Cruise Destinations

My father travelled to Myanmar almost 70 years before I did. Except it was called Burma then and was a British colony which had been occupied by the Japanese during World War 2. He, too, arrived in the Yangon River. On a troop ship from India rather than a cruise ship carrying passengers alternating their time between educational talks and exciting excursions. Instead of tying up at a berth in close to Rangoon's Pansodan ferry terminal (below), as Voyage to Antiquity's Aegean Odyssey did, he transferred to a landing craft which then hit a mine in the water. A fellow [...]

Mandalay was a marvellous experience, despite my qualms from the early part of the day. The sheer scale of the walls of the Royal Palace (above), stretching for more than a mile in each direction, flanked by an expansive moat were simply awesome. Our excursion from Voyages to Antiquity's Aegean Odyssey did not actually enter the compound - little of historic value remains after it was razed by fire towards the end of World War 2 and much of the site is still off-limits to visitors. We did, however, visit the Shwenandaw Monastery or Golden Palace which was rebuilt outside [...]

The Road to Mandalay was paved with good intentions, but a couple of stops en route left me feeling a little uneasy about the nature of tourism in a country that is only just beginning to open up to visitors. The one-hour flight meant an early start from Aegean Odyssey, but even before 6.00 am the streets of Yangon were already packed with locals up and about in numbers, buying and selling on the downtown pavements, jogging and exercising on the shores of Inya Lake, where Aung San Suu Kyi has her home. After arriving at Mandalay's rudimentary international airport, [...]

More on Myanmar, and let's go back to the beginning. Aegean Odyssey arrived early at its berth in the centre of the city - just down Strand Road from three bastions of the colonial era, the post office, the British embassy, and the Strand Hotel. And how lucky we were. The extra couple of hours gave the shore excursion team time to organise a sunset visit to the glittering, golden treasures of the Shwedagon Pagoda instead of cramming it into a packed itinerary for our final morning in the city. Never has gold taken on so many colours as during [...]

Nuni was our enchanting and enthusiastic guide on an excursion from Aegean Odyssey to Thailand's Phang Nga Bay and the much-vaunted James Bond island. She can almost be forgiven for inadvertently disclosing a key part of the plot of Skyfall along the way. Almost. Her lessons in Thai pronunciation were invaluable - knowing the correct way to say Phuket can be a face-saver in polite company. It's not what you might think, and it's not even "Puckette," but "Pooo-ket" with a long and rising inflexion on the oo-sound. Nuni was an invaluable help during the stop at a fruit orchard [...]

I had to borrow this picture of Yangon's Shwedagon Pagoda (thanks to Wikimedia Commons and Ralf-André Lettau) but by next weekend I should have captured a few of my own. Tonight I'll be flying to Singapore where, on Saturday, I will board Voyages to Antiquity's Aegean Odyssey for a 13-night cruise to Burma - or Myanmar if you prefer. The ship will arrive in Yangon (Rangoon) next Thursday evening; providing the authorities deal with the paperwork in time I'm hoping to be able to go ashore for something to eat. Over the next couple of days I'll be taking an [...]