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A UNIQUE EXPLORATION CRUISE

THE IRRAWADDY AND CHINDWIN

14 NIGHTS

This river expedition goes from Pyay (Prome) to Kalay. Pyay is the first major Irrawaddy port to the north of Rangoon on the Irrawaddy River and Kalay-wa, the main port on the Upper Chindwin River. This monsoon cruise will cover the middle part of Burma including Pagan with its 3000 monuments and the culturally rich Lower Chindwin with its little known art treasures and early wood carved monasteries. At this time of year when the Chindwin is in full flood the river is at its most dramatic but be prepared for heavy rain with sunny interludes between downpours. The skys and colours will be amazing. Walks ashore may be muddy and river banks slippery.

Avoid the bus transfer Yangon to Prome and start your cruise 4 days earlier from Yangon (18nights), read more....

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REGISTER YOUR INTEREST FOR THIS EXPEDITION

The situation in Burma has deteriorated rapidly to the point where we are now looking at long-term impacts on the country and the local people. After much deliberation and discussion with our team on the ground, we have come to the difficult decision to cancel all of our scheduled departures in Burma for the foreseeable future, returning only once the situation is settled.

To register your interest for this expedition once we return to Burma please click the button below and complete your details, we will contact you to discuss your arrangements when travel to Burma is possible again.

Click Here to Register Your Interest

IMAGES

EXPEDITION MAP

YOUR SHIP

OPTIONAL EXTENSIONS

PRE CRUISE EXTENSIONS

IRRA Pre cruise Rangoon

2 Nights Mystical Inle Lake Pre Tour

Mystical Inle Lake & Southern Shan State Adventure (4 nights) - Kalaw Hill Lodge

2 Nights Southern Shan State Adventure - Kalaw Hill Lodge

POST CRUISE EXTENSIONS

PK Post cruise Rangoon : Pyay - Kalay

OPTIONAL PACKAGE ADDONS

Private Dining

Pre-Bookable House Wine Package

Free Flow Drinks

Free Flow Drinks & Wine Package

DAY 1 PROME (PYAY)

Meet at the Sule Shangri La Hotel in Yangon and transfer by coach to Prome. Visit the 5th-8th century archaeological site of Thiri-ya-kittiya, former centre of the Pyu civilization. We cross jungle and countryside to visit monumental Pyu stupas and the excavations of the former palace-city in this walled early centre of Buddhism.

More about Prome (Pyay)

DAY 2 THAYETMYO

This pleasant colonial town once guarded the border between Royal Burmah and British Burmah following the 2nd Anglo Burmese War of 1855 and many of the buildings including the covered market date from this period. We visit the market, see the colonial houses and ride out by horse and cart to see the countryside and golf links.

More about Thayetmyo

DAY 3 MINHLA AND GWECHAUNG

In Minhla and Gwechaung we visit the two Italian built forts constructed to keep the British at bay from Royal Burmah. We climb the Gwechaung hill for the view. In the afternoon we cruise on to Magwe where we climb the river bank and wend our way through a labyrinth of passages and paths to reach the magnificent Myat-thalon Pagoda.

More about Minhla and Gwechaung

DAY 4 SALE

We visit a number of teak monasteries including the Yout-saun-kyaung with its spectacular wood carvings. We also explore an area of splendid colonial houses.

More about Sale

DAY 5 PAGAN

We tour a selection of the 3,000 listed monuments at this World Heritage Site, Pagan.

More about Pagan

DAY 6 CRUISING

Cruise all day through the great Lower Chindwin plain.

DAY 7 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.

More about Monywa

DAY 8 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.

More about Mingkin

DAY 9 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!.

More about Mawlaik

DAY 10 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.

More about Sitthaung

DAY 11 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.

More about Toungdoot

DAY 12 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!

More about Homalin

DAY 13 CRUISING

All day cruising downstream.

DAY 14 CRUISING

All day cruising downstream.

DAY 15 RANGOON (YANGON)

Travel 20 miles from Kalewa to Kalemyo the gateway to the Chin State.

More about Rangoon (Yangon)

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WHATS INCLUDED

Cruise Price Includes: Bus Yangon-Prome, Entrance fees, guide services (English language), gratuities to crew, main meals, local mineral water, jugged coffee, teas & tisanes, one way flight Kalay/Kalemyo-Yangon after the cruise.

Cruise Price Excludes: International flights, port dues (if levied), laundry, all visa costs, fuel surcharges (see terms and conditions), all beverages except local mineral water, jugged coffee, teas & tisanes and tips to tour guides, local guides, bus drivers, boat operators and cyclo drivers.

TRANSFERS & JOINING

DAY 1 PROME (PYAY)

Registration Details
Registration is at 06.00 am
Sule Shangri La Hotel,
223 Sule Pagoda Road,
GPO Box 888,
Yangon,
Myanmar.
Tel: (95 1) 242 828

DAY 15 RANGOON (YANGON)

Your cruise includes a flight Kalay 12.10 to Yangon 13.55 (K7 227). Please note that flight timing is subject to change.

TESTIMONIALS

Many thanks, it is always a real pleasure to deal with you - posted by Mrs Su Warren & Mr David Warren

The vessel was well appointed, clean, quiet and very comfortable - posted by Mr & Mrs Kite