Upon arrival, your expert guide and driver are already waiting for you at the airport. Before taking you to your hotel, you enjoy a driving tour of the city, just to get you familiarised with the fascinating story of Myanmar and give you a glimpse of the colonial past of Yangon. After you are all settled and have had a change to refresh, the adventure truly begins. In Shwedagon Pagoda and in the surrounding area, you and the kids find yourselves in the midst of a treasure hunt. To succeed in the game you have to make offerings to the pagoda monks, feed some turtles, retrieve some Myanma household items and even resort to a fortune teller. If that wasn’t fun enough, after a traditional lunch, you will spend the afternoon in a puppet show. Myanma puppetry was revered in olden times and there is currently a renaissance of the art.
After breakfast you fly to Bagan. A quick tour of the highlights will let you get your bearings before enjoying a picnic in Minnanthu. It is a quiet area east of the city, with strong agricultural traditions and impressive monuments between the fields. In the afternoon, you embark on a river adventure. The mighty Ayeyarwaddy is Myanmar’s main river and it beautiful as it is exciting. You dock in a sandbank for a sundowner.
There are thousands of monuments and pagodas in Bagan and each and every one of them has a story to tell. Some are enlightening Buddhist tales, some are happy accounts of just rulers and pious monks. Some of them, however, are dark and scary stories, filled with ghosts, the supernatural and the complicated history of Myanmar. You shake the goosebumps away as you play in a palm swing and after lunch you head back to the hotel to prepare for the evening. You find yourselves enjoying a gorgeus sunset atop a temple. You explore some of the most famous temples and some that are practically unknown. In this formidable tour of Bagan, you get to snack along the way and taste the food that the locals usually keep to themselves. This adventure is partly by car, partly on foot.
You fly to Haho and head to an Elephant Conservation Camp. Here you get to interact with these charismatic animals. You will learn all about the conservation project and enjoy lunch in the camp. After you are done petting the elephants, you head to Kalaw and your hotel for the night.
Inle Lake is an isolated gem in the middle of Myanmar. The cultures that have flourished on its shores have developed unique traits and customs. One of the most characteristic is foot paddling. Skilled fishermen manage a paddle with their foot. Why? ― you may say. Well, it’s because you can see fish better if you’re standing up. You can have a go at it but take my word, it is harder than it looks ― and it looks hard enough as it is. You also visit floating gardens and enjoy lunch in a floating restaurant.
Today you explore the villages around Inle Lake by bike. Cycling along the shore of the lake is a marvellous experience and the mellow pace lets you connect with the people. That is not to say that you can’t sprint here and there and have fun in the countryside. After lunch, take to the water and kayak between floating gardens and the motorboat across the breadth of the lake.
After breakfast, make your way back to Yangon to catch your flight back home. Travel works wonders on families and the golden memories created during your time together in Myanmar are yours forever. Speak about a treasure hunt!
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