Inle Lake

Located within the hills of the Shan State is the indescribable Inle Lake. It is the second largest freshwater lake in Myanmar and is approximately 2,900 feet above sea level. The culture of the people is not like the rest of the country, and they have preserved their customs and way of life for hundreds of years. The inhabitants of the lake are called the Intha, and their unique way of living will surely impress. Everything from rowing a boat to growing vegetables and fruit is unlike anywhere else. A few days around the lake enjoying its cool climate and wonderful insight will give you a new perspective on life.
One of the first things you will notice on this 22k lake is the fishermen. They have a very strange way of rowing their boats; they use their leg to assist in the work. Balancing on the tip of the boat the Intha fishermen propel their handmade boats around the lake for work and pleasure. You will also witness the fishermen using strange cone shaped nets to catch various fish for their family as well as for the markets.
The floating gardens are another fascinating site to see. The locals support themselves by growing fruits and vegetables year round, including tomatoes, beans, cauliflower, cabbage, eggplant, garlic, onions, melons, and bananas. The plants are grown on a marshy soil based mass that is extremely fertile and staked to the bottom of the lake with bamboo.
Of all of the places you visit in Myanmar Inle will be the one you remember most fondly. The friendly hill tribe people, ancient pagoda’s, colorful festivals and natural beauty will give you a life time of memories. Once you’ve experienced Inle you’ll want to return again and again.

Inle Lake

To begin your day on the lake you will meet with your local boat guide at the canal entrance to the lake. You will board your private long tail boat equipped with chairs and life jackets. As you begin your journey down the canal to the lake you will pass by local people going about their daily lives. You will quickly realize that Inle Lake is like no other lake in Myanmar. Once you hit the lake you will be overwhelmed with the view of mountains surrounding you in every direction. The calm waters reflect the sun and give the lake a magical feel.
Your first impression of this lake will be magnificent. Seeing the local people going about their day as well as the magnificent scenery makes this trip both scenic and cultural. There are many sites to visit on the lake including floating gardens, monasteries, pagodas, and local villages. The lake and surrounding hills are home to hundreds of tribes, and visiting their villages on the lake will really make you appreciative of your own home. As you cruise up and down the different, “streets,” waterways you will pass by hundreds of homes build on stilts and some are made entirely of bamboo. It is a real treat just to see the locals going about their daily routine.
You can’t miss the one of the most amazing features of this lake, the floating gardens. The locals use a very unique way of growing vegetables on the lake. They use a combination of dead water plants and silt from the lake bottom to make a floating mass that will support plant life. The gardens are in long rows, like a farm, staked to the bottom with bamboo. It seems as the rows go on forever. You can see the bamboo poles sticking up out of the lake for what seems to be hundreds of acres. The plants are predominately tomatoes, because the locals have found that the plant really thrives on these floating soil masses. You will pass by hundreds of rows of gardens filled with green and red tomatoes, and you will also see the local women paddling up and down the rows harvesting their crops to sell at the local market.
While traveling around the lake you will witness the local fishermen using their unique leg rowing techniques to get around the lake. This is truly an astonishing balancing act. Standing on one leg and using the other leg to row the fishermen can multitask as they propel and steer their boat around the lake. Although they make it look easy, but it is not. It takes years of practice and extreme balance to be able to master this amazing feat. As you glide across the lake be sure to capture some photos of the fishermen, these will be some of the most prized photos you can get on the lake.
After lunch you can visit In Dein which is a collection of pagodas on top of a hill on the lake. The boat trip up the canal is rather interesting. You will go upstream through a collection of handmade dams that restrict water flow and make the canal deeper. It is more like a theme park ride than a river cruise, as the boat charges through these homemade channel locks. Along the way you will pass some even more remote village people doing everything from fishing to bathing. If you’re lucky you may pass an ox or two taking a dip in the water to cool themselves off after a long day in the fields. Once you reach the end of the canal you will find yourself in a small village. To get to the pagoda you must hike up a long set of shallow stairs, and as you venture to the top you will pass multiple vendors selling all sorts of local goods. Once you reach the top you will find your self in a very peaceful and tranquil spot. As you gaze out at the lake and countryside the surrounding stupa bells will ring as the wind blows. It is an amazing place to just sit and relax.
On your journey around the lake you will also go by a silk, cotton, and lotus weaving workshop. Here you can witness the amazing craftsmanship that goes into weaving traditional shawls and longyis. It takes a day or two to finish one piece of clothing. Even more impressive that the weaving is the lotus string, pieces of lotus flower stock is cut and separated to form a workable string. It takes hundreds of stalks of lotus to get just one roll of useable material. Although the finished product is rather pricy, the uniqueness is priceless.
After spending a few days cruising the lake and seeing what it has to offer you will leave with a piece of Myanmar in your heart. This stunning lake surrounded by picturesque mountains will be one of the most remembered destinations you have ever been to.

