Upstream The Chindwin Monywa - Homalin

Monywa

• Activities:

  Transfer to Monywa, join the Chindwin cruise, make a trip to the Thanbodi Temple

• Meal:

  Lunch],Dinner]

• Included:

  111,

March to November: Homalin 

Transfer to Homalin, the furthest navigable point on the Chindwin for vessels of our size. Alister McCrae wrote of his visit there 1935 ‘I loved the atmosphere of quiet and peaceful living there. At night I could hear greylag geese as they came in to the flooded land around us from far away north’. Until we get there and explore the place there is not much we can say!

IMPORTANT: Please note that water levels drop dramatically as of December and we might not be able to reach Homalin. You will be well rewarded with alternative excursions. We will be flying you to Kalay (instead of Homalin) where you will embark your ship in Kalewa, cruising up north to Mawlaik and returning downstream towards Monywa.

December to February: Kalewa

Fly from Rangoon or Mandalay to Kalay Airport for your onward transfer to your Pandaw vessel at Kalewa, where we overnight.

Embarkation details 

March to November

Flight to Homalin and transfer from airport to jetty at Homalin.

Flight from Mandalay: We will pick you up from your hotel in Mandalay at 05:30

This domestic flight is included in the cruise price.

Please note the flight times for your flight from Mandalay to Homalin are currently as follows:

Mandalay - Homalin UB-665 0730-0835 (Direct)

Flight timings are subject to change.

December to February

For Flight from Yangon: Registration at 10.30am Sule Shangri La Hotel, Yangon.

For flight from Mandalay: We will pick you up from your hotel in Mandalay between 12:30 and 13:00.

This domestic flight is included in the cruise price.

Fly from Rangoon or Mandalay to Kalay Airport for your onward transfer to your Pandaw vessel at Kalewa, where we overnight.

Please note the flight times for your flight from Mandalay or Rangoon to Kalay are currently as follows:

Yangon - Kalay K7-226 1300-1530 (Via MDL)
Mandalay - Kalay K7-226 1440-1530 (Direct)

Flight timings are subject to change.

Phowin Taung Caves

• Activities:

  Coach to the Phowin Taung Caves, see paintings and Buddha statues

• Meal:

  Breakfast],Lunch],Dinner]

• Included:

  111,

In the morning, coach to the Phowin Taung Caves, where we will admire beautiful mural paintings and Buddha statues in riches. Beyond Monywa we enter the Upper Chindwin.

Cruising

• Activities:

  Pass a number of local villages

• Meal:

  Breakfast],Lunch],Dinner]

• Included:

  111,

The river narrows and the forested hills fall away to farmland we pass a number of attractive villages like Kanee where we can stretch our legs.

Mingin

• Activities:

  Explore Mingkin

• Meal:

  Breakfast],Lunch],Dinner]

• Included:

  111,

Mingkin was rediscovered by Paul Strachan in 1987 and described in some detail in his book Mandalay: Travels from the Golden City. It remains for Paul the most art historically interesting site in Myanmar (more so than the now spoilt Pagan) with its Konbaung court style teak monasteries sumptuously decorated. Mingkin may be described as the Luang Prabang of the Chindwin. The gateway town for the Chin State, we explore Kalewa with its markets and quaint wooden architecture.

Mawlaik

• Activities:

  Explore Mawlaik, pass the mouth of the Yu River

• Meal:

  Breakfast],Lunch],Dinner]

• Included:

  111,

Morning explore Mawlaik replaced Kindat as the administrative capital but ironically the Myanma refused to move there from upstream Kindat. It was mainly settled with the company houses of the by the Scottish owned and run Bombay Myanmarh Trading Corporation in the 1920s and 1930s. There are many splendid ‘Dak Bungalows’ set around a verdant golf course. Mawlaik and the other towns of the Upper Chindwin can only be reached by boat so cars are few. There is a dreamy otherworldly quality to such places and truly one feels that one has travelled there in the Pandaw time machine!. Afternoon we pass the mouth of the Yu River which drains the Kubu valley that provided the route for a Lieutenant Grant to march to the relief of the Manipur garrison when the chief commissioner of Assam was massacred in a local rebellion.

Sitthaung

• Activities:

  Take a rest at Sitthaung, explore Katha on the Irrawaddy, pass through the Yu River

• Meal:

  Breakfast],Lunch],Dinner]

• Included:

  111,

Sitthaung was the final resting place of a number of IFC steamers scuppered there in 1942 in an ‘act of denial’ from the advancing Japanese who were a matter of hours behind. We hope to find remains of these ships as we have in the past at Katha on the Irrawaddy. It was from here that the survivors of the Japanese invasion marched out to Tamu on the India border. Pantha was an important oil refinery belonging to the Indo-Burma Petroleum Co (Steel Brothers).

Toungdoot

• Activities:

  Go to the ancient Shan enclave, get to know Shan people and their Tai-Shan homelands

• Meal:

  Breakfast],Lunch],Dinner]

• Included:

  111,

Toungdoot or Hsawng-hsup in Tai, is an ancient Shan enclave which in British times still had a ruling sawbwa complete with palace and court. It will be interesting to see what has become of the royal family and their home and to see these Shan people so far from their Tai-Shan homelands. On the way to Homalin, the furthest navigable point on the Chindwin for vessels of our size. Alister McCrae wrote of his visit there 1935 ‘I loved the atmosphere of quiet and peaceful living there. At night I could hear greylag geese as they came in to the flooded land around us from far away north’. Bird in 1897 says little other than that Homalin is the headquarters of a township, but has very little trade’. Until we get there and explore the place there is not much we can say!

Monywa

• Activities:

  Disembark

• Meal:

  Breakfast]

• Included:

  111,

March to November

Disembark at Monywa and transfer to Mandalay.

Please input the following information into the notes box of your booking or email us at information@pandaw.com:
For Monywa to Mandalay Airport (transfer 2.5 hours): 
your departure time and flight number
For Monywa to hotel in Mandalay (transfer 3 hours): 
your hotel name and hotel address.

IMPORTANT: Please note that water levels drop dramatically as of December and we might not be able to reach Homalin. You will be well rewarded with alternative excursions. We will be cruising up to Mawlaik and return to Kalewa where you will be flown out to Yangon or Mandalay.

December to February

Disembark at Monywa IWT jetty and transfer to Mandalay (3 hour drive by road)

Disembarkation details:

March to November

Disembark at Monywa IWT jetty at 08.30 am and we transfer you to Mandalay.

Arrival at Mandalay airport is approx. 12.30pm. If you arrange your individual flights them please don’t book them earlier than 14.00pm for domestic or 15.00pm for international. Or arrival at your hotel in Mandalay approx. 13.30pm.

December to February

Disembark at Monywa IWT jetty at 08.30 am and we transfer you to Mandalay.

Arrival at Mandalay airport is approx. 12.30pm. If you arrange your individual flights them please don’t book them earlier than 14.00pm for domestic or 15.00pm for international. Or arrival at your hotel in Mandalay approx. 13.30pm.