A riverboat runs through it
Experience the real Burma while cruising the Irrawaddy River
IRRAWADDY RIVER, BURMA— It’s less than a five-minute walk from the gangplank of the cruise ship to Shwe Pyi Thar village. It might as well be a century.
On board the 36-passenger Avalon Myanmar, meals are a delight. Waiters welcome with a cheery “min ga la ba” (hello) and replace empty glasses with full ones before you’ve even realized you’re still thirsty.
Rooms are dressed in soft linens with French toiletries, and there are nightly cocktails offered at the bar themed to match the day’s excursions and served to guests who have traded dusty outdoor shoes for rattan slippers on board. Across the gangplank, it’s a different story. Old women and young children crouch over machete-chopped peanut bushes and remove the pea- nuts one at a time.
A few pigs lie lazily in a muddy pile nearby, next to thatch-roofed homes and hanging laundry for the 199 families who work together to survive along the Irrawaddy River.
It’s a far cry from the river cruises of Europe. No sidewalks, no castle re-enactments; only steep climbs and wellworn foot paths that may have never seen a Nike.
This cruise is intentionally different and requires guests who are up for that kind of challenge.
“This is for someone who’s curious, someone who is looking for some enrichment and has flexibility,” explains Avalon Waterways managing director Patrick Clark. “Because if you want order, this is not it.”
Cruises, with their price tags and lengthy itineraries, have traditionally been an older person’s game. This one lasts two weeks and costs about $7,000 without air fare.
But river cruising — with new ports of call, deeper immersion opportunities and the intimate nature of ship builds — has potential to draw a younger crowd.
River cruise giants such as Avalon, AMA Waterways, Uniworld and Tauck are all seeing the space open up to a more diverse audience.
While Avalon doesn’t specifically seek out younger clientele, they certainly aren’t a group it’s excluding, either.
Clark expects to see more multigenerational families and affluent young couples on the ships.
“The experience would appeal,” he says. “I think the younger traveller is thinking, ‘Where is that adventure that I can have that hasn’t been spoiled yet?’ — and there are not many places.”
“I think families will, as they look for those unique experiences, try to take their children on these experiences that (later) in their lifetime may not exist,” Clark adds.
Families will find those experiences in Burma.
Days are typically more relaxed than European sailings, but outings are more physically taxing due to the terrain.
The 14-day cruise has scheduled stops in 10 ports. Meals are prepared and served on board the ship (don’t miss the traditional tea leaf salad) and most days have you exploring in either the morning or afternoon, but rarely both, leaving plenty of opportunities to take in the passing scenes of village life from the sky deck.
Excursion transportation varies with air-conditioned coach and ox cart on occasion, but most often you’ll explore on your own two feet. It’s what allows you to feel such a part of the villages you visit.
Avalon Myanmar is the only river cruise ship that currently visits the northern parts of the Irrawaddy River, so the interaction with locals who aren’t yet used to tourists is unique.
When a few of us head out on an impromptu walk of Katha, we’re greeted with shocked looks. A local couple and their child zoom past on a motorbike before coming back and asking to snap a photo. We oblige. It’s not every destination that holds that kind of experience.
“When locals are taking photographs of you,” Clark says, “you know you’re in a special place.” Heather Greenwood Davis’s visit was subsidized in part by Avalon Waterways, which didn’t review or approve this story.