MOST UNDERRATED COUNTRY IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

But against our better judgment, we have rented e bikes for everybody to take out and go exploring.

What do you think? Are they gonna wreck?

Two and a half years ago, we spent a week cruising up the Irrawaddy river in Myanmar, and our eyes were open to the beauty of this relatively untouched country in Southeast Asia. While neighboring countries to the east have well worn tourist paths that can at times be flooded with travelers.

So many people.

Myanmar has only been open to tourism since the early 1990s, and it sees a fraction of the visitors.

Traveling here, Especially if you're willing to get outside the big cities, gives you the opportunity to experience an authentic version of their traditional way of life and have unexpected interactions with curious locals who rarely see travelers.

With them.

Myanmar has become a very special place to us, and we wanted to give other people the chance to experience this country as it is today before it gets more crowded. So we chartered the same boat we cruised on two years ago, created a custom itinerary to suit our more adventurous travel style, and invited people to join us for a week of cruising up the Irrawaddy River. 36 crazy people said yes. And that's where this video begins.

6:00Am we thought it'd be a good idea to get everybody up for a 40 kilometer bike ride to start the tour. Please don't hate us.

What were we thinking?

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Ooh, that was a good one.

8, 9.

Even numbers over here. 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 4.

Hey, y'.

All.

36.

Instead of taking a bus to the boat like the normal itinerary suggested, we decided it would be more fun to bike.

All right, let the 30 kilometer bike ride begin.

The ride was over bumpy dirt roads in 90 plus degree heat, and it was far from easy.

But sweat soaked clothes and sore butts were totally worth it.

So good. Hello, Mr. Cow.

I hope everybody else is enjoying this as much as I am.

We rode through rural riverside villages and we were immersed in the local life for hours on end.

We finally made it to our new floating home. We were reunited with our same crew from last year, and that night we introduced them to all of our new friends.

This morning we are in which is a world heritage site built with over 3,000 temples. This morning we're seeing three, and I think this one's the most popular based on the number of people. Also last night we bought everyone longis, so everyone's looking very local, or at least we're not offending anybody when we're going in religious sites. So we learned how to do this last night. Let's see how it works.

Thumbs up. Oh, yeah. Leg forward, fold, reverse arms, twist, tie and tuck. We'll see how long it stays up.

We tried to include as few buses as possible on this tour, but I think after yesterday's bike ride, everybody's okay with the bus for now.

So this temple is probably my favorite in all of Bagan because of this Buddha statue behind me. It has an incredible optical illusion. If you're standing up close to it, he looks very unhappy with you. But the further back you get, the bigger his smile gets.

So one of our favorite parts about this tour two years ago was the afternoon that we rented e bikes and just drove through all the old temples in Bagan. There's something really special about getting out and exploring by yourself and not just following a guide. So that's what we wanted to build into the tour this afternoon, but we'll see how it goes. We probably should have learned our lesson from the Vespa tour. I felt like I was way too responsible for people's lives.

But against our better judgment, we have rented e bikes for everybody to take out and go exploring.

Okay.

So good luck, everybody. Please come back with all of your limbs. I don't think the hospitals in Myanmar are the place that you want to be.

What do you think? Are they gonna wreck?

Hold on.

What did I say? Buckle.

Any final words?

Help. Oh, I'm.

I'm like a pro at this.

Should be fine. She's good. Oh, wait, I gotta turn it on for this. You don't mess up for the camera.

We'll be fine. We'll be fine. We'll be fine. It'll be fine.

He's gonna make sure they're okay.

So much confidence in this group.

All right, so far, so good. We've sent everyone out on their E bikes. We haven't heard about any wrecks yet. So now we're gonna go out and see what we can find.

We found people.

Oh, that was fast. How's it going? Sorry.

Oh, hey. Did you guys come from.

Hello.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

The good news is you hit a wire and not anything hard. I'm gonna drive from now on, though.

Turns out the first accident of the trip was me.

I put you in a bad situation.

I'm still.

We were in, like, six inches of sand.

I was just enjoying the views, and then I got in this deep sand. I was trying to get out of it, and I ran straight into a fence.

No, I think this might have been a Bad idea. This was very small. Well, I was just taking whichever turn looked the most adventurous. And literally this little path just dead end. Dead ended into a corn film.

So turning around on these narrow alleys.

It'S good that they're we're returning these in the dark. Maybe they won't recognize what we did to them.

