With the release of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi in November 2010, many travelers now feel more comfortable visiting Myanmar (Burma), a destination that many had felt discouraged to visit in the past.

Yet, visiting Myanmar, the land of a million pagodas, is a retreat to a country whose great allure lies in its warm-hearted and welcoming people, peaceful Buddhist culture and bucolic landscape.

Asia Transpacific Journeys, the nation's leading tour company specializing exclusively in Custom Journeys and Small Group Trips in the Asia/Pacific region, is reporting that bookings to this intriguing country have almost tripled year over year. The company has been organizing travel to Myanmar for the past 15 years and is the hands-down Burma expert in the industry.

Marilyn Downing-Staff, Asia Transpacific Journeys' founder and President, says: "It's a golden moment to see Myanmar and take a step back in time to the Southeast Asia of old. The country still moves via ox cart, water buffalo plough the fields and smiling children run to greet the traveler."

Ms. Downing Staff made her first visit to the country in 1987 and describes travel to Burma as captivating – "a place that I go back to time and again, to renew my deep affection for Southeast Asia's people. " Many of Asia Transpacific Journeys' travelers have made friends for life with the hospitable Burmese people and there is no better place to immerse one's self in Asian culture than in Burma, according to Ms. Downing Staff. The country offers tremendous value, with comfortable to luxurious accommodations and attentive service. English is widely spoken, making it easy for travelers to interact with the locals.

Asia Transpacific Journeys' Small Group tour "Burma – Land of the Golden Pagoda" January 2011 departure is sold out and demand for their custom journeys to Myanmar have also risen considerably in recent months. Their list of Myanmar travel tours include three expertly led small group trips with five annual departures, as well as customized, privately guided tours.

The company's next Small Group tour "Hidden Burma" departs January 28 and "Burma—Land of the Golden Pagoda" departs again in October, while Custom Journeys can be arranged at any time of the year, with October through February being the best time to visit.

Highlights of a custom trip to Myanmar include witnessing the annual Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda Festival, one of the most popular pagoda festivals in Myanmar, where thousands of floating luminaries dot Inle Lake for the first few nights of the festival. Other highlights include riding bicycles at sunrise through the countryside around Bagan or through the Lisu and Rawang tribal villages in the far north, or enjoying a spectacular sunrise balloon ride over the temples of Bagan, the former capital of several ancient kingdoms in Myanmar.

Asia Transpacific Journeys also recommends visiting lesser-known areas of the country such as the mountainous areas of extreme northern Myanmar or some of the remote towns of Shan State including Hsipaw, Kengtung and Putao. "The morning markets in these areas are second to none in Southeast Asia, filled with colorfully dressed tribal villagers, local crafts and freshly prepared food", says Ms. Downing Staff.

SOURCE: http://www.luxurytravelmagazine.com/news-articles/interest-in-travel-to-myanmar-surges-15216.php