Uploaded February 2016 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
To read the entire story about my visit to Viking River Myanmar Explorer cruise, go to holeinthedonut.com/2016/04/16/viking-river-myanmar-explorer-cruise-review/, and if you enjoyed this video, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel.
During monsoon season, the Irrwaddy River in Myanmar is wide and easily navigable, but in the dry season the width and depth of the river shrink significantly. As a result, sailing becomes more difficult, as I witnessed recently during my Viking River Mandalay Explorer cruise. Parts of the river are so dangerously low that men thrust long bamboo poles into the water on both sides of the ship's bow, calling out the depth according to how much of the pole protrudes from the water. Our boat needed five feet and at one point, the man on the port side called out 4.5 feet (in Burmese), which another crew member reported to the pilot house via walkie-talkie. Just moments later, we veered sharply right.
To read the entire story about my visit to Viking River Myanmar Explorer cruise, go to holeinthedonut.com/2016/04/16/viking-river-myanmar-explorer-cruise-review/, and if you enjoyed this video, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel.
During monsoon season, the Irrwaddy River in Myanmar is wide and easily navigable, but in the dry season the width and depth of the river shrink significantly. As a result, sailing becomes more difficult, as I witnessed recently during my Viking River Mandalay Explorer cruise. Parts of the river are so dangerously low that men thrust long bamboo poles into the water on both sides of the ship's bow, calling out the depth according to how much of the pole protrudes from the water. Our boat needed five feet and at one point, the man on the port side called out 4.5 feet (in Burmese), which another crew member reported to the pilot house via walkie-talkie. Just moments later, we veered sharply right.
