1

Yes, the Sittwe to Mrauk U and return is a nice journey. Unfortunately, the whole area is closed to foreigners right now due to ethnic violence.

2

I did only one boat journey during my travelling in Myanmar. It was Sittwe to Mrauk-U. I went with the government boat up to Mrauk-U. On the way back I travelled together with a Australian couple in private boat to Sittwe. The Kanadan River is amazing the mouth at Sittwe is so wide that one can´t see to the other side of the river. I said to one man in Sittwe the Bay of Bengal is nice! The man said it´s not the Bay of Bengal it´s the Kanadan River!

During 2007 this was off the beaten travelling into one of the remotest parts of Myanmar with traditions and cultures unchanged for maybe several hundred years. These communities living along Kanadan has the same standard of living today as they had several hundreds years ago. This is a unchanged part of Myanmar a farming land producing rice for millions of people in mainland Asia during the 1940th. Today they are so poor that they can't supply rice for their own country maybe not even the Rakhine state province. Nowadays Myanmar must import rise to support their own inhabitants.

I believe this one of the most beautiful and interesting boat journey one can do in Myanmar. As Cassiecat points out travelling is off limit today but keep your ear to the ground and be among the first to go then it's opening up again. This will be a vanishing culture and way of living then Myanmar is opening up for full scale tourism.

3

I missed that one caroline and good job too cos I would have been sick as a pig had I seen it then Ha! Ha! as you remember I tried to get to Kalewa by bus from mandalay then told go to Monwya and then told must go for expensive boat ride so I just headed back down to Bagan andd the balloon festival taungyyi but glad I did as the bridge was almost completed thena nd they finally stopped the public boat shortly after and I always enjoyed that bpoat ride . I just hope they make it a tourist trip as with the Mandalay -Bagan ones

4

Forgot to mention Pathein - very nice and totally 'untouristy'. Search this forum and you will find posts about this trip - here's one
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=2239555

5

Thanks to all, I'll definitely be travelling from Mandalay to Bagan on the boat and will go to Monwya (or back) this way too. I've not thought of Pathein, so I'll give that some thought. It's a pity that Sittwe & Bhamo are off limits at the moment.

Do you know if it is possible to travel along the coast by boat as a tourist? Possibly from Yangon to Mawlamyine? I probably sound obsessed by boats!

When I have a firmer idea of my schedule I'll post it on here and you can all have a laugh at my conception of Myanmar logistics.

6

um......... you can't go to Monywa by boat
neither can you go to Moulmein by boat, though you can between the more southern towns, ie dawei, myeik Kawthoung
From Moulmein you can go by boat to Hpa,an, very scenic trip but it's tourist boat, not a local ferry.

Boats are a good obsession - great way to travel.

7

Keep in mind Jan is dry season and rivers are very low, so travel can be rather boring, as is the scenery with brown more than green.

8

Yes, good point solohobo. depends where you are. Sometimes low water is interesting , as it creates islands where villagers grow crops- very beautiful. But some areas you are travelling on low water and all you can see are high mud banks, with all the activity going on above eye level!

9

Yescaroline I remember it well! our boat got stuck on sand banks twice Ha! Ha! and docked at nights. It took 3 days down from Bhamo to Mandalay and me dying with dengue at the time. (its not called breakbone for nothing) Iwas too ill even to leave the deckclass for a meal in Katha when we docked overnight and I always wanted to see the place George Orwell wrote Burmese days, a true love story in days of Raj around $2 or $1 if you bargain, photocopies sold at any tourist venue in Myanmar