Passenger Feedback

Outstanding aspects of our cruise include the amazing staff, mouth watering food, marvellous organisation and the inclusion of school visits and the tree planting. We were so pleased to be able to experience so much of the village life. We thought the huge range of transportation types was a lot of fun. We thoroughly enjoyed the company of the other passengers and were sorry to leave the cruise. Of course, the cocktails were a delightful bonus each evening. We loved our room and the physical appeal of the boat, with its dominant wooden theme. We have never been on a river cruise before and this has definitely whetted our appetite for a similar experience.

We have just returned from back to back voyages to Nagaland on board Zawgyi Pandaw departing 27 July and 3 August 2019.

First of all we must thank Pandaw for operating the voyage downstream on 3 August 2019 with only two passengers – us! To say we were looked after royally would be an understatement. Captain Zaw Zaw Oo, Purser Fabian and all the crew could not be faulted – not to mention our guide Ko San Lwin who by the end of the two cruises was as much a friend as a guide. It may be unfair to mention individual crew members, but Ko Thura Tun and Ko Jackson, the deck stewards, were very attentive and the head chef, Ko Soe Myint Swe, let us choose the menu and provided seven lunches and dinners of Myanmar cuisine. On both voyages, Ko Soe’s meals were of International standard with imaginative presentation.

On the second voyage we still had two stops each day and most of them were different from the first voyage. They included a visit to Tonhe/Ton Hae where the Chindits crossed the river in 1943 and we met an old man of 92 who clearly remembered the evacuation in 1942 and the Chindits in 1943.

As we had visited the Naga museum in Khamti on the first voyage we asked Ko San Lwin to find somewhere different for our second call and we dropped in at the local nunnery. The nuns were very welcoming and offered us light refreshments in their dining area. This area would accommodate 15/20 visitors and we would suggest this be considered as an additional visit on future Pandaw calls to Khamti should time allow. (We visited a nunnery last year on the inaugural Delta voyage and this seemed to be popular with passengers).

Although not directly under the control of Pandaw(!), considering it was the monsoon season, we had relatively little rain during the whole 14 days and certainly nothing to interrupt our activities. In fact the river level was dropping. The friendly Nats must have been smiling down on us!

Once again many thanks and we hope to travel with Pandaw again in the not too distant future.

Kind regards
David and Judy Saunders

I've been meaning to drop you an email over the past few weeks, and after looking again a some photos of a recent trip on the Pandaw Mekon from Siem Reap to Saigon, have now decided to do so.

My wife and I took the first voyage of the season last July. The Pandaw Mekong was an extremely comfortable, gracious and memorable experience. The food was excellent and the Staff outstanding. In particular, Jack (dining room) and Justin (purser) were friendly, caring and helpful. The fruit juices which Jack prepared after each excursion ashore were particularly outstanding and most welcome after our time on land.

The onshore activities were amazing. During our entire time ashore (twice a day over some seven or so days) we found ourselves engrossed in the activities provided. They were interesting, well thought out and a credit to Brian, the overall organiser of the onshore activities. It was amazing to be able to find ourselves in areas along the Mekong which were seldom visited by foreigners and we felt rather "special" because of this. This resulted in the visits making us feel we were really experiencing something out of the ordinary and that we were not, "yet another group of tourists." My wife is quite fit for her age (mid seventies) but always knew the crew," kept an eye on her" when boarding the tender or climbing into a canoe or clambering into a horse drawn cart - this was very reassuring.

So all in all, congratulations on providing such an incredibly interesting voyage down the Mekong. We were so impressed, that when we are in a position to investigate another holiday, we will definitely have Pandaw on our list.

Best wishes,
John & Dianne Ellis