Day01: Arrive Yangon
Arrive in Yangon. Meet your Exotissimo guide at the
airport and transfer to hotel. Overnight in Yangon.
Day02: Yangon/ Mandalay
Morning fly to Mandalay. On arrival Mandalay, welcome
by English speaking guide and transfer to hotel for
check in. (the bikes will be carried by car to the hotel).
Full day free at leisure with car and guide available
for sightseeing. Overnight in Mandalay. (B)
Day03: Mandalay – Amarapura – Mandalay
After breakfast at the hotel, start by bike for your
first biking day in Myanmar. From the hotel your guide
joins you on bike to show you the best “hidden”
places in Mandalay including a gold leaves workshop
and the Mahamuni Pagoda. Continue to the 18th century
capital, Amarapura and cross the 1.2 km wooden U-Bein
Bridge. On the way back in the direction of Mandalay
you visit a silk weaving workshop and the old wooden
Shwe Inbin monastery, known for its woodcarving. Arrive
back at the hotel at the end of the day. Overnight in
Mandalay. (B)
Day04: Mandalay – Myittha
Start early and bike from the hotel (Car & guide
are following the bikers). You pass the ruins of the
ancient Ava kingdom and continue passing fields and
small villages in an area where hardly any tourists
are seen. Arriving in Myittha you will have a unique
experience of staying overnight in a Myanmar monastery.
Exotissimo will provide thin mattresses and mosquito
nets; clients are requested to bring a blanket or sleeping
bag. Overnight in Myittha. (B)
Total biking distance = 70 km
Day05: Myittha – Myingyan
After a local breakfast at a teashop you continue riding
through a landscape of local villages and scenic fields
where farmers are working and children are playing.
On the way there are plenty of interesting places to
stop and take a rest or to have a chat with the local
people. At the end of the day you arrive in Myingyan.
Overnight in a small guesthouse (very simple and basic).
(B)
Total biking distance = 107 km
Day06: Myingyan – Bagan
Going to the south you will see the mighty Irrawaddy
River, once the most important way of transportation
from the north to the south of the country. In the afternoon
you arrive in Bagan, one of the most remarkable archaeological
sites in Asia. The 230 years, from 11th to 13th centuries
when Bagan was the capital of Myanmar, were marked by
a religious fervour and building frenzy resulting in
the thousands of stupas and temples many of which are
still standing today. You arrive at the Bagan hotel
in old Bagan with beautiful gardens at the bank of the
Irrawaddy River. Overnight in Bagan. (B)
Total biking distance = 75 km
Day07: Bagan
After breakfast at the hotel, full day of biking around
the ancient temples.
Morning sightseeing of Bagan features the colourful
Nyaung Oo Market, the Shwezigon Pagoda and its magnificent
golden stupa, Wetkyi-In Gubyaukgyi, a cave temple with
exquisite jatakas murals paintings and the elegant Htilominlo
Temple noted for its fine plaster carvings and glazed
sandstone decorations. In the afternoon, observe the
process of traditional lacquer ware, one of Myanmar's
best-known handicrafts and a specialty of Bagan. Visit
Ananda, an architectural masterpiece of the early-style
temple with four impressive standing Buddha images,
Ananda Okkyaung, one of the few surviving brick monasteries
from the early Bagan period. Overnight in Bagan. (B)
Day08: Bagan – Mount Popa
After breakfast at the hotel, ride a bike to Mount Popa
passing small settlements where men climb up the palm
trees to collect the juice of it to make sugar or liquor.
Mount Popa has played an important role in Myanmar culture,
religion and history since the earliest times. Its shrine
is dedicated to the worship of the 37 Nats, the Burmese
ancient animist spirits. The view over the Myingyan
Plain from the top of the Popa-Taung Kalat volcanic
peak is simply breathtaking. Overnight at the Popa Mountain
Resort, a hidden paradise surrounded by the forest.
(B)
Total biking distance = 59 km
Day09: Mount Popa – Meiktila – Kalaw
After breakfast at the hotel, leave Mount Popa and head
in the direction of Shan State. On the way you will
pass the village famous for the best chicken in Myanmar
(people will certainly ask you if you want to eat chicken
here) and you continue to Meiktila, a small city with
a pretty lake. From here you can put the bikes in the
car and continue the steep climb up to the Shan plateau
by car. Arrive in the former British hill station of
Kalaw. The cool mountain air, pine forests and beautiful
colonial houses make it a pleasant city to stay the
night. Overnight in Kalaw. (B)
Total biking distance to Meiktila = 98 km, driving distance
Meiktila – Kalaw = 120 km
Day10: Kalaw – Pindaya
After breakfast at the hotel, enjoy a scenic ride from
Kalaw to Pindaya through the picturesque countryside
of Shan State, passing fields where often people of
the Pa O hill tribe with black clothes and colourful
orange headdresses are working. Visit Pindaya’s
limestone cave with its maze of chambers displaying
more than 8,000 Buddha statues and local handicraft
workshops producing Shan Paper made from mulberry bark
and traditional umbrellas made from the same paper that
are used by monks all around the country. Overnight
in Pindaya. (B)
Total biking distance = 50 km
Day11: Pindaya – Khaung Dine
From Pindaya, enjoy a scenic ride to Khaung Dine, a
small village on the side of the Inle Lake, one of Myanmar's
best-known sights. The Intha people, a tribe of Mon
descent, mostly inhabit the lakeshores and floating
villages. On arrival at Khaung Dine, transfer to hotel
& check in hotel. Overnight in Khaung Daing (Inle
Lake). (B)
Total biking distance = 94 km
Day12: Inle Lake
Visits on the lake by private boat. The sightseeing
tour of Inle Lake including a chance to see the leg-rowing
fishermen. Continue to see the floating gardens, built
up from strips of water hyacinth and mud and anchored
to the bottom with bamboo poles. There are also floating
villages like Ywama, the lake’s downtown, where
a floating market is held every 5 days. In the afternoon
continue visit to Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda, the weaving
village of Inpawkhon and the jumping cat monastery.
Overnight in Inle Lake. (B)
No biking today
Day13: Inle Lake- Indein – Heho / Yangon
After breakfast, excursion by motorized boat to In Dein,
an off-the-beaten-track site in the south of the lake.
From Ywama, the boat leaves the lake and enters a narrow
canal with a beautiful natural environment to continue
to a small Pa O tribe village. From the market place
of the village, follow an old covered path to a 13th
century monastery and the very impressive ruins of hundreds
of ancient pagodas, some hidden in the vegetation. The
main stupa-area on the top of the hill offers breathtaking
views over the surrounding mountains and down to the
valley and the lake in the far distance. In the afternoon,
transfer to Heho Airport for the flight back to Yangon.
On arrival transfer to the hotel. Overnight in Yangon.
(B)
No biking today
Day14: Yangon
Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon, is still a relatively
quite and charming city. Its impressive colonial and
spiritual heritage makes Yangon one of the most fascinating
and authentic capitals of South East Asia. A full day
city tour with English speaking guide and A/C car includes
the National Museum, Kyaukhtatgyi Pagoda's 70m long
reclining Buddha, downtown Yangon with its faded colonial
atmosphere, Sule Pagoda, Mahabandoola Park, India town
and bustling Chinatown. Lunch at a local restaurant.
In the afternoon during a visit to the Bogyoke Market
(formerly Scott’s), you can find all the souvenir
items you were searching for. End the day with a visit
just before sunset to the world famous golden Shwedagon
Pagoda, a breathtaking and colourful sight visited by
Buddhists from all over Myanmar. Overnight in Yangon.
(B)
No biking today
Day15: Departure Yangon
After breakfast at the hotel and free at leisure till
the transfer to the airport for the departure flight.
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