Over the next 12 days we will tour sights rarely seen by foreign tourists: villages left back in time, gilded pagodas filled with Buddhist statues, thousands of them long neglected.
My cabin is spacious, with hardwood floors, fresh flowers and a walk-in closet. Best of all are the glass sliding doors facing the wide river, where one can lie in bed and watch the world glide by.
We travel first for six hours along the mighty Irrawaddy River, more than 400 meters (yards) wide. The shores are almost level with the land, the brush low with a few large trees.