I'm pretty sure that is one of the top five sunsets sets we've ever seen. I hope everyone's had as much fun as we have today getting lost on these little dirt roads. Hopefully a little less running into fences than we did. Now we are heading back to the boat. Found it.

How was? Was great. You did it. I love it. Yay.

Good work. This girl tribe. Good to be back.

We are starting the day at the farmer's market. It is wild.

So many people, so much co. A lot of yelling.

Right. I buy everything I need.

So a lot of people on this trip are in Asia for the very first time. And nothing makes me happier than tripping over rocks. Nothing makes me happier than seeing people experiencing this local market. Like the sights and the smells and the sounds and the sweat, all of it. It's so much fun. It's one of my favorite parts of this part of the world. I like this one.

So we bought gift bags for everybody coming on the tour. And this is the lovely lady who sold them to us. No matter how many we bought, she always wanted to sell us more. Yes. Many, many.

One more. One more. If you ever find yourself in Bagan. Yeah, but there for many bags. Come here for many bags. Many, many bags. What else? Danica.

Scarves. Anything else?

Yeah. Finish a dollar and twenty.

How much is this one? Naturally, our entire group is buying all the coffee that this store has. This group is making me proud.

Have fun, guys.

I'm squeezing in.

We're really breaking people into Asia on this trip. We're about to stuff how many people? 5 people into a tuk tuk and send them across town because why not for sharkies?

3,000. Okay.

Thank you. And they're off. Goodbye.

We are such bad tour leaders. We just encourage everyone with only 45 minutes left at until the boat leaves to get in Tuk tuks, go find gelato and trust them to make it back to the boat. I feel like people who do this for a living know that this kind of thing doesn't work out. But for us, we're like, yeah, you'll be fine. We do everything last minute.

Perhaps releasing 38 people into the endless maze of the local market wasn't the smartest decision. We just had a very stressful few minutes rounding everyone back up, but we made it. We got everyone moving on.

Ouch. That was a hard one. See you later. 100%. My favorite part of stopping in these local villages on the side of the river are the kids. We just pulled up and we're greeted by like a hundred adorable children just chilling on a huge stack of bamboo sticks. Like, that's just their life. They just live so simply and they're so cute.

So this village makes the majority of their income from weaving these huge baskets. And the process for it is incredible. It's super cool to see, but it can also be a little weird coming off of like a luxury floating hotel into such a primitive village. But the cool thing is it's. It's beneficial for both parties. We get to come here and see a life so completely different from ours that it's almost unfathomable. And some of the money from the cruise ship goes to funding the school. All of the houses here are made of bamboo and the school is by far the nicest building in the town. You still can't help but feel a little weird and almost guilty, but it's obvious that everybody's happy.

Good. How are you? You?

I'm so sad to leave such a special place.

We have just begun. Karen, Nate, travel trivia.

Let's see how this goes.

Does anyone need to see that for a second time? Yeah, I'd just like to watch it again. Oh, my God.

How y' all feeling?

You know, I do know this one. Oh, yeah, we got. Oh, I know this one. Oh, we got the this one. Okay. This is probably the most challenging.

I showed it to Kara and she got close but it was not very comfy and she was there.

The Shway girls were very confident and went all in and now have zero points. It may have made this game a little too hard. The team formerly known as as team six, who did not enjoy my game, they would rather play Scrabble.

Was in pretty much last place, chose to wager zero points.

This is really special. We have accidentally timed our visit to this village on a day where some of the young boys are becoming monks. And we're getting to see the entire process.

Unbelievable. Like the traditions that they still have. We're just seeing this life changing day for so many people in this village. I just can't believe we're getting to witness it all. It's beautiful.

It started with an incredible parade.

Then they all went off and had a big meal and then we Got to get. Come back. We got to witness the head shaving.

The giving of the robes.

And now the final stage is memorized chants that they have to get right in order to go to the monastery.

Everyone who lives here is at the monastery. And they all just smile at us. I don't feel like we're intruding at all. Like, they're truly happy that we're getting to share this with them.

Almost like if it was, like, one of the most special days of your life. If it's a ceremony, kind of like the bigger the crowd, the more special it is. And I feel like that's kind of what we're giving them. I mean, we're getting way more out of this. I feel like.

Morning.

Oh, look at your.

Good morning. Good morning, good morning, good morning, good morning, good morning.

