We’ll start our Mandalay tour by travelling 20 kilometres southwest of the city to arrive at pagoda nirvana, or Sagaing as it’s known on the map. Sagaing is an important religious centre that’s home to dozens of monasteries and hundreds of monks. Pagoda towers dot the pretty landscape to make for picture-perfect, bucket list-inspired photography.

We will visit:

• Saunders’ Weaving and Vocational Institute, where maintains and develops training weaving and techniques
• U Min Thonze Pagoda, one of the more distinctive complexes.

Then we’ll whisk you off on the public ferry and into a horse-drawn cart, which will take us to Inwa, the ancient capital of Myanmar on the other side of the Irrawaddy river. 

There are some stunning monasteries and pagoda complexes to explore, including BaGaYa Monastery built with 276 teak pillars and the Yadana Hsimi Pagodas, a little tumbledown roofless collection of several stupas and three Buddhas.

Our last stop of the day is the U Bein Bridge — an impressive teak structure that claims to be the longest wooden bridge in the world at 1.2 kilometres. The monks who use the bridge to cross Lake Taungthaman every day often take time to talk to visitors in order to practise their language skills. Then, a brilliant orange sunset awaits you. This is the time to reflect on your day, gazing at the antiquated bridge with the sun setting behind it. The tour ends with a safe trip back to your hotel.