The Tharrawaw Flyer, Burma 2009, Part 2

This is the twenty fourth part of our 2009 Burmese Odyssey. To read more about our 2009 bash which includes many non-steam items, please see Rob and Yuehong in the Golden Land 2009. Click here for Part One of the Tharrawaw Flyer.

The mist is clearing rapidly, it is obvious we are actually in a side channel of the river.

One of the passengers has brought his pet chicken:

Up front, Han is really enjoying himself, it's the first time he has travelled on this ferry journey:

There are quite a few families living on the sand spit, they go fishing here in the dry season, once the rains come the river floods the spit and they have to retreat to the east bank which is higher above the water. 

At the same time, others work on repairing boats as it's easy to beach one here:

Most of the heavy traffic here consists of tugs lashed up to a couple of lighters, this one was just getting started after laying up overnight:

In this case another tug is about to give a tow to a small boat going upstream:

Given that the next train is expected to leave Tharrawaw at 14.30 and the road out is said to be 'impassable', we now are in no hurry for our journey to end, but by 10.00 we have arrived:

There are many more passengers waiting to board than disembark, they must have been waiting the best part of three hours. In no time the ferry is ready to go back  

Overall it's a much longer journey than I expected, I should have checked my maps first! This extract is from a 1950s USAF set covering (at least) much of south and south-east Asia, for Burma at least it's still surprisingly accurate although, of course, recently built railways and road bridges are missing:

Click here for Part Three of the Tharrawaw Flyer: