Day 1: Arrival Heho – Pindaya – Kalaw
Mingalarbar! Welcome to Heho, Myanmar. You are greeted by your guide at Heho airport. From Heho airport transfer to Pindaya in your private vehicle (approximately 45 minutes), an attractive drive into the hills and across the Shan Plateau through fields of mountain rice. Visit the magnificent Pindaya Caves set in a limestone ridge overlooking a picturesque lake. Thousands of Buddha images reign within the cave chambers. Afterwards, continue to a local workshop where extraordinary Shan paper and parasols are made. We have found the shop ideal for purchasing gifts. Lunch at a nearby restaurant.
From Pindaya, drive to the former British hill station of Kalaw (approximately 1 hour & 15 minutes), a charming town featuring British-style bungalows set in leafy surroundings.
Check-in at Kalaw Hill Lodge and enjoy a welcome drink.
Healthy welcome dinner at the hotel.
Day 2: Kalaw – Yoga & Meditation
07:00 – 09:00: Sunrise yoga and meditation with Shannon and Brian.
09:00 – 10:00: Vegetarian breakfast.
10:00 – 13:00: Free at your own leisure to explore and enjoy the beauty of Kalaw.
Relax, enjoy a spa treatment, or discover the surrounding area on foot, bike or horseback. Engage in the daily activities of the lodge with its central pond and organic fruit and vegetable farm. You can learn growing and harvesting techniques, and get close in to discover the partnership between humans and buffaloes. Make friends with and feed the cows, running goats and happy chickens. Experience local life at the slow pace of an ox cart ride and learn about the lifestyle of the Danu people, or visit the Nat (spirit) shrines. Plant trees for the planet on this 30 acre property on the highlands of Shan State. Explore a rural living style that shows off the best of nature and the cultural hospitality of Myanmar.
13:00 – 14:00: Vegetarian lunch.
14:00 – 17:00: Free at your own leisure to explore and enjoy the beauty of Kalaw.
17:00 – 19:00: Guided Meditation and Sound Healing with Brian and Shannon.
19:30 – 20:30: Vegetarian dinner.
After dinner escape to your personal sanctuary for a peaceful sleep.
Day 3: Kalaw – Yoga & Meditation
07:00 – 09:00: Sunrise Yoga and Meditation with Shannon and Brian.
09:00 – 10:00: Vegetarian breakfast.
10:00 – 13:00: Free at your own leisure to explore and enjoy the beauty of Kalaw.
See ”Relax, enjoy a spa..." above.
13:00 – 14:00: Vegetarian lunch.
14:00 – 17:00: Free at your own leisure to explore and enjoy the beauty of Kalaw.
17:00 – 19:00: Guided Meditation and Sound Healing with Brian and Shannon.
19:30 – 20:30: Vegetarian dinner.
After dinner escape to your personal sanctuary for a peaceful sleep.
Day 4: Kalaw – Yoga & Meditation
07:00 – 09:00: Sunrise Yoga and Meditation with Shannon and Brian.
09:00 – 10:00: Vegetarian breakfast.
10:00 – 13:00: Free at your own leisure to explore and enjoy the beauty of Kalaw.
See ”Relax, enjoy a spa..." above.
13:00 – 14:00: Vegetarian lunch.
14:00 – 17:00: Free at your own leisure to explore and enjoy the beauty of Kalaw.
17:00 – 19:00: Guided Meditation and Sound Healing with Brian and Shannon.
19:30 – 20:30: Vegetarian dinner.
After dinner escape to your personal sanctuary for a peaceful sleep.
Day 5: Trekking to Inle Lake – Day 1
Early morning walk to the market to meet your trekking guides and to buy provisions for your 2 day trek. By Tuk Tuk drive about 30 minutes to the starting point, Lamine Village (Toung Yoe tribe). From here we walk about 1 hour to Pin Nwe and Paw Ke Village (Pa Oo Ethnic Group) where you will learn about the local weaving trade. You will also spend some time with a local family and enjoy a cup of green tea. Continue trekking for about 1.5 hours to Khone Hla Village (Da Nu Tribe). We will stop here for freshly prepared lunch at a local house. Then we continue the trek passing rice fields for another 2.5 hour walk to Pe Tu Pork (Pa Oo Tribe), a picturesque village of the Pa Oh people. Here you’ll dinner and enjoy a local homestay.
Total walking hours: 5/6 hours.
Day 6: Trekking to Inle Lake – Day 2
After breakfast, we will start the day with a 25 minute trek to Hti Thain (Pa Oo Village) and visit a monastery along the way.
We continue for a another 45 minutes to Kyut Su (Pa Oo Village) where you watch how bamboo baskets are made. Then another 15 minutes will bring us to Nan Yoke Village where you will learn about local herbs. Then we enjoy a pleasant stroll for about 2 hours to the boat jetty and have lunch at a family-run restaurant. After lunch we board our boat and drive to Pristine Lotus Spa Resort on the lake.
Total walking hours: 3.5 – 4 hours.
19:30 – 20:30: Vegetarian dinner.