Mandalay

Mandalay, the last royal capital of Myanmar

Let Next Myanmar Tours show you the culturally rich city of Mandalay. Located along the Ayeyarwady River about 716k north of Yangon, Mandalay is a must see city in Myanmar. Currently the population is roughly one million and continues to grow, and the recent influx of Yunnan people has helped the economic growth of the city. Mandalay is Myanmar’s northern economic hub and a vital trade route between China and India. Even though commercialism has penetrated this city it still holds on to its traditional roots and ways of life.
There are plenty of sites within Mandalay that will inspire your inner soul. Firstly there is Mandalay Palace, once an amazing set of intricately carved wooden buildings, but the bombings of WWII destroyed most of it. What remains of the walls and moat of the palace will give you a representation of what it used to be. There is a scale model and cultural museum within the compound that can give you the information necessary to understand this magnificent palace. Most of the buildings have been rebuilt, but the history of them has been lost. There is still the Golden Palace Monastery which is the only building that survived the attacks of WWII. The next site to see is Mahamuni Temple, which is one of the three holiest places in Myanmar. This temple holds a gigantic bronze Buddha covered in layers of gold leaf. Mahamuni is usually crowded with devotees from around the country, and the surrounding vendors bring life to this peaceful temple. A site not to be missed is located at the base of Mandalay Hill, Kuthodaw Pagoda. This site is known as the biggest book in the world. Each page of the Buddhist writings have been transcribed onto slabs of marble and enshrined in their personal stupa. There are nearly 800 individual pages making this an extraordinary site to see.
Mandalay is also the center of arts and crafts in Myanmar. There are hundreds of workshops that transform raw material into stunning pieces of art. You can witness the process of gold leaf making, as well as marble and wood carving. It is unbelievable to see how much work goes into this magnificent art work. To really put time into perspective you can visit the tapestry weaving workshops. Here traditional cotton and silk weavers make customary longyis that are so intricate and colorful that only an inch a day can be made.
Around the city there are a few places of interest, such as Paleik which is an unspoiled countryside that is home to hundreds of temples and pagodas. There is also the famous U Bein Bridge which is a half mile long bridge made entirely out of teak. It is a real treat to see the bridge by sampan while cruising the lake. Near the bridge is the Mahagandayon monastery which may be the largest Buddhist University in the country, and it is a real treat to witness the thousands of monks all studying together.
 

About Myanmar

Myanmar is an enchanting country filled with history and culture. Formally known as Burma, Myanmar hosts one of the most diverse countryside’s in all of Southeast Asia. You can go from beaches to towering mountains, and in-between lies thousands of temples and untouched dense jungles. Myanmar is situated between India, China, Bangladesh, Laos, and Thailand. This nearly 700,000 km square county has one of the most unique and diverse landscapes in the region.

The deep rooted culture is unchanged, and the people of Myanmar are very in touch with the Buddhist religion. Nearly 90% of the population is Theravada Buddhist. You will quickly see realize this as you enter the capital city of Yangon and see the massive gold stupa of Shwedagon Pagoda piercing the skyline. Every city in the country hosts hundreds if not thousands of religious monuments ranging from temples, monasteries, pagodas, and figures of Buddha. Myanmar is home to over 135 different ethnic groups each with their own traditions, language differences, and lifestyles.

