The Mighty Irrawaddy River
One of the rivers of Myanmar, Irrawaddy, flows 2000km and begins and
ends within one country, giving it life, witnessing its history and
bringing together the people of the far north to the southerners living
in delta lands. In these times of globalisation, one thing is unchanged
about this mighty river: the lives of the river people and those of
villages on its banks. Cityscapes may change from old houses to high
rises, towns may become fast paced and modern, but life on the river
remains the same as it was centuries ago.
The Irrawaddy has its birthplace the confluence about 43km north of
Myitkyina, the capital of the Kachin State. Mai Kha River from the East
and Mali Kha from the West, the two rivers that came down from the snowy
Himalayas, join their waters in a spot of spectacular beauty. Kachin
legends say that the Great Spirit of the world poured water from a gold
cup held in each hand, and Mai Kha which flowed from his right is the
male river, wide, shallow, swift flowing and chuckling happily as he
passes over river stones. The Mali Kha, poured from the left, is his
sister. She has hidden depths shadowed with high cliffs and tall thick
jungles. She is silent, mysterious, and dangerous.
Born as they were from gold cups, both rivers give up gold in powder
or nugget form. Many gold panners stake out claims o the sandy banks,
sleeping in small make shift huts, living off the abundant fish and
wild shoots and vegetables from the forests. The waters of these upper
reaches from the confluence up to the town of Bhamo are crystal clear
and blue, flowing with white crested waves pass the rugged rocks of
the First Gorge. During the onset of the monsoon when the melted snows
of the Himalayas swell the river to dangerous depths, it is said that
the river roars through this First Gorge with the might of a hundred
tigers. Bhamo is a trading post that since a thousand years has been
a gateway to the overland route to China. Its importance in trade has
been the cause of many wars, among them the invasion of the British
into Myanmar that ended with total annexing of the country in 1885.
After Bhamo there is the Second Gorge, but here the river is calm and
not too narrow.
A high cliff towers over a turn in the river, looming up majestically
over the small boats and rafts floating by. On this part of the river,
the water is not too deep, and boats are hollowed from whole logs or
small rafts made of bamboo. Indeed, rafts made up of less then a dozen
bamboo poles are often seen with the one passenger lying back and humming
a tune to ease the loneliness of his journey. In these upper reaches
of the river, dolphins help the fishermen with their work by driving
schools of fish into the nets, and men and dolphin have secured an affectionate
relationship through generations.
Just before the Third Gorge, the river passes by Tagaung, a town famous
in legends and history as the probable capital of the earliest kingdom
in Myanmar. In a country of such deep traditions as Myanmar, folklore
holds more sway then scientific historical proof. When legends tell
of a Naga, a dragon who could take human form and who was lover to a
beautiful queen, and on whose death the queen made a jacket from his
skin and a hairpin from his bones, who cares what archaeological proof
says? There are many ancient ruined temples in Tagaung and stories of
plentiful and harmless snakes, which are smaller cousins of dragons.
Soon the thick jungles and isolated huts on high banks are left behind
as the river widens and flows pass flat farmland and small villages.
As the river widens it creates wide expanses of sandbanks, where farmers
eagerly grow crops such as onions. They say that no onion is sweeter
then that grown in the silt of the Irrawaddy.
A book written in the1930 by an Irishman Major Raven-Hart, who canoed
down the Irrawaddy from Myitkyina right down to the capital Yangon,
described the life along the river in words that are still as accurate
today as they were seventy years ago:
"Even at the villages where we did not tie up, our passing was
an excitement: men and women bathing stood to watch us, boys washing
their skirts waved them in salute, naked urchins sliding down the banks
yelled and waved and pretended to be scared of our wash, water0buffaloes
really were scared and gave their pygmy guardians a chance to show their
authority (and to see a child of six dragooning one of these antediluvian
monsters weighing a ton or so almost makes one proud to be human). All
the life of the riverside village is on the bank of an evening: everyone
bathes at least once a day, and skirts are changed and washed at every
bathe, and smaller children with no skirts to worry about swim as soon
as they can walk or sooner, and still smaller ones are brought down
to be gurglingly dipped, astride the hip of a not-much-larger brother
or sister."
Gradually the life on the river becomes busier as boats big and small
carry goods and travellers and rafts of teak logs and bamboo flow with
the current. Huge glazed pots lashed together form a different type
of river craft altogether. They all come complete with a hut or two
for the rafters to sleep and cook. Sometimes their pet dogs might even
join them for the trip.
 
 
Glazed ware is used to store oil or pickled fish or bathing water,
and Kyaut Myaung, a huge production centre just after the end of the
Third Gorge. The glazed ware of the town is famous, sent to all ports
downstream during pagoda festival season, which is from October to May
of the next year. The glazes are made from by-products of silver mines,
added to river silt. The traditional colours are deep dark browns, lustrous
greens and creamy yellows.
Terracotta wares have a longer history then glazed wares. Fine samples
have been unearthed from ancient city sites two thousand years old.