After dinner escape to your personal sanctuary for a peaceful sleep.
Day 7: Inle Lake – Yoga & Meditation
07:00 – 09:00: Sunrise Yoga and Meditation with Shannon and Brian.
09:00 – 10:00: Vegetarian breakfast.
10:00 – 13:00: You are free to relax, enjoy the swimming pool or mainstream/indigenous spa treatments.
13:00 – 14:00: Vegetarian lunch.
14:00 – 17:00: Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda – Traditional Workshops – Nga Phe Kyaung Monastery
After lunch you will travel by a long-tailed boat across the lake to the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda, home to five gold leaf-covered Buddha figures, the holiest religious site in southern Shan State. We also visit the boat construction workshop at Nampan village. We'll stop to see some traditional handicrafts : silk weaving on wooden handlooms in Inpawkhon village, and a cheroot-maker's workshop and blacksmith's forge. Continuing by boat we will visit Nga Phe Kyaung Monastery, one of the oldest monasteries on the lake. Here you will see exquisite Buddha statues over 200 years old. Return to your hotel by boat as the sun sets and light softens over the lake.
17:00 – 19:00: Guided Meditation and Sound Healing with Brian and Shannon.
19:30 – 20:30: Vegetarian dinner.
After dinner escape to your personal sanctuary for a peaceful sleep.
Day 8: Inle Lake – Yoga & Meditation
07:00 – 09:00: Sunrise Yoga and Meditation with Shannon and Brian.
09:00 – 10:00: Vegetarian breakfast.
10:00 – 13:00: Local Market & Paukpar Village.
Explore one of the 5 rotating markets on the lake. It’s a fascinating look at the lifestyles of the Pa-O, Danu and Intha people who buy and sell at the markets.
Next, see the famous leg rowers and the typical floating gardens where fruits and vegetables are grown. Learn about local fishing methods and village life. One of the highlights may be a visit to the traditional village of Paukpar and it’s neat rows of bamboo houses. If possible we will stop and visit a family for Shan tea.
Vegetarian lunch will be served at a local Intha House.
14:00 – 17:00: You are free to relax, enjoy the swimming pool or mainstream/indigenous spa treatments.
17:00 – 19:00: Guided Meditation and Sound Healing with Brian and Shannon.
19:30 – 20:30: Vegetarian dinner.
After dinner escape to your personal sanctuary for a peaceful sleep.
Day 9: Inle Lake – Yoga & Meditation
07:00 – 09:00: Sunrise Yoga and Meditation with Shannon and Brian.
09:00 – 10:00: Vegetarian breakfast.
10:00 – 14:00: Indein - Sae Ma Village.
After breakfast, travel by long-tailed boat to Indein at the western end of Lake. This is one of the most magnificent trips on the Lake. Pass through the busy village of Ywama, the largest on the Lake with it’s many channels and tall teak houses on stilts. Enter a long, tree-lined canal on which farmers cultivate their lands against the backdrop of the Shan Hills. Disembark and walk for 15 minutes through the Indein village to reach the 14th - 18th century pagoda ruins of Nyaung Ohak. Many pagodas remain unrenovated, enmeshed together with plants and small trees. A covered walkway filled with souvenir stallholders leads up to Shwe Inn Thein Paya, a complex of weather-beaten 17th - 18th century zedi.
Continue on foot to a village nearby where several crops are grown in the traditional ways. Take an easy walk along one of the many creeks passing through rice fields leading to the village of Sae Ma. Visit the village primary school and meet the children and teachers.
13:00 – 14:00: Vegetarian lunch at a local restaurant.
14:00 – 17:00: You are free to relax, enjoy the swimming pool or mainstream/indigenous spa treatments.
17:00 – 19:00: Guided Meditation and Sound Healing with Brian and Shannon.
19:30 – 21:00: Festive farewell dinner full surprises.
Day 10: Inle Lake – Heho – Departure
After breakfast enjoy some leisure time until we head off to the airport for your flight back home. Say goodbye after an amazing time in Myanmar, or extend your stay in with a direct flight to Thandwe, near Ngapali Beach.
-OPTIONAL- Ngapali Beach is a tropical paradise of pristine sand, clear blue waters and groves of picturesque coconut palms. Over 10km of white sand beach runs along the Bay of Bengal, with a smattering of only a dozen or so resorts to create a sense of seclusion and hidden discovery. The limited development and small number of visitors means the beach never feels crowded. It's a dream come true for lovers of sun, sea and sand. Besides the usual sunbathing and swimming, leisure activities include snorkeling, sailing, scenic walks and bike trips. Far away from tourist crowds, Ngapali Beach is still a truly undiscovered paradise. The long beach is dotted with charming boutique style resorts built in local materials, the architecture blending harmoniously with the natural surroundings. There are no high rises, no noisy roads, no booming discotheques, no jet-skis and no packed rows of oiled bodies baking in the sun. The stretch of white sand, natural beauty of the blue sea, swaying palm trees and quiet privacy are guaranteed ingredients of an exquisite beach holiday.
