The Irrawady river in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) is the country’s largest river flowing from North to South and also a commercial waterway. Yes, the country flourishes along its banks. What better way to experience Myanmar. Towards the latter part of the Monsoon, we embarked on a 3 night cruise on the river on board The Strand.
In Part 1 of this blog series we explored the U-Bein bridge in Mandalay. In Part 2 of this blog series we explored the township of Mingun in the Mandalay region. We continue our exploration of Mandalay with a shore expedition to Innwa also called as Ava
Creating Travel Experiences in #Myanmar
As we wound up our excursion in Mingun, the Strand Cruise team helped us to our rooms, introduced us to the staff on board, amenities available and ensured that we got comfortable with the facilities. The ever smiling staff accompany you during excursions with a picnic basket containing refreshments, wet towels as it can get extremely sweaty after monsoons and during summers and upon return to the boat you just feel like gulping all the cold drinks on offer. The staff request you to place your sandals which are cleaned off the mud and delivered outside your room. Comfortable slippers are provided to walk around inside the cruise boat.
After a long day in Mingun, we continued 35 kms along the Irrawady river and halt for the night on the banks of the Ancient Capital City of Innwa or Ava as it was called when it was the seat of the Burmese Empire. The empire lasted over 360 years between 1365 to 1842 on 5 separate occassions.
Tourism has provided the residents of these towns a wonderful opportunity to talk about their country, listen and understand what Tourists expect and ensure they carry home wonderful stories. Out of the moored Cruise boat in the morning, we board Horse carts to take us through the narrow and rain washed streets of Innwa to various places of interest. While it may seem like a very uni-dimensional way to travel, Myanmar will slowly but surely bring in experiences even to the smallest of monuments / destinations. However this opportunity we got was to explore a raw country which had just opened up. No sanitised experiences as of now like in Singapore, Malaysia and other SE Asian counterparts.
Pagodas & Monasteries of Wingaba, Myint Mo Thaung and Lawka Dawtha Man Aung
Based on interactions with locals during his journeys in Burma, Robert Bruce Thurber in his book In the Land of the Pagodas (Paya as referred by the locals) gives the probable reason for many Pagodas lying in a state of repair. It is believed that no merit accrues to anyone who repairs a Pagoda, except those of great note, repair-merit going to the original build. We really dont know if this is now a business of the state or Myanmar has transcended these beliefs.
The Yedanasini Temple
The temple in Innwa is in a state of ruin yet looks spectacular. The temple is said to have been build way back in the year 1820’s/1830’s. A major Earthquake in the year 1839 brought down the temple to its current state.
The Leader
The people of Myanmar have shown tremendous grit and have survived numerous crises as they transitioned from Freedom – Military Rule – Democracy. Daw Aung Sang Suu Kyi has been at the forefront of this transition. Respect to her is played out at almost all the places that we travelled to.
Maha Aung Mye Bonzan Monastery
Probably the best preserved monastery, one that survived the great earthquake of 1839 and subsequently got the attention it deserved towards re-building. This monastery is said to have been constructed by a queen for the Royal Priest.
Moving on from Mandalay, our cruise set sail towards another ancient capital city of Bagan.
Getting to Myanmar
Travelling to Myanmar is now a breeze. Number of airlines fly in to Yangon with a single stop at any popular hub. Mandalay and Bagan are well connected from Yangon.
- China Southern, All Nippon, Bangkok Airways, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways among the carriers from the Asian and South east Asian region
- Qatar Airways and Emirates from the middle east
- Air India offers twice a week flight between Kolkata and Yangon on Saturdays and Mondays. Its a surprise that the two countries which share such a common heritage still dont have good direct connectivity.
Tourists can check visa requirements on The Myanmar eVisa website. This is a government website and one can apply online for an e-visa. Check out for countries for whom Visa is provided on arrival. Indians can now apply for visa upon arrival. A recent government order to this effect. However, as a travel best practice it is always wise to utilize the e-visa facility offered. One however has to be careful while entering the passport details in to the Visa application form. Mismatch very clearly results in deportation.
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