NEW! Burma: Land of Golden Temples & Floating Gardens (2012)

We depart the U.S. on an overnight flight across the Pacific and cross the International Date Line.

Arrive in Bangkok late in the evening. An OAT representative will meet you at the airport and assist with your transfer to our Bangkok hotel. Travelers on our optional Vientiane & Luang Prabang, Laos trip extension arrive earlier in the day.

After breakfast at our hotel, we fly to Rangoon, Burma, and stop to exchange money before beginning our discovery of Burma’s largest city and former capital. Also known as Yangon, the architecture of many buildings in the downtown district of Rangoon reveal vestiges of British colonial rule. Our first stop is Chaukhtatgyi Pagoda, home to an enormous reclining Buddha whose crown is encrusted with diamonds and precious gems.

Then we'll transfer to our hotel and enjoy lunch on our own. This afternoon we'll begin with a walking tour of Rangoon’s city center and geographical heart, situated around a 2,000-year-old golden temple. Our next stop is the most sacred Buddhist site in all of Burma—Shwedagon Pagoda. Also known as the Golden Pagoda, the hilltop temple complex covers more than twelve acres and dominates the Rangoon skyline. We’ll view the gold-draped, gem-studded pagoda at sunset, when the fading light shimmers off its 326-foot-high spire. Few places in the world radiate such a palpable sense of beauty and serenity as Shwedagon Pagoda.

This evening, we celebrate the start of our Burma discovery during a Welcome Dinner at a local restaurant.

Today is free to pursue individual exploration in Rangoon. Or you may wish to join an optional Rangoon: Past & Present tour. This optional excursion includes a visit to the National Museum, a five-story building on Pyay Road that displays Burma’s history, culture, literature and people. We'll witness the splendid Lion Throne of Burma’s last monarch, King Thibaw, on the ground floor.

Then we'll depart for Rangoon’s waterfront, walk along the jetty, and observe locals engaging in daily activities. We'll continue to Chinatown, strolling along its bustling market and exploring side alleyways while taking in local culture and discovering new surprises at every turn. Our optional tour concludes with a dinner at a restaurant that features great views of the city at night.

Early this morning, we’ll take a breakfast box with us and transfer to the airport for a short flight to central Burma. Our destination is Bagan, also known as the “City of Four Million Pagodas.” Many of the pagodas and temples are small and simple—but the number of them is staggering. Although Bagan’s centuries-old shrines, pagodas, and stupas do not actually total in the millions, there are well over 2,000 of them scattered along the remote 26-square-mile plain, flanked on one side by the Irrawaddy River. This qualifies Bagan as the largest temple city on the planet, as well as one of the most important archaeological areas in all of Asia. The majority of ruins in Bagan were constructed between the eleventh and 13th centuries, a time when Bagan was the capital of the First Burmese Empire.

After a brief stop at Toyokpyi Pagoda, we head to a village market in the town of Nyaung-U; a great opportunity to mingle with the locals and wander among stalls that feature locally-grown crops, rattan items, tea leaves, and colorful traditional clothing. Then we visit nearby Shwezigon Paya, a beautiful gold-domed pagoda constructed early in the twelfth century that is believed to enshrine a bone and tooth of Gautama Buddha.

Next, we witness the beauty of Ananda Pahto, a terraced temple peaked in shimmering gold that is considered a symmetrical masterpiece. Built around 1090 by a Burmese king inspired by tales of visiting Indian monks, Ananda’s perfection qualified it to serve as a prototype for successive Burmese temples. Inside its whitewashed walls are four large statues of Buddha, each displaying a different facial expression.

After lunch at a local restaurant, we’ll check into our hotel (set on the banks of the Irrawaddy), followed by some time at leisure. Then we head out to Myingaba village to visit Gubyaukgyi, or The Great Painted Cave Temple. Here, we’ll view a series of richly colored murals that are thought to date from the temple’s original construction in 1113. This small temple also offers some of the best-preserved stucco sculptures in Bagan along its exterior. Afterwards, we see the Pahtothamyar Pagoda, before taking a horse-drawn carriage ride through the archaeological zone. Witnessing the late-day sun playing off the ancient temples of Bagan is an unforgettable experience.

This evening we'll enjoy an included dinner at a local restaurant.

You may wish to get up extra early this morning for an optional hot-air balloon ride, a memorable opportunity to soar high in the sky and witness the sun rising over the ancient temples of Bagan. Afterwards, return to the hotel for breakfast.

