the world - U Bein Bridge for a breath-taking sunset view.

U Bein Bridge

breakfast and lunch

Transfer to airport for an early flight to Bagan. Upon arrival, you will be welcomed by your local guide and then drive you to the hotel.

This afternoon, we will visit the Minanthu Village, a peaceful village very near from Bagan. It sees fewer travelers and remains a quiet village where people make a living by traditional handcrafts such as lacquer ware and weaving. You will also see some women villagers who tattoo their faces as a way to identify their group, social, age and marital status.

Later, visit Kyat Khayon Cave Monastery. This underground monastery was built to isolate the monks from the outside world for a better training.

Minanthu Village

breakfast and lunch

We'll get up early for a hot air balloon riding. Flying up in the sky, overlooking all the temples at sunrise, it will be an unforgettable memory in this vacation. (The hot air balloon is available during October to next March)

In the morning, we will explore a World Heritage Site - Bagan Archaeological Zone, which is amazing with its over 2,200 ruins scattering on the vast plain of Bagan. There used to be more than 10,000 in its day of prime and most are of 10 centuries old. Some are large and tall while others are hidden among the grass and hard to spot out.

After lunch, let's stroll through the Nyaung U Market where local people buying food in daily life, you will have ample opportunity to shop for some souvenirs.

hot air balloon riding

breakfast and lunch

Today, you will take a flight to Heho Airport, 40 minutes away to Inle Lake. You will be picked up by local guide and driver and transfer you to hotel for free at leisure. Later, we will take a boat trip in the Inle Lake to discover the local’s life.

Inle Lake - the second-largest lake in Myanmar. Local ethnic people are centered on the lake and boat is their main transportation. They live in stilted houses, grow fresh produce such as tomatoes, melons, and papayas in unique floating gardens, and eat fish as a staple. On the lake, you can see traditional fishing by using the leg rowing technique.

Inle Lake

breakfast and lunch

Today, let's get in touch with vigorous lifestyle of the Inle Lake. Your tour guide will take you to a local market in a village of the lake. Known as the 5-Day Market, trade fair will be held in some major villages around lakeshore following a 5-day rotation.

We will have some simple lunch at a floating restaurant overlooking the busy lake traffic. And then, paddle into the narrow riverbanks where you will reach the Indein Pagoda Complex. There are countless ancient pagodas springing out of the water. It is so easy to get soaked up in the timeless atmosphere as your boat weaves through the creeks.

Finally, relax and enjoy spectacular sunset views over Inle Lake before returning to the hotel.

Floating Market

breakfast

Today, transfer to airport for a flight to Yangon, then connect with the international flight to Phnom Penh.

Upon arrival, your guide will welcome you at the airport and escort you to hotel for a good rest. If you have free time, perhaps stroll the streets of Phnom Penh and explore the city, taking in the interesting French colonial architecture.

breakfast and lunch

Start the day from the National Museum. The place houses an impressive collection of numerous statues, sculptures, bas-reliefs and so on. It is the perfect place to learn about Cambodian history and art.

We then head to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda, the iconic historical sites in Phnom Penh. With unique Cambodian style and ornate structure, the buildings inside the palace are adorned with diamonds, jewels, gold, and silver.

You'll visit the Tuol Sleng Prison Museum and the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek tell the story of the tragic legacy of the Khmer Rouge.

Then pay a visit to Wat Phnom, the temple that gave rise to the foundation of the city in the 15th century. Later you head out of town to a working monastery to learn more about the life of a monk and Theravada Buddhism. Buddhism in Cambodia is a way of life that most people incorporate into their daily life.

Royal Palace

breakfast and lunch

Fly north to Siem Reap (approximately 40 minutes) where the great temples of Angkor await.

Spend a full day visiting the amazing temples of Angkor on a guided exploration. Angkor Wat is the largest and most complete structure, and the only one of Angkor's temples that has its entrance facing west – the others face east. Then there is Angkor Thom, the 'Great Royal City', a temple famous for its series of colossal human faces carved in stone. Of all the temples visited today, Bayon Temple is the centerpiece, with over 200 smiling carved faces and more than 50 gothic towers. After lunch it's off to the Ta Prohm Temple, which has large trees embedded in the stone foundations of the structure - powerful symbols of nature.

Angkor Wat

breakfast and lunch

Embrace a very early start today if you wish to experience a sunrise visit to the Angkor complex (this is optional). From here, continue onto Banteay Srei. You'll see it's not a huge temple, but thanks to its intricate stone carvings it is sometimes referred to as 'the jewel in the crown of Angkorian art'. You can carry on exploring more temples, such as Preah Khan. This temple contains a maze of vaulted corridors and is another complex that has been largely reclaimed by the jungle.

Banteay Srei Temples

breakfast

Transfer back to airport for your flight home or to your next destination.