Our next stop after Bagan was Mandalay. As Bagan is located on the Irrawaddy River, just as Mandalay is, we decided to take the waterway. The two cities are located just 150 kilometres away from each other, but the boat ride along the winding river takes 12 hours. It takes even longer than going from Mandalay to Bagan because this direction is upstream.
The bus ride takes only five hours. Still, we decided to spend a day on the water and go by boat. You can enjoy a wonderful sunset on the river, observe daily life as you pass by and relax on the sundeck. It sounded much more comfortable and cultural than the bus.
Choosing the boat
There are many tour operators offering boat trips from Bagan to Mandalay and vice versa. Prices differ, but not too much, and the itineraries are all the same, of course. We ended up with three companies that we liked.
Pioneer by MGRG Express
Cost: approximately USD 30. Every tour operator, hotel and hostel has slightly different prices because they get or offer different discounts.
Includes: Continental breakfast, lunch, tea or coffee, drinking water and evening coffee with a snack.
RV Nmai Hka
Cost: approximately USD 30. Again, the exact price depends on where you book.
Includes: Breakfast, lunch and tea or coffee throughout the day.
They claim to be the safest option for travelling from Bagan to Mandalay by boat.
RV Myanmar – Panorama
Cost: approximately USD 35, depending on where you book.
Includes: Breakfast, lunch, a sunset cocktail and a cultural show.
They claim to deliver what they promise and that everything is as it looks in the pictures.
We chose RV Myanmar – Panorama. It was the most expensive option, but for us also the most professional. We liked their brochure, the itinerary was well explained and it did not consist of just a few keywords that we could barely interpret. We really enjoyed the cruise with them. However, if we were to go again, we would probably choose Pioneer, simply because the value for money is way better.
A day on the Irrawaddy
The day on the boat was long but definitely worth it. It is a way better option for seeing the landscape and observing people than going by bus. As we passed villages along the Irrawaddy River, we saw people bathing, brushing their teeth, washing their clothes and taking their daily shower, rubbing their faces and washing their hair.
We saw herds of cows and buffalo walking to the fields, horse carriages transporting goods to the next village and people carrying stuff on their heads. We passed hundreds of stupas along the riverside and lots of hills with golden and white pagodas, so typical of Myanmar.
5:00 AM: Check-in at Bagan Jetty
All boats leave from Bagan Jetty. A taxi brings you directly from your hotel to the boat and costs about 5,000 kyat. The check-in was really unnecessary. We just carried our luggage onto the boat, sat down and waited until we finally took off at 5:30 AM. Nobody checked our ticket at any time during the day.
6:30 AM: Breakfast on deck
After we had cruised for one hour and enjoyed a wonderful sunrise, we had breakfast on deck. It was very scenic. The sun was still coming up and the water was coloured pink and purple.
The breakfast was toast, egg, margarine, jam, banana and coffee or tea. The yellow and red jam tasted like gummy bears. Bianca loved it. Tom thought it was disgusting.
12:30 PM: Lunch
For lunch we could choose between beef, chicken, fish or vegetarian. They also asked about special requests and allergies. The food was absolutely delicious, one of the best meals we ate in Myanmar.
5:00 PM: Sunset cocktail
The sunset cocktail was served shortly before we reached Mandalay. The view of the pagodas was amazing, especially at sunset. The whole river was purple again, and the hills with the pagodas around Mandalay were the perfect scenery for the cocktail.
The cocktail was very strong, so the value for money was great.