Turned on a wheel, these excavated pots once used for cooking, storage
and as burial urns have elegant shapes and designs. The type of potter's
wheel used remained the same all these years, as did the way that the
clay is worked. Silt from the generous Irrawaddy and white or red clay
pounded to a fine powder is mix in age-old proportions, and worked with
hands and feet to smoothness. The potter's wheel, as seen in the tiny,
sleepy little village of Yandabo, is set on a stake driven into the
bottom of a shallow pit dug in the ground. The wheel is turned by one
hand while the other works on shaping the pot. If two hands are needed,
someone will turn the wheel by standing next to it and using a foot
to spin it, or else a string tied to the wheel can be pulled by someone
sitting at a distance, leisurely smoking a cheroot.
 
For cooking rice, there is never a more pleasant aroma then when it
is cooked in a clay pot. Drinking water in a terracotta pot seeps and
mists on the exterior surface, which the breeze catches and chill. This,
in turn keeps the water inside cool, with a freshness that villagers
prefer to iced water. The villages of Theingon are places neither special
nor important, but they are symbolic of all the rural villages in Myanmar.
The people are hard working, tending to their fields, plots and small
chicken coops all day under the harsh tropical sun.
A villager's life is not easy, but he shares his affection and humour
with his neighbours, and his few entertainments in life are the annual
pagoda festivals, or, in bigger villages, the weekly movie at the video
'theatre'. Evenings are spent courting girls who walk to and from the
river carrying water in pots on their heads. Other evenings the young
lads may share a drink of toddy wine with the guys, right under the
toddy palms in the village version of the corner pub. If the girls are
weaving or spinning by moonlight, that is another chance to go around
and sweet-talk them, discreetly chaperoned by her mother sitting at
a distance but with eyes and ears wide open.
Living far from big cities, the villagers' one reason to visit these
crowded places they cannot stand is to worship at the great pagodas
like the Shwedagon of Yangon or the Maha Muni of Mandalay.
Mandalay today is a modern city with many ancient cites, and places
where the best craftsmen in the country continue to make things in the
way their great grandfathers did. The Maha Muni Pagoda enshrines a cast
bronze image of the Buddha brought over the mountain ranges of the west
in 1782. The 4m-high image has so often been gilded that the torso has
lost all proportions. Only the serene face remains unchanged, polished
and washed and even the teeth, actually the lips, brushed every dawn
at 4a.m.with great ceremony by the pagoda trustees.
The environs of Mandalay offer endless sights, beautiful scenery and
enchanting temples. The Irrawaddy, however, flows on its path to Bagan,
with its two thousand temples of the 11th and 12th century, left from
the original four thousand. The pains of Bagan are dotted with the temples,
and in the far distance looms the crest of Mount Popa, abode of the
Nat, or Spirits. Since King Anawrahta (1044-1077) of Bagan first gave
full support to Buddhism and helped it prosper over the land, there
was Spirit worship, which he could not entirely stamp out. Buddhism
is a hard philosophy to live by with one entirely responsible for one's
actions, good or bad, without any help from any other being. Anawrahta
knew that at least for the uneducated or the unwise, he had to let them
believe in favours they can get from Spirits. The Nat mediums also take
care not to be antagonistic of Buddhism; on the contrary they insist
that the Spirits, as all good Buddhists aspire, wish to end their cycle
of rebirths, or in their case the state of limbo, and enter Nirvana.
Meanwhile, remain in limbo they must, to be 'made happy' with festivals
celebrated in their honour with loud music, dance, food and drink.
Down river from Bagan, there are other places of interest such as "Sale"
a small town with exquisite old monasteries. The all-teak Yoke Sone
Monastery is famous for the traditional architecture and carvings. The
craftsmen of a hundred years ago had shown their skill to perfection
with mythological creatures, celestials and scenes of everyday life
carved on walls and balustrades of the monastery. The town also boasts
of lovely colonial-style residences.
Next port-of-call is Magw·which is famous for the Mya Thalun
Pagoda overlooking the river, its spire of gold shining like a beacon.
Magw·is a typically conservative town, with many temples, monasteries
and hermitages.
Minhla has a brick fort built by two Italians during the 19th century,
in an effort to block the British invasion to Upper Myanmar. However,
the heavy artillery of the British was too strong for the weapons of
the Myanmar Royal armies. The hill in Gwechaung offers a spectacular
view of the surrounding countryside.
Thayet Myo was once a colonial outpost, and has the first golf course
ever to be built in Myanmar. The locals of a hundred years ago must
have been amazed to see men with long sticks chasing after a little
white ball. The town is small and charming, and seems lost in time.
The roots of Myanmar civilisation is to be found very near Pyay or
Prome as it was called by the British. The ancient city site Srikhetera
was once the seat of the Pyu kingdom, ancestors of the Bama (Burmese)
race. The Pyu civilisation flourished from the 2nd century to the 9th,
and ended when invaders from Nan Cha'o, (present-day Yunnan) destroyed
the city and conscripted thousands into their armies. Those who fled
settled up-river and later on merged with another race that came from
Kyaukse, just south of present-day Mandalay, and they were the first
people of the great Bagan kingdom.
