|
Day 1
Rangoon
Arrive
Yangon International Airport and stay overnight
at Kandawgyi Hotel (or equivalent 4 star);
sunset visit to the Shwedagon Pagoda
Day 2
Rangoon to Pagan
Early
morning flight up followed by a coach tour of
the main monuments. Ship will depart from Pagan
at 1700.
Day 3
Lower Chindwin
Cruise
all day through the great Lower Chindwin
plain...
Day 4
to Monywa
Arriving in the busy port town of Monywa will be
a bit of a shock after the peace and remoteness
of the Chindwin. We will explore the town and
time permitting make a quick trip to the
Thanbodi Temple with its million Buddha images -
a sort of Buddhist Disneyland!
Beyond
Monywa we enter the Upper Chindwin. The river
narrows and the forested hills fall away to
farmland we pass a number of attractive villages
like Kin or Kanee where we can stretch our legs.
Day 5
Mingkin
Mingkin was rediscovered by Paul Strachan in
1987 and described in some detail in his book
Mandalay: Travels from the Golden City. It
remains for Paul the most art historically
interesting site in Myanmar (more so than the
now spoilt Pagan) with its Konbaung court style
teak monasteries sumptuously decorated. Mingkin
may be described as the Luang Prabang of the
Chindwin.
Day 6
Mawlaik
Mawlaik replaced Kindat as the administrative
capital but ironically the Myanma refused to
move there from upstream Kindat. It was mainly
settled with the company houses of the by the
Scottish owned and run Bombay Myanmarh Trading
Corporation in the 1920s and 1930s. There are
many splendid ‘Dak Bungalows’ set around a
verdant golf course. Mawlaik and the other towns
of the Upper Chindwin can only be reached by
boat so cars are few. There is a dreamy
otherworldly quality to such places and truly
one feels that one has travelled there in the
Pandaw time machine!
Day 7
Paungbyin to Sitthaung
Pantha
was an important oil refinery belonging to the
Indo-Myanmar Petroleum Co (Steel Brothers). We
pass the mouth of the Yu River which drains the
Kubu valley that provided the route for a
Lieutenant Grant to march to the relief of the
Manipur garrison when the chief commissioner of
Assam was massacred in a local rebellion.
Sitthaung was the final resting place of a
number of IFC steamers scuppered there in 1942
in an ‘act of denial’ from the advancing
Japanese who were a matter of hours behind. We
hope to find remains of these ships as we have
in the past at Katha on the Irrawaddy. It was
from here that the survivors of the Japanese
invasion marched out to Tamu on the India
border.
Day 8
Sithaung to Toungdoot
Toungdoot or Hsawng-hsup in Tai, is an ancient
Shan enclave which in British times still had a
ruling sawbwa complete with palace and court. It
will be interesting to see what has become of
the royal family and their home and to see these
Shan people so far from their Tai-Shan
homelands.
Day 9
Toungdoot to Homalin
We
pass the Uyu River worked by gold washers on the
way to Homalin, the furthest navigable point on
the Chindwin for vessels of our size. Alister
McCrae wrote of his visit there 1935 ‘I loved
the atmosphere of quiet and peaceful living
there. At night I could hear greylag geese as
they came in to the flooded land around us from
far away north’. Bird in 1897 says little other
than that Homalin is the headquarters of a
township, but has very little trade’. Until we
get there and explore the place there is not
much we can say!
Day 10
Homalin and return downstream
Day 11
Return downstream to Kalewa
Day 12
Kalemyo to Rangoon
Travel
20 miles from Kalewa to Kalemyo the gateway to
the Chin State and fly by private air charter to
Yangon. Overnight Dusit Inya Lake Hotel. Time
permitting there is a tour to the Downtown area
and Scott Market.
Day 13
International Departures
If
time permits we can arrange a visit to the War
Graves at Htaukchan
Make reservation
now Contact
us Design your own
trip
Trip includes
+
All transfers by private car / van /bus
+ English speaking
guide on board
+ Accommodation in
twin sharing room in hotel 4 star / twin sharing cabin on
Pandaw
+ Flight : Yangon -
Bagan ; Bagan -
Mandalay, Mandalay - Yangon
+ Meals
as indicated ( B = Breakfast; L = Lunh; D =
Dinner)
+
Entrance fees and permits during guided time.
+
Servicharge & government taxes
Trip excludes
+ Airfares &
airport taxes
+ Pre/post trip
arrangement
+ Visa and visa
arrangement
+ Travel
insurance
+ Other personal
expenses
+
Personal expenses such as Bar, Telephone and
Laundry bills.
+ Tips
and gratuities
|
