Temples of Steam Burma Tour 2009

In 2006, I organised a tour for 9 members and friends of the International Stationary Steam Engine Society to the sugar mills of Java. The time has now come to contemplate a similar trip to Burma for January 2009.

While there are thousands of rice mills in the country, most are very small indeed and of the medium and larger ones perhaps less than 500 have steam engines of which maybe just over 300 will work in any year (the rest are in inactive or closed mills). Even to see most of these would require more than two months of travelling. Only in the South of Irrawaddy Division and around Shwebo in Sagaing Division are there sufficient (active) rice mills to allow a representative sample of no more than 100 to be seen in 2 weeks. Of these I would hope that some 75% or more would be working. The actual final figures will very much depend on how much time participants required per mill and the vagaries of government policy at the time of our visit.

Conditions in Burma are at least an order of magnitude less comfortable than in Java and no-one who comes on this trip should be in any doubt that in the places to be visited outside Yangon and Mandalay, facilities for normal European tourism are non-existent. The hotel in Pathein will rank as basic but the eating will be acceptable. That in Shwebo will most likely be far below anything most potential participants have experienced unless they have ‘shoestring travel’ experience in Asia.

Apart from the two internal flights, travel will be by private minibus(es) or small bus as available. Roads between big cities are sealed, but some local visits will be on unsealed roads. A very few of the mills will require us to charter a small boat. There should be no night time journeys.

Despite its lack of facilities, Burma is not a cheap destination. Although I will lead the tour (assisted by my wife Yuehong), unlike Java, we will have to use a local guide. I estimate that for the minimum party size of 5 the cost will be of the order of GBP 1500 - this will represent full board with the usual minor exceptions but NOT including the two internal flights, return flights from Europe etc and insurance. For those with the time, I can arrange an extra one week visit to the south of Mon State based on Moulmein; for this section conditions would be rather better than before but the number of active engines to be seen would be no more than a dozen. This would be escorted by our regular local guide only, the cost would depend on the number travelling.

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