Now, the archaeological site in Hmawza continues to give up remnants
of the lost kingdom in the form of religious artefacts, pottery shards,
exquisitely crafted precious metal and intricate beads, all to be seen
in a small on-site museum. The pagodas and temples there are the oldest
in the country.
The Irrawaddy River flows placidly past all these wonders. It has seen
it all. It has witnessed the wars of mighty kings striving to build
their empires or to build up civil societies. It has seen heartbreak,
happiness, life and death. With a grandeur and dignity befitting a river
that moves to its own will, the Irrawaddy rushes past the towns of central
Myanmar and through the delta in nine rivulets, pouring its endless
streams of waters into the Andaman Sea.
Road To Mandalay
Discover the mysteries of the ancient and breathtaking cities along
the shores of the Ayeyarwady River in Myanmar aboard the Road To Mandalay,
a deluxe river cruise from the creators of the Eastern & Oriental
Express.
The Road To Mandalay sails the legendary river between Mandalay and
Bagan offering travellers 3-, 4- and 7- night cruises*. Beautifully
appointed throughout, this deluxe cruiser accommodates 120 passengers
in spacious air-conditioned cabins with full ensuite facilities, and
provides a superior level of service with sumptuous dining and local
entertainment onboard.
Pandaw 1947
The RV Pandaw and other 5 similar so called “class P”
design vessels was commissioned after the end of the Second World War
by the Inland Water Transport Board of the Union of Burma government
with the technical expertise of the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company at that
time acting as Agents to the I.W.T Board.
Rv Pandaw was built in Scotland on the Clyde by the famous ships builder
Yarrow & Co on 1947 with the same design of the pre-war Quarter
Wheeler steamers of the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company. After being boarded
up in order to protect her from the sea waves, she left Scotland for
the delivery voyage to Burma on 1950. On the 12th January 1951 she started
to serve the Inland Water Transport (Irrawaddy Flotilla was nationalized
on the 1st of June 1948) on the route Mandalay-Bhamo for both cargo
and passengers transportation. In the 1998 she was converted into a
16 cabins luxurious river cruise vessel by the revived Irrawaddy Flotilla
Company founded by the Historian Mr.Paul Strachan. IFC has operated
the vessel in the rivers of Myanmar for 5 years until 2003 In the second
half of the 2003 Interconnection Co.Ltd signed the charter agreement
with IWT and the RV PANDAW underwent a major renovation at the Yangon
Dalla Dockyards. As far as the Hotel side is concerned new furniture
has been specially designed and new Food and Beverage equipment have
been bought.
The Irrawaddy Flotilla
A journey on Burma's Irrawaddy River is one of life's great travel
experiences. No vessel could be more appropriate for this than a ship
of the Pandaw fleet.
The Irrawaddy Flotilla Company in its heyday in the 1920s was the largest
privately owned fleet of ships in the world. The company restored in
teak and brass an original colonial river steamer called the RV Pandaw.
Irrawaddy Flotilla company’s colonial-style river ships are of
great craftsmanship and wonderful local materials the Pandaw ships offer
alternative standards of comfort and design finish to any other large
ships afloat.
Pyigyi Dagon
Run by Myanma Inland Water Transport . These newly built three Decker
boats, which mainly plies long distance between Mandalay and Bhamo.
Pyi Myanmar has three river craft and plies between Mandalay and up
river north to Bhamo three times a weekly.
The Pyi Myanmar has a different level of accommodation with price ringing.
between US$ 36 to 54 per person for approximately 2 day 2 night journey
between Mandalay and Bhamo.
Shwekenneri
Run by Myanma Inland Water transport having three newly built crafts
by Chinese,
each one has a capacity of about 100 passengers in all reclining seat
at bottom level and an observation deck and dinning hall at up stairs.
Shwekennery plies between two ancient capitals every day except on Wednesdays
and Sundays.
Malikha
Modern, cruise, faster speed with 32 nautical miles an hour, the Malikha
operates 2 x boats with capacity around 130 seats.
This cruise service connects easy between Mandalay
and Ancient city of Bagan [approx 5 hour], as well as between
Ngapali beach and capital city of Rakhine Sittwe [approx 7 hour] and
between Sittwe and the ancient city of Mrauk
U [approx 2 hour].
Amara
The Amara River Cruise is a traditional Myanmar riverboat traveling
along the Ayarwady and Chindwin River. It measures 30 meters / 100 feet
in length by 8 meters / 24 feet in width.
With a shallow draft of 1 meter/ 3 feet and two Hino engines. It can
go as far north as Bamo all year round. On board you find a total of
seven Cabins, six standard double cabins and one deluxe,
each with its own bathroom with hot and cold shower. Communal areas
include dining room, bar and canopied sundeck.
Delta Queen
The Byar Nyar Latt plies between Yangon and capital of Delta Pathein
leaving Yangon every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and Pathein to Yangon
every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
Capacity of 12 twin cabins and ideal to combine with transportation
to the newly established Ngwe Saung beach one way by cruise and return
by land.
|
