7am departure on the Shwe Keinnery ferry from Mandalay headed toward Bagan.
The river is high this time of year and we moved relatively swiftly downriver toward Bagan. (about a 9 hour trip) The Ayeyarwaddy (Irawaddy) River is the main river of Myanmar and before the recent construction of the Yangon - Mandalay highway the main shipping route for the country's major cities. Development along the river reflects this as the river valley is lined with small villages, agricultural fields, and of course, gold stupas. The river is given a wide berth through the central plains as seasonal variation in rainfall can turn islands into wetland and wetland into just water. During our stay in Myanmar flooding was reported in the Ayeyarwaddy watershed, and fixed pieces of infrastructure that we passed (bridges, seawalls, etc.) seemed to be near their maximum allowable water height.
As we arrive into Bagan (technically, we arrive into Nyaung-U, but it's a short ride to Old Bagan and New Bagan), the landscape shifts slightly from wide open plains to clay bluffs along the river. The original shape of Old Bagan, a rectangle, has been worn away by the Ayeyarwaddy over the past millenium, and now is something more like a trapezoid, or almost a triangle. The views onto the bluffs are dramatic though.
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