Boats on the Irrawaddy River

Hi, I always have been intrigued with river traffic and our cruise on the Irrawaddy River in Burma was, therefore, extremely interesting for me. I have presented below images showing typical boats I was able to photograph.

I believe these three boats carry local passengers and freight.

This boat is used for day trip river cruises out of Mandalay.

This boat appeared to carry short haul passengers and freight.

The two boats in the foreground are lashed together with logs.  Only the one with the pilot house is powered.

This is a very fancy looking boat for overnight river cruises (above and below).

We saw many "long tail" boats in both Bangkok and Burma.  The engine is mounted on a shaft near the stern of the boat and power from the engine is transmitted through the shaft to a propeller at the end under the water.  The boat is steered by moving the shaft from side to side.  Small boats like the one above also are used to transport people and freight, as well as for fishing.

Here's another long tailed boat; this one carrying passengers.

These are all day trip boats out of Mandalay.

Boats like this haul general freight on the river.  Some short haul passengers also may be carried.

These boats are docked in Mandalay.

Barges with tug boats also make an appearance.  This barge is loaded with Teak logs.

Here are 2 views of the boat we traveled on (above and below).  It has a capacity of 34 passengers and 29 crew.

This is a larger river cruise boat (above and below).

I have included the photo above and the 3 below to provide some idea of the differences in design between our boats and those in other places in the world.

Thanks for looking.