The rest of the morning and early afternoon is at leisure with lunch on your own. Or, you may join another optional tour to visit Mount Popa, a sacred peak that is associated with a uniquely Burmese spiritual tradition—the nats. Like gods or saints, nats are powerful spirits who can punish or protect. Our tour takes us to the temple of the nats, perched high on a volcanic outcrop of Mount Popa. We also enjoy an included lunch at a local restaurant, a visit to the Medicinal Museum & Plantation, a tour of Taung Kalat Temple, and a walk through a local market before returning to Bagan.

In late afternoon, all travelers board a boat at a local jetty to view the locale from another vantage—the waters of the Irrawaddy River (also called the Ayeyarwady River). The people and country’s economy depend on this natural resource, as you will undoubtedly observe by the countless number of barges, bamboo rafts, and fishing boats that ply the waters of the Irrawaddy. From onboard we will also be able to observe how everyday life is played out along the riverbanks.

Another treat is in store for our small group this evening, when we visit a local family as guests in their home for dinner. The people of Burma are deeply religious, and your Trip Leader is sure to provide you with insights into local customs and traditions before your visit.

After an early breakfast, we transfer to the airport for a short flight to Mandalay. Upon arrival, we visit the ancient city of Inwa (known until recently as Ava). Inwa was founded in 1364 and served as capital of the Burmese kingdom for almost 400 years. Highlights of our visit include Nanmyin, a masonry watchtower known as the “leaning tower of Ava;” Maha Aungmye Bonzan, an early 18th-century monastery constructed of brick and stucco; and a ride by horse-drawn carriage to the elegant teakwood monastery Bagaya Kyaung.

After lunch on our own and some free time, we visit Shwenandaw Kyaung, a traditional Burmese wooden monastery; and Kuthodaw Paya, often referred to as “the world’s biggest book” due to its surrounding marble slabs inscribed with the entire collection of early Buddhist writings (which, if read for eight hours a day, would take more than a year to finish). Then we take a short ride to Mandalay Hill to catch a panoramic sunset view before an included dinner back at our hotel.

We begin the day with a visit to a gold leaf workshop, where sheets of gold are beaten into gossamer-thin pieces. Placing gold leaf on a Buddha image brings great merit to the faithful, so the layers of gold leaf on Buddha images throughout Burma get thicker and thicker with the passing years. Next we'll explore several highlights of Mandalay, which briefly served as capital of the last Burmese kingdom in the mid-19th century. We first visit the Mahamuni Paya, home to a highly venerated Buddha image, one of the most sacred in Burma. Over the centuries, devout Buddhists have been applying gold leaf to the 13-foot-high seated Buddha; that gold surface is now estimated to be about six inches thick. Then we visit Myawaddy Nunnery. Here, we’ll gain insights into Burma’s Buddhist traditions, observe more than 200 of the nunnery’s novice nuns during their lunch, and participate in an informative discussion with the abbess of Myawaddy Nunnery.

Today lunch is on your own, and then we'll enjoy some time at leisure before a short drive to another ancient royal capital, Amarapura. Upon our arrival, we’ll visit the world’s longest teak bridge. The U Bein footbridge stretches almost three-quarters of a mile over Thaungthaman Lake, and is heavily utilized by the local monks in saffron robes who carry alms bowls back and forth to monasteries. Constructed of more than 1,000 teak posts, the U Bein has withstood the elements for over two centuries. We hope to catch a memorable sunset by the bridge before heading back to Mandalay for an included dinner at a local restaurant.

After breakfast, we enjoy a pleasant boat ride a few miles upriver from Mandalay to the village of Mingun, home to a massive unfinished pagoda and the largest, un-cracked, fully-functioning bell in the entire world. Cast in bronze in 1808, the gigantic Mingun Bell is 13 feet high and weighs in at about 200 tons. The bell was meant to be a part of the Mingun Paya, which would certainly have been the world’s largest pagoda had King Bodawpaya not died in 1819 before its completion. An 1838 earthquake split the one-third-completed monument, reducing everything except its enormous base to rubble.

We then return to Mandalay along the Irrawaddy and enjoy lunch at a local restaurant. The rest of the day is at leisure, and dinner is on our own this evening.

