Hi everyone. Greetings from Myanmar.

What an amazing country! Yangon is similar to other large Asian cities except less developed. The country is obviously very poor, with average daily earnings being around $5 per day but people seem to be embracing capitalism and there is no obvious sign of oppression. Our guide is reluctant to talk about politics but talks optimistically about the the future with its transition to democracy.

After a day sightseeing in Yangon, including the very impressive Shwedagon Pagoda we were pleased to get out of the city. We flew to Bhamo and boarded a sampan boat for a 30 minute trip downstream where our ship was waiting for us. It had to stop downstream because the river was too shallow at Bhamo.

The ship, Avalon Myanmar, is only 5 months old and very comfortable. It carries up to 36 passengers (30 this time) and 30 crew. It has all the mod cons, great food and great service. With only 3 levels and a 1.2 metre draft the ship can travel in shallow water and beneath the occasional bridge. The Irrawaddy River is about 2000 km from north to south, very wide and with a 20 kph current at present. In the dry season, as it is now, the river meanders through a very wide fertile valley for most of its path. During the wet season the water level can be up to 14 metres higher. There are a couple of gorges through mountains but usually the mountains are in the distance. The valley is mainly sandy soil, covered with seasonal crops and small towns along the bank. Our ship is the largest along the upper reaches but there are thousands of other vessels – for fishing, ferrying people, carting cargo to local markets, carting sand, timber, ore, rice and a range of produce to Mandalay and Yangon. Every vessel except ours was very noisy, belching smoke from long-tail motors.

Our ship is the only cruise ship north of Mandalay and the local people were as interested in us as we were in them. In fact we all agreed that the real highlight of the trip has been the people. Not many tourists come here; in fact we didn’t see any for the first week. The locals speak virtually no English but are very quick with a wave and smile. They pose happily for photos, especially if we join them in the photo. Often they take photos of us and they are fascinated by the family photos that we brought with us. In the towns we have visited we have usually not bought anything because the ship is self sufficient but Avalon makes a payment to the town so that we can wander around without feeling guilty.

We visited some local markets (not tourist markets), pagodas, monasteries, homes, farms, potteries and walked about freely without feeling threatened or even uncomfortable. An elephant camp with about 6 baby elephants was a highlight.

Phones, sms, wifi are all very patchy in Myanmar. We did have wifi on the ship but not very often so communication with family at home and in Melbourne has been difficult and for that reason this update comes without photos.

We are now in Yangon for an overnight stay before leaving for Bangkok, Sydney and Melbourne tomorrow morning. Looking forward to seeing the kids again.

Love to all. Hope you are all keeping well.

Ted and Jo