When the snow in the highest Himalayas melts, the Irra-waddy river swells almost to bursting each August. Yet by January, the water lapping at the banks of Myanmar’s life-giving river had receded so far that our ship occasionally had to alter its course.
Jutting out from the coffee-coloured waters were ridges and mounds of sand that the captain was no doubt keen to avoid. After all, the Strand Cruise, the floating offshoot of Yangon’s famed colonial-era hotel, had only been in service a few short months. An upside was found to those pesky sandbanks, however, in a manner typical of this trip: they provided the setting for imbibing glasses of champagne as twilight fell on the penultimate evening of the journey.
The Irrawaddy flows from those northern snow-capped peaks through the heart of Myanmar before emptying into the Andaman Sea, making it the country’s longest river. It is navigable for about 1,500km from its mouth, but for those who wish to soak up Myanmar’s key cultural sites, the stretch between Bagan and Mandalay holds the greatest allure. (Courtesy of sea-globe.com)
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