Ayeyarwaddy River Trip

Hi everyone,

Our last day in Bagan we hired a boat to take us across the Ayeyarwaddy River. As you can tell from the pictures, our boat was old and decrepit. It seems that there are several ways to spell the name of the river so I’ve not lost my marbles and have forgotten how to spell! Anyway, back to the trip.

The Ayeyarwaddy River stretches for more than 2,000 kilometers (about 1,243 miles). The river flows the length of the country and many people depend on the river for their livelihood and also for transportation.

You will note by my pictures that there are many Burmese people who live off the banks of the Ayeyarwaddy and in small villages nearby.

It is a stark existence to say the least. They wash their clothing in the river; they wash their hair and bathe in the river, then the water is pumped to the local villages for their use. The fishermen live along the banks of

the river, some in lean-to’s, some in shacks, and some in their boats.

While we were on our way across the river, we saw three huge barges carrying teak logs down the river. These logs were magnificent – I’d say they were at least 24-30 inches in diameter. It is such a shame to see the forests here being denuded of such beautiful wood.

The fields just off the river are growing a peanut crop. You can see the people carrying white bags on their head in some of my pictures. That would be the peanut harvest.

We rode in a taxi (very, very old Jeep) from the base of one of the hills to a nearby pagoda. The roads were typical of those we had seen in the past – full of pot holes and bumps only now we add curves and goats. That doesn’t slow the speed of the drivers, however. Obviously, we arrived safely in spite of everything. The pagoda was lovely. We had considered going to Mt. Popa which is an 1 ½ hours trip by taxi but decided against it due to time constraints. There would have been a lot of walking up to the temple which wasn’t within my ability at the present time. Apparently there are also many very aggressive monkeys there as well.

The river trip was very worthwhile and will be one of my most interesting memories of my trip to Bagan. Some of the scenes were very much like something you would see in National Geographic. Next weekend we hope to go to Bangkok, Thailand!

Editor's note (yeah, this is Mark again): I have posted all of my Mom's pictures up on flickr, in case you want to see them in full size and resolution. As a reminder, you can view them by clicking here.