This is one of the world's great cruising/voyaging rivers.
I didn't see a paddle vessel, but I saw lots of diesels ones and at least one steamer.
Cook doesn't give the full Mandalay - Yangon (former Rangoon) river distance, but it must be about 800 km (the railway distance is 622 km).
A through voyage takes 5 nights: four mobile; one static.
The river is now rendered Ayeyarwadi.
I travelled on the Mandalay - Pagan (now Bagan) fast day boat, 220 km.
It looked like the paddle vessels in India and Bangladesh, but had two six-cylinder Moterwerken Mannheim diesels propelling via water-jet drive.
Upstairs was fitted for tourists, with rattan chairs, potplants and food service. It had only just been converted in Mar.87 for this role. I was never able to decipher the Burmese writing to obtain its name (see the photo). Downstairs was for local travel. I felt that this was stepping back into Mark Twain's Mississippi or a Murray River hawking boat. We would just pull into a bank near a town, throw down the gangplank and interchange passengers and cargo with villagers waiting with donkey carts.
Mandalay: dep 5.33
breakfast: two toast; fried or boild egg, banana, butter (like yoghurt), jam, coffee.
lunch:spinach soup, rice with curried meat and vegetables, orange.
Nyaung-Oo (the port for Pagan, a 20 min bus ride away) 16.15.
We just ran onto a sandy beach to terminate.
During the day we had seen many other boats, including three naval ones.
Blanket vendors had been active aboard.
This had been my first taste of extended river voyaging; I have gone on to explore many more.
Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor
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