‘Long-Necked’ Womenfolk in Kayah State

Place to visit : Heho Airport – Inle Lake – Sagar – Phekhone – Loikaw
Tour Type : Classic Tours
Price From: On request
Physical rating : Moderate
Duration: 7 days 6 nights
Tour Style: Private

Day by Day Tours

Day 1:  Heho Airport – Inle Lake Sightseeing
Day 2:  Inle Lake – Sagar – Phekhone – Loikaw
Day 3:  Loikaw – Sightseeing
Day 4:  Loikaw – Trekking Day trip – Phadaung Village
Day 5:  Loikaw – Kalaw – Sightseeing
Day 6:  Kalaw – Elephant Camp
Day 7:  Kalaw – Heho

Tour Prices (US$/person)

Group of 02 persons  : On request
Group of 04 persons  : On request

Important notes:
Surcharge in Peak Times eg: Christmas, New Year Eve, and Water festival may be applicable.

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DETAILED ITINERARY

Day 01: Heho Arrival – Inle Lake Sightseeing (D)

Upon arrival in Heho in the moring, our tour guide will meet you at airport and drive for an hour along a scenic route which leads to Nyaung Shwe village, the gateway to Inle Lake. Along the way, encounter workshops that specialize in traditional Shan paper and umbrella crafting.  Upon reaching the lake’s shores, a short orientation tour will introduce you to the temples, monasteries, and tea shops of Nyaung Shwe. Then, ride a private motorboat across the surface of Inle Lake. As the hills and fishing canoes fade into the background, take your time to enjoy one of Myanmar’s most breathtaking sights. You will pass the stilt houses of the local Intha people, local fishermen, and floating gardens.

Next, visit Nga Hpe Chaung Monastery, which houses several Buddha images and was once known for its jumping cats. Proceed to the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda, the region’s main religious and ceremonial site, which contains five sacred Buddha images decorated with gold leaf. If you’re interested, you can even visit a local workshop and see silk-weavers, boat-builders, cigar-makers, blacksmiths, or silversmiths in action.

Meal: Welcome Dinner.  Accommodation: Hotel in Nyaungshwe town – Inle Lake

Day 02: Nyaungshwe – Sagar – Hpekhone (B)

Start from Nyaung Shwe town (commercial center of Heho), we will start our boat trip to Hpe-Kom, the last lake of Inle. On the way we will visit Sagar village, famous for more than 400 pagodas and stupas on its land. Have your own lunch on the lake and continue our boat ride to Hpe-Kom. Admire the beautiful, lush scenery on boat side of this lake. Inle´s calm waters are dotted with floating vegetation, fishing canoes and bamboo houses will free your hassle away. We will reach Hpe-kom and after 1 hour driving, arrive Loikaw, the capical of Kayah State.

Check in hotel in Loikaw, we will visit the Kayah museum to study the traditional way of living of the Kayah people. At late evening, we will proceed to Thiri Mingalar Taung Kwe Zedi, the landmark of the Kayah State, to enjoy panoramic view of Loikaw and its surroundings at sunset time.

We will then have dinner in your own account and overnight in Loikaw.

Meal: Breakfast. Accommodation: Hotel in Loikaw

Day 03: Loikaw Sightseeing

After your breakfast, we begin the day with a tour of Loikaws highlights with stops at the Haw Kyaung, a former Shan chieftain’s palace, which has been converted into a monastery and the Kayah State Museum, to learn about the fascinating history and culture of the state. After a lunch stop, we drive 30 minutes out of town into the serene countryside to explore the recently opened Kyat Gu cave system, a sprawling limestone cavern full of mesmerizing geological structures. In the late afternoon we return to town to enjoy a beautiful sunset atop Loikaws iconic Taung Kwe Pagoda. The pagoda is perched on top of a limestone outcrop overlooking the city and offers excellent views of the surrounding landscape

Meal: Breakfast. Accommodation: Hotel in Loikaw

Day 04: Loikaw – Trekking Day trip – Padaung Village

One hour transfer by car brings you to Pa Say Lar Village in Dee Maw Soe Township to jump off our wonderful 6 hours trek to Panpet Village, the origin place of the Kayan (Padaung) tribe. Take time so see the long neck “giraffe” woman. There are about 20 – 25 houses in the village that the woman still wear the bronze coils around their neck. Taste the local wine while visiting the house and talking to the ethnic tribe to get better knowledge about their history. Start trekking in the midst of beautiful and breathtaking wide range of mountains. A lunch box will be served on the way.

After Panpat, drive back to Dee Maw Soe and a short stop at Ngwe Taung Dam before returning to your hotel for a rest. We will finish the evening by enjoying your choice of coffee, fruit juice or beer at one of the many coffee shops surrounding Nyaung Yar Lake. Locals descend on the lake in the early evening to take in the cool weather, row boats and lively atmosphere.

Loikaw – is famous for Padaung women, who wear traditional brass rings round their necks.

Meal: Breakfast. Accommodation: Hotel in Yangon

Day 05: Loikaw – Kalaw – Sightseeing

After breakfast, we will drive back to Kalaw. This 5 hour-travelling on road will pass through the villages where people grow seasonal farming products, from sesame to pea, corn, wheat… to fruit like mango, avocado, oranges… Passing each village, you will witness the different specialty, join the farmers or just taking pictures on the way. Lunch at Hpe-Kom with local fishes. Continue driving back to Kalaw – the England old colonial hill station, also the biggest farming products town of Burmese. Reach Kalaw in late afternoon, you will feel the fresh atmosphere and refresh of climate as this town is 1,400 meters over the sea level.

