The Road From Mandalay IS the Irrawaddy River

And so the real journey begins...

Jennifer, Mel, Tim and Carolyn are waiting to get on the airplane to Mandalay where our cruise down the Irrawaddy River begins. The airline's motto is "You're Safe With Us!" Not that reassuring if you have to say it...

First stop on the bus journey from the airport to the boat was a little enclave of shrines out in the fields accessed from the bus by walking across a wooden bridge traversing a small river.

This fellow appeared to be the official overseer of the bridge. 

We saw this scene repeated at nearly every stop along the river: people loading or unloading from a boat to a truck or vice versa, carrying coal (in this case) or rocks or wood or goods in baskets balanced on their heads. Some was commercial (above) and some was personal (below).

As mentioned previously, the children were especially friendly. Very importantly, they were not asking for anything; they had just come to greet and welcome us. We met this little contingent as we arrived at our ship, the Pandaw II, a beautiful vessel, "hand finished in brass and teak by traditional craftsmen" (per the Pandaw the literature). It proved to be a very lovely and comfortable ship for our excursion.

 This was only the third tour down the Irrawaddy by Vantage (our tour group), and several of the places we visited were a first for the Vantage guides. The Pandaw purser was often our ambassador to the new locations.

For those living along it, the river provides many of life's necessities including a place to wash both one's clothes and one's self. The colorful clothing created many interesting displays along the shore.

This village was a new stop for the Vantage crew, and these children were the first to venture down to the shore to greet us. All the people of the village were very friendly and welcoming; in fact, we created a little flurry of excitement as an ever-growing and ever-changing band of happy, giggling children followed us on our tour of the camp.

One of the most fun things on our trip for both the photographers and the subjects was sharing the photo or the video. Everywhere photographers would stop and show their photo, and it was nearly always greeted with a smile or a laugh—occasionally from some of the older folks, it was just a slight, wry smile and a nod. The video was particularly fun, and since Carolyn and I usually stick together, she has many shots of me sharing my videos, and I have many videos of her sharing her photographs. A fun time was had by all.

In many of the villages and towns, the women wrapped their hair in cloth, but in this town the comb was the most common adornment for the hair. 

 Another farewell from the ever present contingent of children at each stop.

Carolyn captured an appropriate finale for our first day on the river.