2015 - THE IRRAWADY of MYANMAR - The Town of Twanty

Breakfast at the Chatrium, overlooking the pool, then a fast taxi ride to the pier to board the Pandaw River boat

This is the only photo I have of us leaving Yangon & I don't think I actually have any photos of the boat but it is very nice.

The lower deck is all cabins. The upper deck has a small deck forward with a few chairs and the 'library' consisting of a small bookcase. Heading aft, past some cabins & there is a bar & office.

The bar is 'help yourself' mainly.
Local beer, spirits & soft drinks are complimentary.

Further aft there are a few more seats & then the dining area & then a few more seats.
It is all under cover but no walls. Except the cabins of course, that would be a tad risque.

There are twenty two passengers I think. Brits, a Canadian, two Belgians and Australians - some of the Brits live in Kenya though.

Our first Pagoda - on the Yangon river. Not the Ayerwaddy as yet. In fact we may be on a canal & not a river for part of the trip to our first stop - the small town of TWANTY

Some youngsters hard at work .. Careful with that axe Eugene!

Someone drowning? Nah! Just friendly ...

A lady dressing up .

To go shovel some gravel with these people maybe ..

A working river - & lots of work being done on it. I was constantly amazed at how hard the people of Myanmar work. Staggering. Men, women, boys & girls - all hard at work.

Now we are docked at the town of Twantay & I get a chance to take photos of people coming towards our boat. with supplies perhaps ..

We go ashore for our tour of the town but I soon leave the group to get a haircut from this man. He got a 100% tip of 50 cents for a pretty good haircut.

I lost track of where my group had gone so I just backtracked a little, bought a drink of something & wandered around the small market before getting back on the boat

I parked myself in a comfy seat and took photos of the local action by the pier.

This young girl drawing water from the river ....

Then a younger girl ...

Some kids playing nearby ...

While the girl takes her bucket of water away ... looks heavy ..

and the first girl is back ..

While the kids play on ...

Looks like that's it for a bit & time for a breather.

I wonder why a Nun is coming aboard ..

A lady takes over the water drawing duties ..

I think this girl was waiting for our group to come back ..

There she is again ... lovely smile. It's a strange thing, but Myanmar ladies smile & laugh a lot, until you ask them to pose for a photo when they stop smiling. You will see what I mean as the trip goes on.

It looks like this lady is taking her goldfish for a walk - or, your guess is as good as mine .. & look how she is dressed compared to the Australian lady passenger behind ..

KIds decide it's time for a swim , while ...

Break over & the girls get back to work ..

That's it for Twantay. I did not get to see too much of it but it was great just sitting in one place watching life going on.

We are now sailing to another small town, where we will visit an old monastery

Passing more river life on the way ...

Seems everyone has a camera phone these days ..

Part two of day one later ..