Find a comfortable place atop a temple terrace and prepare yourself for a morning show like no other. As the sun rises, the stupa-studded landscape reveals itself in rich gold tones through the morning mist. Dozens of hot air balloons fly right over your head and feel so close you can almost touch them.

Hire e-bikes for a few dollars and explore the archeological site of Bagan peppered with more than 2,000 temples. The dusty terrain makes for a thrill-seeking day of racing down dirt tracks and climbing temple terraces.

Travelling to Myanmar you will find a land blissfully free of Western influences, where women paint their faces in ground bark paste to protect themselves from the sun and men expertly tie traditional longyi around their waists.

Floating through the sky in a hot air balloon is an ethereal experience at the best of times, but especially when you’re floating over temple stupas shrouded in morning mist. Some activities in destinations are non-negotiable, and this is one of them.

For a glimpse into local life, head to Inle Lake where time stands still. This serene lake is a mecca for local life with houses on stilts, floating businesses and leg-rowing fishermen employing age-old fishing techniques.

If you want to get more insight into Burmese culture, venture on a multi-day trek through the mountains. You’ll stay in humble homes along the way and not only will you see how locals live, you’ll also experience it for yourself by eating and showering as they do.

Having recently opened its borders, few people have had the pleasure of visiting this once secret land. Get there before the crowds arrive and bring with them their Western influences.

With all its gold-adorned opulence, Shwedagon Pagoda is the crowning jewel of Yangon. Best visited at sunrise when the golden stupas contrast against the indigo sky and red-robed monks chant their hypnotic prayers.

After five decades of brutal oppression, Myanmar has finally opened its borders giving intrepid travelers a peek into a land untouched by mass tourism. If there was ever a time to visit Myanmar, it would be now. A lack of intervention from the outside world makes Myanmar an unspoiled country where the simple things count for the most.

The streets of Yangon are full of novelties from bustling markets brimming with exotic fruits to sickly sweet sugar cane juice pressed using age-old methods. Echoes of glamorous colonial history hit you in the form of crumbling mansions and bygone hotels.