Berachach travel and tour

ESSENCE OF NAGALAND CRUISE

10 Days

ESSENCE OF NAGALAND CRUISE

10 Days
Day 1 : Arrival Yangon

You will meet with your guide at the Arrival Hall of Yangon International airport. Transfer to your hotel and check in. (Check in at 14;00 noon and early check in depends on room availability).

Spend your afternoon with a short walk on the wooden bridge to line up along the Kandawgyi Lake, giving you a stunning view on the Shwedagon pagoda, but also on the royal barge, standing at the side of the lake, Karaweik. Continue your visit to Kyauk Hta Gyi Pagoda, famous for its impressive reclining Buddha. End the tour at The Shwedagon pagoda for a unique experience to discover the most venerated religious place of Myanmar. In the evening, enjoy your welcome dinner.

Day 2 : Yangon – Homalin

After early breakfast, transfer to airport and fly to Homalin, the entrance of Nagaland. After a short relax, strolling around Homalin with your professional guide and get the experience of local atmosphere. A visit to the Naga community and enjoys the local experience as you try the Naga food and hear their folk stories. Enjoy the folk songs and the beautiful tribal dance.

Day 3 : Homalin – Htamanthi – Layshee (Nagaland)

Enjoy the early breakfast and join the speed boat and upstream to less explored beautiful Chindwin River. After a 4-hour journey, you’ll be stopped at Htamanthi village and take a short rest for lunch.  Then proceed the journey to Lay Shee, a town in Naga Self-Administered Zone of Sagaing Region on the north-west frontier of Myanmar. Visit to a local community and enjoy their food, folk songs and dances.

Day 4 : Nagaland

Have early breakfast and begins the Naga tour with the visit to local villages. In a village, you will celebrate the stone pulling ceremony. Enjoy the scenic beauty of Nagaland. The village turned out en masse, dressed in traditional tribal clothing, to play their part in the event, a ‘stone pulling’ ceremony.

A large slab of stone is quarried from the local hill side and placed on a sled of bound tree trunks. Vines are attached to pull the immense sled a number of miles along country lanes to a parade ground, where it will be placed upright and engraved, to commemorate.

At the head of the rope pulling are the women and children, holding the rope up to show their part in the procession. Much farther down the ropes, the village men were straining every sinew to drag the huge stone to its destination. The ceremony concluded with a grand feast in the evening. You’ll see their customs, traditions, and rich heritage.

Day 5 : Nagaland

Have a leisurely breakfast and drive back to Lay Shee. During the drive, enjoy the scenic beauty of villages and stop for a photo shoot. In the late afternoon, visit the Naga Cultural Museum, where the major Naga tribes showcase their rich exotic looking hut building styles. In the evening, get cozy by the campfire and rock out with the locals once the sun goes down.

Day 6 : Htamanthi - Homalin

Balloon Experience Over Bagan – Start your morning with an incredible hot-air balloon flight over Bagan’s temple-studded plains. Start your morning snack on pastries and croissants, and sipping coffee and tea as the balloon is inflated. Climb aboard before gently rising above thousands of gilded stupas and earthen temples all back-dropped by the impressive Ayeyarwady River. A truly unforgettable and unique experience. (Note: available only from 15th October to 31st March; all flights weather permitting).

After breakfast and drive back to Htamanthi where the boat is waiting for downstream to Homalin. Arrive Homalin in the evening and relax at the guest house.

Day 7 : Homalin – Bagan – On Board

Enjoy your breakfast, transfer to the Homalin airport and fly to Bagan. Upon arrival Nyaung-U airport, you’ll be transferred to jetty to join in cruise. Welcome on board and have your lunch on board. You will visit Kayminga pagoda complex to see the different architecture of the stupas first-hand. This is the perfect starting point to understand how Bagan was built over several centuries and how the architectural style has evolved.

Next, visit Bagan to see the Ananda Temple. Completed in 1091 AD, it is commonly referred to as one of the four great temples in Bagan. The Ananda is regarded by folklore as one of the most beautiful temples in Myanmar.

Enjoy the sunset the Bagan plains and admire the light change in the pagodas as they exude antiquity and mystery. Finally, the sun sets behind the hills on the far side of the Ayeyarwady River, filling the sky with a reddish glow, a truly magic moment.

A welcome briefing and champagne reception will be hosted in the Kansi Panorama Lounge before a candlelit sandbank dinner is served with the backdrop of the twinkling lights of Bagan.

Day 8 : On Board

Visit the bustling local market of Nyaung U. The daily market is where the farmers meet to buy and sell variety of good, ranging from fruit and vegetables to china and lacquerware.

After our visit to Nyaung U, you will move on to the great golden Shwezigon Pagoda. This holds a special place among Burmese pagodas for two reasons; it was the first major monument built in the Burmese style (as distinct from Mon style) following the country’s conversion to Theravada Buddhism, and was the first pagoda to have nat (spirit) images allowed within the precinct. The Shwedagon is said to contain important relics of the Gautama Buddha, two bones and a copy of a tooth.

Then return to the ship for lunch and start sailing upstream towards Sagaing. Relax as you past villages set against a backdrop of soft browns, rich tamarind trees, with white and golden pagodas gracing the distant hills. There is no better way to enjoy this riverine picture than from the Kansi panorama lounge.

After lunch a variety of on-board activities will be offered including a longyi (sarong) and thanaka (cosmetic) demonstration, a back of house tour, and a talk on Myanmar – covering the country’s incredibly rich history, more recent and controversial events, and prospects for the future.

A delicious dinner in the Talifoo Restaurant will then follow.

Day 9 : On Board

The morning will be spent sailing as you enjoy the passing countryside. A cooking class with the Executive Chef will be available.

In the afternoon visit the pagoda sprinkled Sagaing Hill, as important religious and monastic centre, home to some 554 monasteries and 6,0000 monks and nuns.

Next, take in the views from the top of the hill on the terraces of the Soon U Poonya Shin Pagoda which are truly breathtaking. Below and all around, pagodas of different shapes and sizes dot the landscape.

Amarapura, was once known as “The City of Immortals”. Todau, the leisurely ‘clack-clack’ from the looms of the cotton and silk weavers has replaced the noisy bustle of this former capital.

Visit the U Bein Bridge, a spectacular place to enjoy sunset. This long teak bridge snakes across the Taungthaman Lake and each evening you can watch monks crossing the bridge to collect food donations. This is a very spiritual and time travelling experience.

The view of the bridge as the sun goes down is perhaps one of the most beautiful sights in Mandalay, making it an excellent photography opportunity. After sunset, return to the Sanctuary Aannda.

A local performance will be followed by dinner on board.

Day 10 : Mandalay-Yangon Departure

After a leisurely breakfast, transfer to Mandalay airport and fly to Yangon. If time permits, visit the famous Bogyoke Market or Scott market (closed on Mondays and Public Holidays). The complex houses hundreds of small stalls where local people use to buy jewelry, tailor made clothes is a good place to buy numerous souvenir items to be memorials of the visit Myanmar. Have lunch and relax at a beautiful oasis in town. After lunch, transfer to airport and depart from Myanmar.

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