Born in the icy Qinghai Mountains of Tibet, the Salween River first passes through China for approximately 1248 km, then northwest Thailand for the next 96 km, before entering Burma’s eastern tip and flows the final 1056 km southwards into the Andaman Sea. An impressive 2400 km in total, it is called Nujiangin in China, then Salawin by the Thai and finally Thanlwin by the people of Burma, meaning "pleasant sounds". Salween is a 19th Century British coinage.

In Burma it passes through thick jungles from which timber elephants drag the logs into its rapid waters to be dragged out again by elephants in Moulmein, (Mawlamyaing in Burmese) and shipped out to other countries.