THE GOLDEN LAND

We recently spent eight nights on the Irrawaddy river, on the ‘Orient Pandaw’, between Yangon and Mandalay and had a wonderful holiday.  My travel agent had told the company that I was on a strict gluten free diet. ‘No problem’ - there was gluten free food at every meal. I had taken rice crackers and packaged soups, as a precaution, but they were not needed. As I wrote in my diary, the large, cheerful, friendly chef on board was at my shoulder at every meal, pointing out the special dishes he had prepared, or assuring me that either everything on offer was gluten free, or perhaps warning me that the noodles, or the bread, or the dessert were not for me. Some times a dish of g-f dessert was discretely slipped beside my plate when everyone else was off selecting from the other sweets on offer, or I had g-f biscuits to have with the soup, or congee to go with the meat and vegetables at lunch, or sitting on the deck before dinner a plate of g-f nibbles was there for me to share with our pre-dinner drinks.  At one time, a ‘gluten free supplement for the elderly’ was proudly displayed and of course I gave myself a large serving, though I didn’t need reminding that I was ‘elderly’!  I suspect the chef had been off to the supermarket and bought anything and everything with a g-f logo.

This was a holiday when I found that being a coeliac was understood, and I wanted to tell you the Coeliac Society and Paul from Pandaw how much I appreciated that. I had an unusual overseas holiday, with no worries about diet, because there was cordial hospitality and understanding of my dietary requirements from everyone. I should also tell you that we were celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary on this voyage, and on that evening a beautiful anniversary cake was served to all our fellow passengers – and a dear little heart shaped gluten free cake was there for me! Of course the holiday wasn’t only about food – there were friendly Burmese people in elegant longhis, pagodas, monasteries, paddy fields, river traffic, and the history, architecture and archaeology of this fascinating country.

A holiday I can recommend, wholeheartedly.

Barbara Deakin