We rise early for our flight to Heho. Upon arrival, we visit a local village inhabited by members of the Pa-O tribe, one of the many ethnic minorities in Burma. After a tour of the village, we transfer to Kalaw, situated along the edge of the Shan Plateau in eastern Burma. Popular with trekkers, Kalaw is surrounded by hill-tribe villages and also serves as the gateway to Inle Lake. After an included lunch at a local restaurant, we embark on a walking tour of Kalaw, which features several Buddhist monuments and a thriving town market that traders from hill-tribe villages frequent every five days. The town is comprised of a mixed ethnic population—including descendents of the Nepali Gurkhas and Indian Hindus brought here by the British during colonial rule to build roads and railways. Our tour includes a stop at the old Railway Station used by the British; a visit Christ the King Church, a catholic church founded almost 100 years ago by an Italian missionary; and a hill climb (approximately 280 steps) for a panoramic view of the town

This evening we head out to a restaurant in Kalaw for an included dinner.

A diverse variety of ethnic hill tribes reside in small villages nestled among the hills that surround Kalaw—including the Palaung, Danu, Pa-O, Taung Yo, and Danaw tribes. After breakfast, we first make a stop at the Kalaw morning market. Then we visit Myin Ma Htie village, home to members of the Danu hill tribe. Our discoveries include a meeting with a Buddhist monk for meditation and an enlightening discussion; a visit to a village school (when in session) to meet with Danu schoolchildren; a village walk; and trip to a surrounding vegetable plantation that supplies the village with food. Then we get an authentic taste of tribal life by sitting down for a lunch hosted and prepared by the Danu villagers. After a conversation with some village elders, we return to our hotel in Kalaw.

Dinner is at a local restaurant this evening.

This morning we transfer to our hotel in Kaung Daing, an Intha village on northwestern shore of Inle Lake. Surrounded by scenic mountains, tranquil Intha villages, and Buddhist monasteries, Inle Lake (Burma’s second-largest) is about 13 miles long and seven miles wide, with water less than ten feet deep. The population here consists primarily of members of the Intha tribe, who often can be seen navigating the placid lake waters in flat-bottomed skiffs using a single wooden paddle—and a unique leg-rowing style.

Our afternoon is at leisure to enjoy the grounds of our hotel and take in its picturesque surroundings. Later in the afternoon, we enjoy a brief canoe ride along the waters of Inle Lake to observe some of the floating gardens and an Intha stilt village firsthand. Dinner is at our hotel this evening.

Today’s discoveries on Inle Lake begin with a boat ride to Nga Hpe Kyaung, home to a stunning wood temple and Buddhist monastery built on stilts. Because the monks at Nga Hpe have trained cats to jump through hoops, it is also known as “Jumping Cat Monastery.” Then we continue to Nampan, a village built on stilts over the water. Here, we’ll see how local boats are built and learn about cheroots during a visit to a factory where these popular local cigars wrapped in tree leaves are made by hand. We also visit a blacksmith workshop and a lotus fabric weaving workshop, where women make a fiber out of the stems of lotus plants and weave fabric by hand on wooden looms.

After lunch at a nearby restaurant, we continue to the village of Tha Ley to view the eleventh-century Phaung Daw Oo Paya, one of the most sacred sites in Burma. Four ancient Buddha images reside in a pavilion inside the pagoda—images that are so laden with gold their features are unrecognizable. During an 18-day pagoda festival each fall (featuring many leg-rowing contests!), the images are ferried around the lake aboard a gilded barge shaped like a hintha, or swan.

Dinner is on our own this evening.

After breakfast, we depart by boat to visit some local workshops that produce Shan paper and traditional umbrellas. Here, we'll meet with some women of the famous Padaung hill tribe, and we'll be able to discuss with them their ancient tradition of wearing heavy brass ornaments around their neck and limbs. Then we visit Inthein (or Indein), a lakeshore village where we view the mysterious hilltop ruins of hundreds of hundreds of ancient pagodas cloaked in thick vegetation, followed by lunch in a local restaurant.

This evening we enjoy a Farewell Dinner at our hotel.

After breakfast, we transfer to Heho for a flight to Rangoon. Upon arrival, we wander through the some 2,000 stalls of Bogyoke Aung San Market. Also known by its old British moniker, Scott Market, Bogyoke is a great place to interact with locals while haggling for all manner of Burmese handcraft items. Then we enjoy lunch at a local restaurant before returning to the airport for our flight to Bangkok. Dinner is on our own tonight in Bangkok.

We rise before daybreak for an early morning flight back to the U.S. If you are continuing on the post-trip extension to Phnom Penh & Angkor Wat, Cambodia, travelers fly to Phnom Penh this morning.