River and ocean cruises.
There is a extensive waterway system from the very north down to the Irrawaddy Delta where the river empties into the Andaman Sea. It extends into the east and west and is used by river and coastal vessels.
Until the British left it was operated by the "Irrawaddy Flotilla Company" on the Chindwin, Salween and as indicated before.
After the British left it was ruined just as usual when communist and military take over something.
This double-decker steamer is a legacy (there are more) of the "Irrawaddy Flotilla Company" Glasgow which operated a 8000 km long network in the country.
When the Brits started their second war against Burma the East India Company supplied the cargo vessels and some barges. In 1865 the company was established, by 1885 all was under their control. When WW2 started they had over 600 ships on all major waterways.
This ship and the one below is operated by the Orient Express Company.
between Mandalay and Bagan, before it was used on the river Rhine before and moved half way around the world, the one below is a more modern one.
Through the Delta.
The waters from the foothills of
the Tibetan Himalayas reach the Andaman Sea. This is a vast area of wetland
where myriads of streams water the paddy fields and people live above the water
in huts on stilts. During monsoon they move in canoes and bigger boats the
remaining time mostly on the hard surface they are very good adapted to this
environment. Only from “time to time” this gets out of control as it was
happening at cyclon Nagis a few years ago.
It spans from the west coast behind Pathein to the
eastern seafront below Bago, the city was the main trading point before the British
conquered the country. All this area is in
bad condition and rotten since only recently the only good road from Yangon to
the beaches on the eastern seafront was finished. This waterfront is mainly
Chaungtha and Ngwe Saung with some beautiful beach resorts.
Crossing wider streams and creeks.
It still needs a ferry although there are a few bridges, the main reason why people, mainly from Yangon travel through the delta to the eastern waterfront are for holiday purpose. Buses are available but cars are the normality, traveling this vast “paddy lands” are a great experience.
A few companies also offer river cruises on the streams and creeks from the main city to eastern shores for holiday purposes.
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Children Fun
during Monsoon
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| Wetland agriculture |
Sometimes disaster hit.
This was some years ago during Taifun Nagis. But usually it's only the usual yearly flood which moves in from the Indian Ocean to bring the needed water.
Children play in the brown muddy water by jumping down from
the verandas of palm huts enhanced with bamboo; they glide in their shallow
canoes over the flooded ground. The people living in the wetlands are extremely
poor since the last few decades their land was ruined. After the British left the
country was the major rice exporter in SEA now it’s only a minor one.
The communist experiment together with a lunatic ruler (he went to Vienna every year for treatment of his Schizophrenia) left a broken country. The new government is trying hard to improve the livelihood of the Myanmar’s but it takes it’s time.
The communist experiment together with a lunatic ruler (he went to Vienna every year for treatment of his Schizophrenia) left a broken country. The new government is trying hard to improve the livelihood of the Myanmar’s but it takes it’s time.
Actually the British who caused this mess don’t give a penny;
the US which also left their footprints during WW2 even increased the disaster,
the only one left who helped where the
Japanese, read more.
More about Old Yangon can be found out by a walk through the city, it would be enough when taking the Shwedagon and Bothataung Pagoda, the river and Chinatown as the limit and take a a breathing mask with you since the air pollution mainly from rotten cars is disastrous, read more.
Irrawaddy Cruising at Sagaing, here the river flows through the central region of the country where the banks are flanked with pagodas and temples and on this side also some meditation centers, read more.
Kaladan River in Rakhine links Mrauk U with the Gulf of Bengal. This waterway sees heavy traffic since there are no suitable roads around, to the north is Cox Bazaar in Banglades, read more.
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