Travel Cruising Myanmar
CRUISE INTO... Magical Myanmar Take in the wonder, history and spectacle from on-water luxury, writes WENDY SQUIRES
Ididn’t think I could see anything more mind-blowingly beautiful, but there it was. Looking like an exquisite meringue that has fl floated down from Heaven was the M Myatheindan Pagoda, a white-onw white architectural masterpiece.
Just as I am to attempt a photo, t three maroon-robed monks step i in to my view wielding camera p phones. One gently approaches, p pointing to his phone, so I v volunteer to take their photos.
As I turn the camera to face t them, I realise I have this all w wrong. They don’t want me to take t their picture, they want to take a photo of me. And so, as we get a another to shoot us all in front of this man-made marvel, we all end up in raptures of giggles as a herd of cows arrives, walking straight through the shot and almost stampeding us in the process.
It was just another unforgettable moment in what has been 14 days of non-stop beauty and friendship in the extraordinary country that is Myanmar (formerly Burma).
This is my second visit to Myanmar. The first time I travelled by road, but this time it’s by boat up the mighty Irrawaddy River from Yangon in the south to Mandalay in the north.
And I have to say my experience travelling on the RV Princess Panhwar opened me to the most delightful sights and insight into the lives of these genial and gentle people. What’s more, I did so from my luxurious cabin and the ship’s bars and restaurant, welcome oases after onshore excursions exploring in the stifling heat and humidity.
Let’s start at the beginning in the former capital of Yangon (formerly Rangoon), still resplendent with British-colonial buildings elegantly juxtaposed against the bustling and colour of its lively street life.
Yangon is home to one of the country’s most significant pagodas, Shwedagon, with its 99m gilded stupa that washes the city in a heavenly golden glow. The spectacle doesn’t stop after
leaving port however. In my mind it only begins, with the river coming alive as children splash bathing on the river’s edge, their mothers scrubbing clothes on the rocks beside them, all waving as our ship glides past.
One morning I’ll never forget was when our ship sailed past hundreds of Buddha carvings etched into the rock cliffs, which peered out at the river like glorious sunbathers.
Day excursions are always fun as the Princess Panhwar moors in small villages, where we are taken by horse and cart or putt-putting tuktuks to pagodas that sparkle like jewellery chests and teak carved monasteries that have survived unscathed for hundreds of years.
I witnessed women hand-rolling cigars, spinning silk on ancient looms and hand-moulding pots from river clay. I sat in slack-jawed wonder at an elephant dance and a traditional puppet show. And I climbed a giant pagoda to watch the sun set over the Bagan, with its more than 2000 sacred stupas dating back to the 11th century, scattered like chocolate drops.
But most of all I fell back in love with this incredible country. Myanmar is not for a bucket list, it is for now. Go and see it before there are queues not cows at its incredible cultural sights and go by ship because you will be spoilt rotten.