Steaming back into history

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There's no tying up to wharves orjetties, wejust park against the bank and throw a line around the nearest tree, just like the old days. A gangplank is perched on the deck and slid across to allow us to disembark onto dusty streets still plied by ox carts.

Each little village or town has its own peculiar purpose.

New Nyein, for example, produces massive earthenware pots for water and food storage.

A small adult could easily fit in one ofthese glazedjars and the earthen oven is about the size of

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there's the noisy riverside market at Kyar Nyat with everything from Chinese electronics to piles offragrant spices, or Tigyang with its imposing pagoda overlooking the river. Mingun has the largest working bell in the world, and yes, you can ling it.

A small contingent of proper Brits is positively itching to see the port town of Katha, the namesake of our little shiP. lt was here in 1926 that a young

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Steaming bacl( into history

lambasted in his 1934 debut.

Burmese Dcys.

Apart from the step-ihrough motorcycles, mobile phones and gaudy plastic goods, not much has changed in sleepy Katha. The river remains the main highway, many colonial buildings still stand and life appears to go on much as it did in Orwellstime.

Travelling with Pandaw is

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PAIIDAUI

A paddle-wheeler journey in

northern Myanmar is a delightfully romantic reminder of earlier times, writes Rad ffi$me I ohn Mortonstrodedown I the narrow stairs to the ensine room, his hobnailed boots clangingon the metal. He cocked the massive Bren gun and let loose an ear-sPlitting burst offire into the thin steel belly of the steamer. MurkY

Fast-forward 70 years and another Scot, Paul Strachan, has a vision. He wants to restore the 130-year-old tradition of his countrymen and bring the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company (lFC) back to something of its former glory.

water shot up like tinY geYsers.

Job done, Morton moved on to the next ship.

"We are being chased out even quicker than exPected. lmagine how I felt drilling holes in the ships'bottoms with a Bren gun," Morton lamented in his diary.

Romanticised by literary greats Orwell and KiPling, the IFC was thebackbone of

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April 28, 1942, was a black day for the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company. As Japanese trooPs bore down on Mandalay, the burly Scotsman and his staff faced the heartbreaking task of scuttling the entire fleet of more than 600 statelY river ships lest they fall into enemY hands.

commerce in MYanmar, carrying everYthing from timber and oilto cattle and townsfolk along the mighty river that rurrs from the Andaman Sea to China's edge.

At its peak in the late 1920s,

Pandaw Cruises offers itineraries in Myanmar on the lrrawaddy and Chindwin Rivers ranging from seven to 20 nights on vessels of between 32 and 6O-passenger capacity. The seven-night Upper Inawaddy cruise is priced from $US2451 a person, twin share, cruise only and includes all excursions, meals and standard beverages.

Transfers, airfares and preand post-tours extra.

For full details and bookings, contact Active Travel on 13OO 783 188 or

visit activetravel.com.au Thai AirwaYs flies regularlY from Australia to Myanmar

via Bangkok.

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the IFC carried morethan 9

million passengers

a Year

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Ssgrgs 9rvsllvs: 9g::9 *: Imperial policeman. The personalities and landmarks of Katha were transposed to the fictional town of Kyauktada so as not to embarrass the colonial authorities he so fiercely

and

remains the largest private fleet of ships ever assembled. The handful of surviving vessels were turned over to the new Burmese independent government in 1948

Beginning in 1995, Stracnan located an original Clyde-built steamer, the Pandcw, and by 1998 had it refitted and ready forbusiness. Now, the fl eet consists of13 vessels.

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unashamedly parochial.

The balmy evenings are spent pompously on deck with the gentle breeze cooling our moistened skin, a G&T or chilled lager only a fingerclick away.

Across the water to the bank, little stilt villages and innumerable gold-topped stupas dot the landscape while locals go about their task of

farming, fishing or tending animals. A golden sun sets

RIVER SCENES: (clocl<wise from main) The RV /(otho Pondaw sails past gleaming pagodas; the original lrrawaddy Flotilla Company fleet scuttled by friendly fire in 1942; ox carts; a riverside market trader.

The most well-explored path along the route of Mandalay, Prome and Pagan in middle \li arrmar, the ancient seat of roy'alty and location ofthe famous 3000 or so temples that sprawl across the Plain like huge, ornate termite mounds. is

But I'm stePPing away from the usual haunts and headine upriver aboard the near-new RY KathaPandaru, a boutique,

twin-deck vessel carrying just 32 passengers.

Most of the triole-deck Pandaw fleet carry up to 60

passengers, but the mid-size

Katho still retains all the trimmings. Decks in polished teak and brass, compact timberhned cabins and delightful,

authentic dining with attentive service are hallmarks of any Pandaw cruise.

Heading due north toward China from Mandalay, our voyage is a series ofcalls to riverside port towns that once hosted the massive steam Paddle-wheelers of the l9th centurv. some of which carried 3000 deck passengers alone.

behind the distant mountarns bathing the eniiie scene in a misty hue that has remained unchanged for centuries.

Myanmar is changing rapidly. especially in the major cities. Tourism is on a rocket but right now, I feel I am the pukka sahib of colonial fi ction dreaming of a carefree time before Facebook and Twitter, a time of empires, kings and doing one's duty.

Maybe a quote from Kipling will be my next status update. y ,"Come ou b ack to Mandalay, Wher e the ol d fl otilla lay;

Can'tyou'ear their

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addl e s clunking fr om yango n

to Mandalay?"

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