An innovative private jet tour from Bangkok opens up four days of bicycling, elephant rides, forest hikes and boat trips in the heritage-rich Bagan and Inle Lake areas of Myanmar.

Khiri Travel has announced a unique private jet tour to experience the cultural and natural attractions of central Myanmar. The trip is for high-end clients who want to be treated like ‘millionaires’ and have an active holiday of cultural insights.

The four-day, three-night trip from Bangkok uses a luxurious six-seat Cessna Citation CJ3 private jet. For a six-person group, the whole trip is US$8,500 per person including visa on arrival, transfers, deluxe accommodation and most meals.

“This is an exceptional trip for people who want a very distinctive, active and culturally rewarding holiday with the convenience of starting and finishing in Bangkok,” said Edwin Briels, General Manager of Khiri Travel Myanmar. “A private jet means that you can have one of the greatest little holidays in Asia all within four days and go back to the office with a unique story to tell.”

Briels said the trip had been designed for guests who want a “hands-on” holiday. The flight lands in Bagan where guests enjoy guided bicycle rides among the remote temples of Bagan, many of which are nearly a thousand years old. The Bagan experience includes a boat ride on the Irrawaddy River for sundowners on a sandbank.

Guests then fly in the private jet to Heho near Inle Lake in central Myanmar’s Shan hill country. Visitors enter a mature hardwood forest which is now an elephant and wildlife sanctuary with villagers taking ownership of the conservation process. Guests ride (and wash) elephants with local mahouts and villagers.

The trip then visits Inle Lake where guests ride a boat to see the floating gardens and the ‘pagoda forest’ of Indein. On the water guests see colourful markets frequented by traditional Shan and Pa-O tribes in costume. This is followed by lunch in a local house. Throughout the boat trip there are chances to see the legendary leg rowers of Inle Lake.

Continuing the active theme, the trip includes a bicycle ride on the east bank of Inle Lake through Shan and Intha villages. Visitors stop and chat to villagers and to monks in a local monastery. Lunch is served on a tranquil rice barge in the middle of Inle Lake. Guests then fly back to Bangkok on the private jet.

Khiri Travel is offering the ‘millionaires’ trip to central Myanmar between 1 May and 30 September 2012. If four passengers travel, the fee is US$11,350 per person. If two passengers go, the fee is US$22,000 per person.

The Pacific Asia Travel Association reports that Myanmar attracted 400,000 international visitors in 2011. (To put this in context, this compares to over 16 million in Thailand). The Bagan and Inle Lake areas still only receive about 100,000 international tourists a year. After Indonesia, Myanmar is the 2nd largest country in Southeast Asia.