The Irrawaddy River

The Irrawaddy River is the life-line of Myanmar that flows almost down the very centre of the country for 2000km. It feeds the farmlands of the dry central zone and allows easy transportation of goods up and down the country. The Irrawaddy passes through spectacular landscapes especially the Second Defile just before it reachs the old trading post of Bhamo. A steep cliff looms over the river like a sentinel as it curves around its base. The Third Defile begins near Thabaik-kyin, an ancient landing place to travel inland through jungles to the renowned ruby mines of Mogok. In this area and sometimes even further downstream, the rare and endangered Irrawaddy Dolphins live in families that for generations have been helping the fishermen by rounding up scholls of fish into their nets. The Third Defile runs until Kyauk-myaung, the biggest pottery centre in Myanmar. Further downstream the Irrawaddy passes by yet another monumental place, the incomplete Mingun Pagoda. It stand only one-third done, rising already to 50 meters. Quickly the river flows past Sagaing, a religious sanctuary where hundreds of monasteries and nunneries lie hidden in the hilly, wooded slopes. Mandalay, the ancient capital of the Myanmar kings lies across from Sagaing. Mandalay is a trade city but under its constant bustle there is a layer of serenity and graciousness of old days. The city has marvelous pilgrimage sites, legacies of a lost empire.

Past Mandalay the river enters the dry zone and flows by typical Burmese towns like Pakokku where wonderfully caved teak monasteries and old pagodas stand to this day.The most ancient of temples however, are further south in Bagan where 12th century pagodas remain throughout history as living places of worship. There are over two thousand . They were built at the time that Buddhism first flourished in the country, to become a strong philosophy for the people to live by. This belief had endured over many centuries and will continue to do so, in the same way that the Irrawaddy would continue to flow.