Backyard Travel Release New Tour: Myanmar Through Local Eyes
Backyard Travel, Asia's most innovative travel company, has today released details of a new small group tour to Myanmar.
Online, February 4, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Backyard Travel are one of the only reputed Myanmar-based companies to offer join-in tours of the Golden Land, and has scheduled 11 'Myanmar Through Local Eyes' trips (with guaranteed departure dates) to take place in 2013. Each tour will run with a maximum group size of 16 and a minimum of just two travelers. The tours depart on Saturdays and return on Sundays, allowing travelers an optimum length of time to enjoy this enthralling destination with convenient departure and return dates.
The nine-day / eight-night tour begins with a chance for the group to get acquainted on the first day with welcome dinner. The cultural immersion and introduction to the city begins proper the following morning with a walking tour to experience the local culture of the downtown area, discovering a myriad of religious buildings. The day continues with a short flight to Heho before traveling on to Pindaya where the group will visit the Shwe U Min caves and visit a local workshop.
Day three of the nine-day tour begins in the largely undiscovered Pindaya with a visit to the local market. This is followed by a trip to a small nearby village to observe the local Shan lifestyle. The stay in the village includes an interactive cooking demonstration to learn about Myanmar cuisine. The day rounds off by traveling to Nyaung Shwe, a village which acts as a gateway to Inle Lake where the group will stay for two nights.
The following day will be spent soaking up the unique atmosphere of Inle Lake. In the morning the group will visit the market where hill tribes come to trade, followed by a trip into the center of the lake to see the stilt-mounted houses and Intha 'leg-rowing' fishermen ply their trade. After a visit to Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda, the group continues to Inpawkhone to witness the traditional silk weaving process practiced by locals, and to a cheroot factory where Burmese cigars are still made by hand.
Day five includes an optional morning bike ride around the lake before taking the travelers to Bagan, an ancient city located in the Mandalay Region of the country, where the group will spend two nights. The next day will be spent visiting Bagan's impressive temples, followed by a trip to a local workshop.
The following morning takes the group to the busy market of Nyaung Oo to observe the buzz of local life followed by a scenic drive to Mt. Popa where the 'nat' spirit shrine rests. After the mountain, the travelers are then taken back to Bagan, stopping en-route at a small village where the group can learn about the production of sweet molasses and wine made from palm trees, and rare chance to witness the famers climbing the trees to collect the juice.
The penultimate day of the nine-day trip includes the unique opportunity to take a ride on Yangon's circular train. The ride takes travelers around the city's outskirts and stops at Kyi Myin Daing and Insein Township markets, allowing the group to shop and interact with friendly local vendors, which is then followed by a guided tour of Shwedagon Pagoda. The final day of the trip offers an optional activity of either a half-day 'foodies' tour, a tour of Yangon's art galleries or the chance to visit the colorful countryside surrounding the busy city.
"One of the advantages of Backyard Travel is that we are based in each of the destinations we provide tours to, allowing us to create programs that allow travelers to experience the country in a unique way that's usually only seen by locals," said Backyard Travel's General Manager Maeve Nolan. "Also, as travelers are able to book direct, they are going straight to the source, allowing them to travel with the company that actually operates the tour.
"We created this new tour due to the increasing demand for travel to Myanmar, and we saw that not many operators were offering unique, local experiences to travelers, so we have taken the opportunity to fill that gap," added Nolan.
The 'Myanmar Through Local Eyes' tour is available for the following dates in 2013:
• March 9 - 17
• March 30 - April 7
• June 22 - 30
• July 20 - 28
• August 3 - 11
• August 17 - 25
• September 21 - 29
• October 19 - 27
• November 9 - 17
• December 7 - 15
• December 24 - January 1, 2014
*Single supplement applies for single travelers.
About Backyard Travel:
Bangkok based Backyard Travel is an online travel company specializing in tailor-made tours to Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Indonesia, Japan and China. For more information about Backyard Travel, visit www.backyardtravel.com or Facebook page www.facebook.com/BackyardTravel