IRRAWADDY RIVER, MYANMAR FEBRUARY 2020:

As I speak to the captain of our small wooden vessel, I hear my English turned into Burmese though my translator, Jaung, a lean and bespectacled college student. As Jaung shares my request to join them on the river, the captain shoots me a doubtful look. “No, no, you don’t want to go,” says Jaung. “The boat is very dirty and uncomfortable.”

Determined to get some photos, I reply, “That’s okay, I don’t care. I can sleep on the wooden deck, and I promise I will stay out of the way and cause no trouble.” As if demonstrating, I step out of the way to allow the stream of workers to pass as they carry wicker baskets filled with firewood off the vessel. I lean against the bulwark as I await my answer. We are standing in the dock-less Port of Mandalay, a sandy shoreline that is the gateway to the hidden towns and villages along the banks of the river.

In a tone that sounds as though he’s trying to dissuade me to make the journey, Jaung explains that the boat will be making many stops along the way and it will take many days to get to its destination.

Imagining an adventure that would make Huckleberry Finn himself proud, I counter both the captain’s and Jaung’s reluctance. “I don’t care if it takes three days, three weeks, or three months. I have no schedule and nowhere to be.” They seem unconvinced, so I add, “If they get sick of me, they can abandon me in one of the towns and I can find my way back to Mandalay on my own.”

Jaung makes my case to the captain once more. The captain looks at me as he listens to my translator, though, and apparently having seen my earnestness, he finally relents. The boat will be departing in two hours with me on board.

The below photos are from my journey up the river with Captain Soethu and First Officer Tinlinaung, two gracious hosts, fine gentlemen, and amazing boat pilots.

Captain Soethu (on boat) and First Officer Tinlinaung (wading) prepare the gangplank at the end of a day motoring up the Irrawaddy River.

A young migrant worker picks peanuts from the riverbed of the Irrawaddy River during the dry season.

After picking, the peanuts are hauled by oxcart to be dried out in the sun.  During the rainy monsoon season this area will be flooded by the river.

A craftsman finishes a Buddha statue. In the workshop each craftsman specializes among the various steps required to create the statues.  The statues from this workshop are sold throughout Asia and as far as Germany.

Hidden among the bushes along the Irrawaddy, a man melts the insulation off of wire to retrieve the copper.

Tinlinaung pilots the firewood boat up the Irrawaddy to pick up a load of wood.  Both Tinlinaung and Captain Soethu are master pilots.  During the dry season the river is so low in many spots that even low draft bamboo rafts will get stuck.  Despite having no electronic navigation aids or charts both completely avoided these invisible hazards during our journey.

Two schoolgirls from from a basic education school wearing traditional thanaka makeup.

Tinlinaung prepares lunch while underway.

Workers load bags of cement onto a cargo ship along the Irrawaddy River.

Working in large teams, workers can fully load a cargo ship with bags of cement in a day or two.

The cement is shipped from Naung Cho by truck and then loaded by hand into the hold.  To load the ship’s hold the bags are carefully laid into steps which are then used by the workers to descend into the hold.  The process is carefully orchestrated by one worker at each hold.

After having rescued a raft (in the background) from a sandbank midstream in the Irrawaddy, Captain Soethu (left) and First Officer Tinlinaung (right) work on the boat’s engine.  Simple and sturdy these Chinese built engines are the workhorses of the Irrawaddy.