Cruiseco Explorer on the Irrawaddy

Boarded 06 September 2016

This Irrawaddy River cruise included transfer from Mandalay International Airport, welcome drinks, high tea, a tour of the near-by monastery, dinner and overnight accommodation at Mandalay Hill Resort. The next morning after breakfast, a coach tour brought us to Gawien Jetty to depart on our cruise. We were welcomed aboard with refreshing towels, given our cabin keys and shown where to leave our street shoes for clean comfortable slip-on shoes to be worn aboard the ship.

The Cruiseco Explorer caters for a maximum of 58 passengers. Ten cabins on the main deck have small French-style balconies. The second deck has 14 cabins with the same living space as the lower cabins but include a larger balcony. Four suites are also available on this deck. All rooms are attractively decorated, have floor-to-ceiling curtained windows, showers and toiletries. Each room has its own highly effective air-conditioning unit. Lying in the comfortable bed and watching the scenery provides welcome rest after day excursions.

On the third (sun) deck there is a covered area with comfortable lounges for watching the river pass, a tiny gym and a two-person spa for body and massage treatments. The club-like bar and lounge can fit all passengers. Several Burmese cultural and historical information sessions are held here during the cruise. Free cocktails, wine, local beer and soft drinks are on offer during Happy Hour every evening after which one of the cruise hosts informs passengers about the next day’s activities just before dinner.

No reservations for times or seats are required for the large dining room at the stern of the main deck. Tables seat eight guests comfortably. Breakfast and lunch are buffet style and include generous servings to suit all tastes from traditional to the more adventurous. Each evening meal is from a four-course menu including vegetarian and more exotic choices. Quality imported wines, local beer and soft drinks are available at no extra cost with both lunch and dinner.

Along with the congenial relaxed ambience aboard ship, the numerous well-planned shore excursions made this holiday truly memorable. Close encounters with everyday people enjoying life in their customary village environments were true highlights, along with guided visits to religious and other culturally significant attractions. Persistent local hawkers could be annoying if you let them and some disembarkation facilities were challenging, depending on the height of the river. However, the ever-smiling and helpful crew were always on hand to provide assistance and the engaging spa attendants welcomed us back on board with gratefully accepted cool towels.

For getting acquainted with a country emerging from its very troubled recent history, the Cruisco Explorer holiday on the Irrawaddy River provides a most comfortable and culturally rewarding travel experience.

Very nice account of your experience. Thanks for sharing.

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Thanks for the tip... will do.

Took me decades after falling in love with this Kipling poem, and a visit to Burma to realize the Road to Mandalay was the Irawaddy River. Which was the only way .......dawn could come up like thunder outer China 'crost the bay. (!)

MANDALAY

By the old Moulmein Pagoda, lookin' eastward to the sea,

There's a Burma girl a-settin', and I know she thinks o' me;

For the wind is in the palm-trees, and the temple-bells they say:

"Come you back, you British soldier; come you back to Mandalay!"

Come you back to Mandalay,

Where the old Flotilla lay;

Can't you 'ear their paddles chunkin' from Rangoon to Mandalay,

On the road to Mandalay,

Where the flyin'-fishes play,

An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer China 'crost the Bay!

'Er petticoat was yaller an' 'er little cap was green,

An' 'er name was Supi-yaw-lat—jes' the same as Theebaw's Queen,

An' I seed her first a-smokin' of a whackin' white cheroot,

An' a-wastin' Christian kisses on an 'eathen idol's foot:

Bloomin' idol made o' mud—

What they called the Great Gawd Budd—

Plucky lot she cared for idols when I kissed 'er where she stud!

On the road to Mandalay, etc.

When the mist was on the rice-fields an' the sun was droppin' slow,

She'd git her little banjo an' she'd sing "Kulla-lo-lo!"

With 'er arm upon my shoulder an' 'er cheek agin my cheek

We uster watch the steamers an' the hathis pilin' teak.

Elephints a-pilin' teak

In the sludgy, squdgy creek,

Where the silence 'ung that 'eavy you was 'arf afraid to speak!

On the road to Mandalay, etc.

But that's all shove be'ind me—long ago an' fur away,

An' there ain't no 'busses runnin' from the Bank to Mandalay;

An' I'm learnin' 'ere in London what the ten-year soldier tells:

"If you've 'eard the East a-callin', you won't never 'eed naught else."

No! you won't 'eed nothin' else

But them spicy garlic smells,

An' the sunshine an' the palm-trees an' the tinkly temple-bells;

On the road to Mandalay, etc.

I am sick o' wastin' leather on these gritty pavin' stones,

An' the blasted Henglish drizzle wakes the fever in my bones;

Tho' I walks with fifty 'ousemaids outer Chelsea to the Strand,

An' they talks a lot o' lovin', but wot do they understand?

Beefy face an' grubby 'and—

Law! wot do they understand?

I've a neater, sweeter maiden in a cleaner, greener land!

On the road to Mandalay, etc.

Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,

Where there aren't no Ten Commandments an' a man can raise a thirst;

For the temple-bells are callin', and it's there that I would be—

By the old Moulmein Pagoda, looking lazy at the sea.

On the road to Mandalay,

Where the old Flotilla lay,

With our sick beneath the awnings when we went to Mandalay!

Oh the road to Mandalay,

Where the flyin'-fishes play,

An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer China 'crost the Bay!