Blogs from Irrawaddy River, Mandalay Region, Burma, Asia

A tour of the west bank of the Irrawaddy from Mandalay has to be one of the most amazing day trips you can do. For just 40,000 kyat (US$30) our wonderful lady driver helped us move hotel, and then took us out to various places on an excursion that lasted the entire day. The Irawaddy is also confusingly known as the Ayerarwaddy. Not to worry, we stopped at the bridge to have a good look at the river and its surroundings. There are two bridges - one built by the British in 1934 and the new one completed in 2005 which we were crossing. The views across the river are spectacular and seeing the myriad temples, pagodas and stupas on the hillsides of Sagaing was quite spectacular. It would take several day trips to try to ... read more

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 ... read more

Tuesday pulled into Salay a 7,000 resident village founded in 13thCentury with very British colonial feel with lovely preserved old buildings and in fact our tour director has renovated a beautiful building and it now houses a museum, restaurant and shop. Had a great feel to the place with lots of young novice monks around town. There was procession of all decorated vehicles and everyone dressed in beautiful dress, a ceremony for the new novice monks and also for the young girls ear piercing. We visited a beautiful old wooden monastery designed as a copy of the Crown Prince House of Mandalay. Great to see a slightly different town. Afternoon sailing the Irrawaddy. Wednesday Magway by trishaw to local market. This is quite a big city 500,000 people. Great way to see around Magway in the ... read more

Day 19-Friday-January 29 We arrived in Pyay this morning and set off on our final excursion. Present day Pyay is located at the confluence of the Ayeyarwaddy and Nawin Rivers. The British Irrawaddy Flotilla Company established the current town in the late 19thcentury on the Ayeyarwaddy River as a trans-shipment point for cargo between upper and lower Burma. Pyay is one of the most famous tourist destinations in Myanmar and is home to more than 80 gilded pagodas, including the Payagyi Pagoda which we will see this morning. Our first stop after leaving the boat and boarding the bus was the ancient Sri Ksetra Pyu City Gate and wall built between the 4-7th century that encompassed Pyu City, an area of over 5 square miles. We then went onto the Sri Ksetra Museum which held many ... read more

Day 16-January 26-Tuesday-This morning we set sail for Magwe. The Magwe Region is Myanmar’s 2nd largest of its seven regions located in the central part of the country. It is bordered by the Sagaing Region to the north, the Mandalay Region to the east, the Bago Region to the south, and the Rakhine and Chin States to the west. The capital is the city of Magwe. The majority of the population is Bamar, with very small numbers of other ethnicities. This region produces most of Myanmar’s natural gas and petroleum. Agriculture is also important, with the principal crops being rice, millet, maize, sunflowers, beans, tobacco, onions and potatoes. At 3:15 this afternoon we took a bus tour that included a brief stop at General Aung San “Bogyoke” Statue for photos. He was very instrumental in Burma’s ... read more