On a Slow Boat to Dallah (Myanmar)

It's a 10-minute boat ride from the Pansodan Road jetty in Yangon (Rangoon). This takes you to a small village called Dallah in Myanmar.

While there's nothing to see in Dallah, but for a small temple and the ramshackle eateries by the riverine bay, it's the very short ferry ride across Yangon River that takes the cake for such interest. Foreigners need to show their passport to secure a $1 ticket at a ticket booth solely servicing foreign tourists. Otherwise, its just a measly 30 kyats ("chats") for the locals. A dollar is equivalent to 975 Myanmar kyats.

On board, there are children's seats you could rent for 5 kyats but who would bother? There are ambulant vendors too. I just walked around, checking out the scenario around me. Yangon River doesn't feel any different from the more substantial Ayeyarwady River, Burma's major riverway, also spelled "Irrawady", "Ayarwady" or the Hindi term "Irawati". It takes the color of mud, carries similar influence, and is a considerable lifeline for people living near the banks.

Red fishing boats waited just right across in Dallah. It somehow suggested a sudden halt, like "Stop - there's nothing further!" Thirty minutes later, I was back in Yangon. Back in a land where time stopped ticking 30 to 40 years ago.

This is the Eye in the Sky!