India river cruise suggestions please

We have several good holidays in India and, as we are now in our seventies, we have probably reached the limits of places we can get to by road and rail. We used to revel in day long drives in Morris Oxfords but not now.

Has anyone on the forum had a successful river cruise? Google turns up a few but most are two week holidays dressed up to sound like cruises - until you find you are only afloat for half the time (the rest being the same old air/train/road mix that we are trying to avoid).

Maybe the rivers of India are not right for more than a one week cruise? In that case maybe we need to consider the Mekong or the Irrawaddi?

All ideas welcome. We are getting old but not blinkered....

Tony

I found this:

http://www.assambengalnavigation.com/assam-map3.html

At the end of each numbered cruise description, it says "or stay on board for cruise # 2 or 3 " etc. Obviously, some people combine the short cruise segments for a longer experience.

Thanks for that pointer to ABN.

There is quite a long thread on TripAdvisor. The old posts are a bit critical but those go back to 2010ish. As the thread ploughs on the mood improves considerably.

They say they are the only company doing that river area.

I'll comment here if I find out anything fresh about them.

Tony

I found a second ship in Assam that looks newer and is a bit larger. I think they say they have one 2 week cruise.

http://www.mahabaahucruiseindia.com/

Thanks for that further suggestion.

Last night I emailed my contact at the ground handler in India who had fixed our previous trips. I asked your first suggestion.

I'll let you know what she says.

Tony

Please let me know. We will be doing our second Asian river cruise in February on the Mekong, first was a 3 day Yangtze cruise.

Floridiana,

I thought I'd posted a link to some Mekong pictures. I'll try again:-

http://www.tonygamble.org/Laos/index.htm

The river ones are near the end as we then moved on to Thailand.

Bye

Tony

Tony,

I love your photos! They give such a vivid image of your travel. Lots of bags and cloth to buy and I won't be able to resist! I'll leave plenty of space in my suitcase. :)

Some questions:

You took many people pictures, so the people did not object and/or hold their hand out for money?

Your Laos photos are from the upper Mekong? Which month? We'll be there in February, cold but no rain?

Tony,

 

Some questions:

You took many people pictures, so the people did not object and/or hold their hand out for money?

Your Laos photos are from the upper Mekong? Which month? We'll be there in February, cold but no rain?

In Laos the local tour guides are keen that you never just give money to a held out hand. It encourages begging and once that starts.....

In the places we visited they encouraged the youngsters to make little trinkets, like wool bracelets, to sell.

In India we went for a tour round a simple school. We had pens and books but were told not to give them to the children. At the end we were asked if we wanted to give them a sweet each (note the word each). We had none but were taken to a small stall that sold bags of sweets. The children stood in a polite queue and waited in turn for my wife to give them ONE sweet.

I do give money to elderly people who would make a good posed photograph. They are wise enough to know it is not a way to make a living and it is a small price to pay for a couple of minutes of their life. With that you can make sure the pose, and just as importantly, the light is right.

On the matter of temperature. Those shots were taken on January 1st from about six in the morning. Look again and try to count the number of shawls and rugs we were wearing. Yes, it did warm up to t shirt weather, but not until around lunchtime.

Come back if there is any more you need to know.

Tony

Thank you for your offer. If I have questions, I will definitely come back and ask you. :)

Today's question for Laos, maybe you've been there and done that.

Our tour schedule says 90 minute elephant ride from Ban Kiet Ngong up Mount Asa through Xe Piang Protected area to Khong Island. I don't really relish such a long elephant ride, am worried about elephant abuse and an uncomfortable ride. Is there an alternative?

Have you done this and can give me feedback?

No. We did not do that.

My wife and I did an early morning elephant safari in India and it was a total waste of time as all we saw were other tourists on elephant safaris.

Yes, they are uncomfortable for the likes of us.

I'd certainly look for something else to do but I can't advise what as I don't recognise the area as somewhere we visited.

On a moralistic tone, if you are worried about elephant abuse that seriously it might be no bad thing to go on the trip and talk to the handlers. See if you come away with the same opinions. If you see abuse then photograph it. I'm a great believer of trying to see things first hand and not relying on hearsay and propaganda. Many years ago I watched elephants working at a logging plant in Thailand. OK they got 'whacked' a few times but I did not see any of them turn on their handlers in anger or frustration.

You'll see my wife feeding bananas to the elephants on this folder:-

http://www.tonygamble.org/Sing_HK_cruise_web/index.html

They seemed happy enough to us.

In Laos try to talk to as many of the locals you can. On our two day Mekong cruise there was a French girl whose brother had been a teacher in Laos during the troubles. When things got tough he took all his text books and buried them in some woodland so that the insurgents did not identify him as a dangerous intellectual. After the troubles he went back to the wood and dug them all up again.... Fascinating.

One of our 'excursions' was to a huge cave where a whole village lived when the area was being bombed. We then went to a local 'cafe' where the patron cooked us a lunch of cabbage. It was one of the tastiest meals we have ever eaten. Several of the people we met on the holiday had gone on cookery courses during their stays - and I now know why.

Keep the questions coming - and I promise not to preach again.

Tony

We'll just see how it goes then. I am sure it is a source of income for the elephant owners.

Great photos again! You did not cruise on a banana boat. :D

Great photos again! You did not cruise on a banana boat. :D

Well spotted!! Seabourn.!!

That particular day was when Seabourn docked at that (ridiculous) port that is two or three hours drive away from Bangkok. Many of the passengers who did that excursion regretted it. In the old days Seabourn used a smaller boat that could dock in the town. Not now.

Pattaya is less than half an hour away and Seabourn run a shuttle bus. The elephants were at a place called the Sanctuary of Truth which is well worth a visit. They are building a temple there and some of my photos were taken in the workshops.

Tony

Our India ground handler is also recommending:-

http://www.mahabaahucruiseindia.com/

She points out that it does not operate in UK/US summer.

At the bottom of the site there is a link to a National Geog video. A lot of it seems to be filmed on sand/mud flats in a wide estuary. I need to see how much of the trip is in that sort of terrain. I also need to read about the two week trips to see what is fresh and what is repeated on the second leg.

If nobody fresh picks up this thread I am tempted to start a new one based on that one vessel.

Let's see.

Tony

Have you tried posting it in the River Cruise Forum of cc?

Good advice. I'll post there. My first 'search' came up with this:-

The Mekong teems with river traffic and is an important trade route. It is lined by villages, towns and cities. And while it can be very wide, it pales in comparison to the Brahmaputra. The Brahmaputra is brooding and remote, and during the monsoon can expand in width from up to 5 kilometers to more than 20 kilometers. And while it is not lined by villages (they are generally about a 15-30 minute walk from the river banks) one has the chance to see wild animals such as herds - or single bull - elephants, prolific birdlife - while lucky passengers have seen tigers prowling the banks.

That really puts me off. Cruising in a delta is not the river cruise I was intending to take. I will start asking for confirmation.

Tony