Bagan - Mandalay by cruise

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Up early packed and had breakfast then at 9.45am Lym picked us up after check out. I changed $100 USD for $134,000 Kyat to use on the boat we will be on for three days and 2 nights.

10am embarked on our cruise boat and met up with four other passengers from Albany WA.

We had a 3 course lunch and at 3pm we moored and went for a walk in a village which had a big pile of coal that the woman were carrying baskets of on their heads and tipping into a truck for transport to cities in Myanmar for fuel. We also visited a village were they made clay pots by hand and there were heaps of pots all at different stages as you went from one hut to another.

We then embarked after an hour and were given fresh watermelon juice. Our cabin was on the top deck and very comfortable with an onsuite, only the shower was cold, but with the weather being hot that was not to bad and we could use the onsuite downstairs of another cabin if we wanted to.

The other two couples were lovely and we hit it off well, we were all really enjoying the relaxing trip on the RV Yadanabo Cruise up the Ayarwaddy River.

Mick and I sat up the front at the bow and at 3.45pm ordered a Myanmar beer which the waiter bought to us with a bowl of nuts. Very civil and would not swap this for anything, the staff were really friendly and could understand basic english which was good.

However with three couples on board that were Ausies we ran them out of beer, so for the rest of the night we were able to drink free cocktails, life is pretty good and we all slept very well that night!

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Photos

RV Yadanabo Cruise Ship
Just 3 couples, plenty of space to relax and were looked after very well by the crew.

The Plank
The crew when we moored bought out two planks and a Bamboo pole for us to hold onto as we embarked the ship, different!

The Men hard at work
These men were hard at work as you can see, quite a contrast to the women we saw!

Bit like Mr. Whippy Only
This vendor played music and kids came from the village for the cooked vegetable meals he was making.

Local Traffic
No traffic jams here!

Woman loading coal onto the Truck
And we think we work hard, this was in 38c heat and can you imagine their lungs.

Back to the Boat
Time to walk the Plank again with the crew ready to catch us if we slip!

Time for a quite beer
One of the crew pouring us a Myanmar Beer while we sit back and relax. Not real bad and a lot cooler up the front of the ship.

The meals were great
The only complaint was we had far too much food that we just could not fit in.