The landscape of Myanmar varies from region to region. In the south you can enjoy pristine beaches and tropical jungles. Along the southwestern coast there is the Myeik Archipelago which has thousands of untouched islands, and this area is also known for is remarkable diving sites. To the north lie the foot hills of the Himalaya Mountains. The snow capped mountains in the north provide an excellent escape from the warm weather in the south. One of the main geographical features of Myanmar is the mighty Ayeyarwaddy River. This river spans most of the country, originating in the north and flowing south all the way to Yangon where it dumps into the Andaman Sea. The river is both a commercial trade route as well as a hydroelectric powerhouse that supplies electricity to Myanmar and surrounding countries.

After a day in the country you will quickly see that the people are some of the most friendly and charming people in all of Asia. Everything from their traditional longyi wearing to chewing betel nut has been unchanged for hundreds of years. You will be greeted by smiles and hospitality everywhere you go within the country. It is not just at fancy hotels and restaurants where you will receive this treatment, it is everywhere. You will see smiling children playing football in the street, women balancing trays of snacks on their head, men sitting at street side tea shops discussing the days business, and bamboo scaffolding towering above your head, but this is just normal day to day life, expect so see much more interesting things throughout your journey through this magical land.
 

Bagan

Bagan was the first imperial capital of ancient Myanmar. The end of the 13th century witnessed the fall of Bagan dynasty in the reign of King Narathihapate or King Tayotpaye. Bagan had been ruled over by 55 kings 12th century. The ruins of Bagan cover a tract of country, measuring about 16 square miles along the east bank of mighty Ayeyarwady. The monuments which are now in all stages of decay were erected mostly from the 11th - 13th centuries AD, during which Bagan was in its heydays. Nowadays, Bagan is the ideal site for historical, cultural and archaeological studies.

True! Myanmar people used to say regarding Bagan of which they are much proud. Bagan is the cradle of Myanmar history and Buddhist culture. King Thamudrit built Bagan at the very place of the settlement called Paukkan. The mighty King Anawrahta (1044-77) welded into one kingdom a group of formerly independent states and became king of the Ayeyarwady River in the 11th century. He extended his sovereignty down to the south. He was the first unifier of Myanmar and the introducer of the Theravada Buddhism in Myanmar. The air of Bagan is filled not only with the fragrance of vachellia, but also with war-cries of spear-slinging heroes on horsebacks. The study of the history and culture of Began means the study of the history and culture of Myanmar. Thanks to the good irrigation system of Bagan kings, the wealth of Bagan increased rapidly and the people of Bagan erected about 10,000 pagodas and temples in Bagan area. But today they are ruined except some famous pagodas and temples. However, Bagan succumbed to the onslaught of the Mongols in 1287, and Myanmar split up into small principalities.
Bagan period was the period of affluence, creativity and glory---- the period the rained gold and sliver, as Myanmar people usually put it. It was a period like that of the renaissance period in Italy."

Kyaikhtiyo (Golden Rock)

Kyaikhtiyo pagoda is also known as the Golden Rock Pagoda. It is situated in Kyaikhto Township in Mon State, four-hour drive from Yangon. There is a well-beaten path leading to the Pagoda on the peak of the mountain. It automatically makes a good trekking. It is a really miraculous Pagoda, because it does not fall down the steep slope of the mountain, although it should, but still remains as it is throughout a great length of time. Myanmar Buddhists believe it is due to the power and glory of the Buddha's hair enshrined in the Pagoda. Tourists can make a side trip there from Yangon and get back the same day if set out very early. Crowds of pilgrims from all parts of Myanmar both along the climbing paths and on the Pagoda Platform are themselves attractive.

Yangon

             Yangon, the capital city and gateway to the Union of Myanmar, is one of the most attractive cities in the East. Its fringes are beautiful with pagodas, spacious parks gardens and its atmosphere cooled by the Kandawgyi Lake and Inya Lake. Most of the major Myanmar and foreign companies are located in Yangon. The city is the point of entry for visitors from abroad to Myanmar by air and sea. About 2,500 years ago, there was probably a coastal fishing village or a trading colony called “Okkala”. After the construction of Shwedagon Pagoda, the settlement grew in fame as Dagon. King Alaungpaya of Konbaung Dynasty founded Yangon when he took the village of Dagon in 1755. He called the settlement as Yangon or “End of Strife”. It becomes a port city and a center of commercial functions since per-colonial and colonial days. The Yangon River or Hlaing River gives it color and peninsular look (from aerial view) touching the city in the east and south flanks and the Pazundaung Creek in the west."