Sit back and take a luxury river journey to Mandalay

Ma Thanegi

"The country is so different from what people tell us," said one American couple to Myanmar Times. "It’s not what we expected. ...The rural people we see are poor, but everyone seems happy, smiling... when I see poverty elsewhere in the world, the people are grim, angry, and look as if they resent we tourists."

They had been touring the country a few days before they joined the Road to Mandalay cruise on the Ayeyarwaddy River, from Bagan to Bhamo. The guide sitting with us laughed and said it is something he hears from every first-time tourist: "Its not what we expected!" Usually the cruises are from Pyay or Bagan to Mandalay, and Bhamaw cruises are possible just near the end of the monsoon. Once a year, when water levels permit, the ship goes up the Chindwin, another great river that flows into the Ayeyarwaddy near Monywa. This cruise ship has been operating since 1995, part of the Orient Express chain of hotels, luxury trains and ships. Although this is a luxury ship, the guests are not kept in a bubble of isolation: they get to see the country side and visit villages even when the ship is not at anchor. Fast boats ferry the passengers to small villages, historical sites, or places of interest such as the famous pottery works of Kyauk Myaung.

Charlie Turnbull, the manager who has been on board for four years and by now moves and acts like a well-brought up Mandalay-born Myanmar girl, was away on leave. Stuart Gramelle was filling in for her this trip, with the assistance of a new arrival, Yovanka Grueso Fillon who after five weeks in the country, dressed as Charlie in Myanmar costume, is already beginning to move as decorously as a Mandalay girl. "I lived in Paris two years before I come here," she stated firmly. "I hate cities. I love this." "With individual travellers, those who do not belong to one company or association and who are holidaying together, we prefer to limit our guests to around 80 at most," Stuart explained, "although we can accommodate 120. Its better for them." Lectures are held on board on culture, history and ecology, and there are performances on some nights such as ethnic dances, marionettes, acrobatics, snake charmers, and elephant dancers: not real elephants but men in costume from the town of Kyauk-se where it is a local tradition. The upper deck with boards covering the swimming pool makes a good stage and presumably a dance floor, but Yovanka told me that the entertainment offered to the guests is strictly about the culture of the country: so, no tango.

With the 76 staff on board, she said by now they are like one big family. Captain Ba Nyan ably steers the ship. Aung Htwe Lin, a sweet-faced young man working on the top deck setting up chairs around the swimming pool said he came from Mandalay. There is Sui, who is from the Chin Hills. A few of the waiting staff come from Yangon. They were trained at the Strand or the Sedona Hotels and some guests remarked that their dazzling smiles must have been one criterion in hiring them.  The observation lounge offers a good view of the river, and the piano bar next to it is a cosy place for evenings or afternoon teas. For a glutton like me, the roomy and beautifully set up dining room is the place of destiny: not only for the décor but for the marvelous fare provided by Executive Chef Michael Perry. Lunch is always a buffet, starting out with Myanmar on the first day, and going through Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Indian, Fusion, Italian and more, as long as the trip lasts. The Village Lads’ Chicken served the first day, apart from about twenty other dishes including desserts, was delicious and authentically Myanmar. Shy Michael looked paralyzed with horror when I wickedly told him that truly authentic Village Boy’s Chicken and Gourd needs the ingredients to be stolen. "But," I hastened to add before he toppled over in a faint, "yours, in spite of being legal, is excellent."

Evenings were spent in agony choosing between the choice of two starters and two mains, with a cheese plate and dessert, and Belgium chocolates with coffee. The last night’s dinner, when I chose succulent duck breast as a starter and Rainbow Trout as the main, was one of the best meals I have ever had. I asked Michael about the ingredients. "The vegetables we buy locally, and the prawns we bring from Yangon or buy on the river from up North. We get beef and lamb from Australia, Rainbow Trout from New Zealand, salmon from Chile, and chicken from Belgium. The chickens are pretty tired by the time they land on the deck," he added mischievously. "On a personal level, Myanmar is a most impressive country. The people are incredible, one of the most unspoiled people I’ve met – most welcoming and friendly." He hoped people would come here, and then goes back and talk in their country about how wonderful Myanmar is.

"Coming here, we see how unnecessary is the life we have back home, full of material things, which have monetary value but little else," said a lady who lives in Chicago. "At Malai, that small village we visited, the children are so sweet! So bright, too," said a pretty blonde who resides in LA, and who is a neighbour of Sting, Mel Gibson and Tom Hanks. "If I say a phrase in a foreign language they repeat it after me, word perfect, I swear." She had earlier asked me in some bewilderment if French and Spanish were taught in our schools, as she has heard children talking correctly in these languages. "They couldn’t have learnt it just by listening to tourists!" A fast boat carried passengers into the first defile as far as it was safe to go, as the ship docked in Bhamaw. The first defile of the Ayeyarwaddy, just above Bhamaw is the most narrow, with white waters and jagged rocks, but with towering jungle lining the banks, quiet except for calls of birds. A train ride into the forest took us to Naba, a small, tidy town where the guests ambled and marveled at the wooden houses. An elephant camp was just a short bus ride away from Thabeikkyin. The five elephants eagerly chewed away at the sugar cane fed to them. One bigger one with an air of importance showed how he pulled logs, but refused to stay for a photo shoot. One sunset coincided with the river turning westwards: it was a magical time, with the sunlight in the river in front of us, as if we were sailing into the sky. Get to know the Ayeyarwaddy, and you come to love it like a live entity. From the staff on board the Road to Mandalay ship is not just a ship.... it is their pride and joy, and the magic of the Ayeyarwaddy seems to have worked its spell on them, as it has for a great many others through the centuries.

Website: http://www.orient-express.com/