Day 06: Kalaw – Elephant Camp.

Pick up from Kalaw, and drive to Magwe Village and walk to the camp

Take a light refreshment. Walk to the river to the Elephant bath. You can join in feeding and bathing the elephants.

Exploration of the forest area on the elephant back, opportunity to see butterflies, birds and orchids in the area.

Lunch in the main camp. After the lunch, you can explore the surrounding area with a local trekking guide

You are also welcome to join us in planting indigenous trees from our nursery in our forest recovery efforts

Back to Elephant camp and drive back to Kalaw.

Meal: Breakfast. Accommodation: N/A

Day 07: Kalaw – Heho

This moring, relax until meet our driver and transfer to Heho airport to connect with other adventures in Myanmar.

End of services.

Meal: Breakfast. Accommodation: N/A

 TOUR ENDS

Tour Prices (US$/person)

Group of 02 persons  : On request
Group of 04 persons  : On request

Important notes:
Surcharge in Peak Times eg: Christmas, New Year Eve, and Water festival may be applicable.

I NEED TAILOR-MADE

I’LL TAKE THIS TOUR

Essential Notes

Passports and Visas

The first thing goes first. You definitely must obtain valid VISA in order to travel into any country and so is Myanmar (Burma). Unless your country is in VISA exemption list, it is your responsibility to get valid VISA before arrival. There are two ways to get Myanmar VISA:

• Go to Myanmar Embassies and Consulates in your home country and you will be guided procedure. You may want to check the list of countries where Myanmar has embassies and consulate offices by clicking here.
• Obtain VISA On Arrival (VOA). For tourists coming from countries has no Myanmar Diplomatic Rep offices, you can obtain VOA online via www.myanmarevisa.gov.mm – the official portal for VOA by Myanmar government. The portal launched in Sep 01, 2014 and took its pilot operation for a month. Providing you encounter any issue, please contact us for support.

Climate & Clothing

Generally speaking, Myanmar is a tropical country with rather hot weather. Sometimes in year or in some Northern places, temperature cools down but not that can be called cold. Roughly saying that the best time to travel Myanmar is from Oct to March due to dry and cool season. Other months, however, you may get very nice deals of promotion.For clothing: comfortable clothes, absolutely. We suggest you should take at least one long pan, a long skirt and a sleeve top because we will visit some religious site and many of them require proper code of dress.All of temples and pagodas require you enter with bare feet. A pair of sandals is highly recommended.

Cell Phones & Calling Cards

You may wish to carry a cell phone while traveling. Check with your cell phone provider if your phone will work in the destination(s) you are visiting. Myanmar service is dominated by the GMS technology standard, while some of the world such as U.S uses the incompatible CDMA standard. We suggest that you should check carefully or you may incur high international roaming fees.We said previously “the SIM card in Myanmar is not very popular and still quite expensive”. But now, forget it! SIM cards in Myanmar now are cheap and easy to buy in any main city as cheap as about US$ 02 each. Cell phones, even smart phones are available on sales widely.

Making Telephone Calls from One Country to Another

When dialing a number from one country to another, you should proceed as follows: dial your country’s Exit Code + destination Country Code + Phone Number. Country Code of Myanmar is 95.

Wireless Internet Access

Passengers traveling with WiFi enabled devices (such as a personal computer, smartphone, tablet, or digital audio player) may be able to connect to the internet via a wireless network access point (or hotspot). Wifi is now popular in most hotels from three stars up. Most of them are supplying Free Wifi but some may incur extra charges. We suggest you should ask the receptionist before.

Cards and Currency

Myanmar’s national currency, the KYAT (pronounced chat, abbreviated in MMK) is divided into the following banknotes: K1, K5, K10, K20, K50, K100, K200, K500 and K1000.We once said “ATMs are still very hard to come” but from my latest inspection of Myanmar, the country now starts using ATMs. Most three stars hotels up often have at least one AMT machine right at their lobbies. Main hotels now accepts credit cards payment.Anyway, we suggest you should bring with some cashes just in case. Local buying there accept Burmese and US dollars widely. However please pay at attention when bring US notes with you:

• The US$ notes must be new.
• The US$ notes torn, marked, folded will not be accepted.
• The US$ notes having series before 2003 backward may not accepted.

You are allowed to bring up to US$ 5000 in cash per person to enter Myanmar.

Trip Preparation

A little pre-planning can make your trip go a lot smoother. We suggest you should taking a checklist below:

• Several weeks before your trip, make a list of what you will need to take with you.
• Make sure your personal documents (passports, visas, driver’s license) are in order.
• We suggest that you make photocopies of passports, visas, personal ID and any other important travel documents and pack them separately from the originals. If you lose the originals while traveling, you’ll have copies for easier reporting and replacement.
• You may consider bringing a small supply of over the counter medications for headaches and/or anti-diarrhea pills. Pack a list of medications including dosage and generic names.
• We recommend that you pack a portable alarm clock.
• Avoid placing valuables such as cameras in your checked luggage.

Happy Travelling with CRYSTAL HOLIDAYS ASIA!

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