This morning, we are in the town of Sagine, and we are starting the day with a visit to a nunnery.

Thank you.

We are getting back on the bikes this afternoon and going on a big, fun bike ride through more of the countryside of Myanmar. Then we are ending at the most beautiful spot for the sunset.

Mingaloba.

Taking the bikes across the river.

Hello, hello, hello.

So we're at the village that is famous for silk weaving. And it sounds like, ah, cool. But like being here and seeing them hand dyeing this silk, all of your fingers and toes are completely stained and the machines are all going, and there's just threads of silk going in every direction. It is mind blowing and mesmerizing. I could be here all.

Wow, it's hot in there. The fact that we were allowed inside that place is a huge health hazard. Like, you put your finger in the wrong place and it is gone.

Oh.

We ended the night on local rowboats watching the sunset behind the longest teakwood bridge in the world.

It was truly magical.

Somehow. It is already the last day of the trip.

I feel like we just started, but at the same time, we have 36 best friends. I feel like we've known forever, but.

I'm gonna try not to think about that because we still have a big day ahead of us.

We are currently inside the second largest bell in the world, and they're about to ring it. Should I plug my ears?

A real rain. Harder. Oh, there it was.

So for our last excursion of the trip, we've come into the city of Mandalay. Our first stop was the pagoda that houses the holiest Buddha image in the entire country. And it's covered in six inches of gold leaf. That's literally tons of Gold. And now we've come here to the factory where they're pounding out the gold leaf by hand to gain a better appreciation for how that gold gets on to the Buddha image.

Micah gave it his best. Try.

Harder.

This is hard to grip.

Yes. Is there actually any gold in there? Yes, there is. He's really doing it. Yes. I think you. I think you're all right. Good luck.

Thank you very much for your visiting our country and then choosing our cruise ship. Thanks, Caroline.

Chakra to you.

Thank you.

Cheers.

After ending all four weeks of last year's FESPA tour with the karaoke night, it has become a tradition to end every trip we plan with a karaoke party. So we all dressed up in our longies and sang our hearts out until 3am.

What do you think on. Everything's good. You know, everyone's lit right now. It's getting out of hand quickly.

And.

By the holy satellite.

In case you couldn't already tell, we had an incredible week in Myanmar. The country has incredible natural beauty, rich history, and some of the friendliest locals we've met anywhere in the world. But those things aren't what made this trip one of our favorite weeks of the entire year. What really made this trip special was the people. The 36 crazy people who signed up for a trip planned by two YouTubers to one of the least visited countries in Southeast Asia. The time spent getting to know everyone and the new friendships that were built in just one short week are the things that we'll cherish from this trip. When traveling with a group, especially on a small boat, it's the people you're with who can really make or break a trip. And we couldn't have hoped for a better group than the electric mix of travelers from seven different countries. Even though we were all strangers from different backgrounds on day one, a tight bond was built by the end of the trip through a shared passion for travel, a similar longing for adventure, and an open minded approach to life. So our sincerest thank you to each and every one of you who traveled all the way to Myanmar to join us on this trip. You made it 10 times better than we could have ever dreamed. Also, we can't forget the incredible boat crew. They worked tirelessly behind the scenes to help us pull off this trip. So we'll end this sappy voiceover by saying a huge thank you to the friendliest and hardest working boat crew on the Irrawaddy River.

Ever heard of the term drive it like it's a rental?

I drove straight into a fence.

All the farmers were like, get out of here.

That's why the kids are waiting for everybody on the bridge.

All of their postcards, it was like 5,000 for all. So the kids, they need like, dinner. You know what we'll do? We'll send one for Aunt Z in Texas.

Well, random, slip them under everyone's door.

What's the name of the shop?

Thank you so much.

Yeah.

You like it?

No. No.

You want a new one? It's ready for the gram.

She approves.

I love you. I love you. You are beautiful.

Famous.

It's going to go backwards.

Video.

In case we lose it forever.

Work. It's there.

You never know what she's recording.

Act like I'm not here.

I love the sunsets.

Put that in slow motion.

All right.

Make me look good. Let me look good. Don't do bar.

Wow.

This is epic.

Chaka. Friends.

I would like to say thank you very much. So every time, everyday celebration, I always say the one word. Myanmar is not just only famous for the pagoda, but also famous for the smile. Let us smile. So please bring our smile with you to your home. Thank you so much.