The relaxed, historic-looking river cruise ships emblazoned with the Pandaw name that you may witness meandering up rivers in Burma, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and even India have a much stranger backstory than you’d suspect.
Historic scene on the Rangoon River.
In 1865, Scottish businessmen launched the Irrawaddy Flotilla and Burmese Steam Navigation Company to transport passengers, supplies, goods, mail, and eventually oil field equipment up and down Burma as the British colony thrived. Serving locals, regional traders, and colonial officials, the paddle steamers were crucial to the colony’s infrastructure and growth. By the 1920s, the fleet had reached more than 650 ships on the Irrawaddy and surrounding rivers and had been immortalized in a Richard Kipling poem.
The PS Mindoon, 1886, sister to the Beloo of the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company, as pictured in 1886.
The entire operation sank, quite literally, during WW2. As the Japanese moved through Southeast Asia, colonial officials decided it was better to lose the entire fleet than see the highly capable ships fall into enemy hands. In 1942, every ship was intentionally scuttled. After the war, river travel never returned to the previous scale and efficiency, hastening the decline of the entire colony.
An old Irrawaddy Flotilla company boat on land.
One might rightfully assume that this is where the Irrawaddy Flotilla story ends. However, Paul Strachan, a Scotsman who had spent some of his youth in Burma, returned to the country in the 1990s, hankering for adventure. While living in the country writing a novel from a local monastery, he noticed the potential for river cruises in the region and invested his life savings in a boat and took on the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company (IFC) name. Looking back on the rather risky decision he made with his wife, Rosa, he told Saigoneer, “There was no plan at all.”
Paul and Rosa in recent years aboard one of their boats.
A little luck and an adeptness at navigating political and cultural situations allowed the couple to become the first company since colonial times to offer river cruises on the Irrawaddy. In 1998, they located and restored a boat from the original Irrawaddy Flotilla Company, named Pandaw, to replace the local boats they had been chartering. The steamship’s now-classic design sat in the water differently than modern boats, allowing it to travel to unique areas on the river, stop for sandbank cocktail hours alongside locals, and even navigate the treacherous Tonle Sap Lake.
“Fun!” was how Paul described these early voyages, which always carried the potential for unexpected adventure. On the very first trip, for example, the boat got caught on a sandbar and required a nearby mining operation to use their equipment to dig it out. Rather than be frightened and take a rescue boat, the passengers found the unexpected situation thrilling and stayed on-site to watch the action and continue the journey.
The ship specially designed to travel the Kerala Backwaters beginning in Kochi, India.
During the first five years, Paul and Rosa joined each trip, offering lectures aboard the ship in the evening and overseeing the expedition. But as demand grew, they employed more professionals, including Burmese shipbuilders. Using modified plans from the original IFC vessels, the skilled craftsman created additional ships that they sent to Vietnam, where river cruises were launched in 2003 between Saigon and Cambodia on the Mekong River. Word spread of the professional operations and friendly on-board atmosphere, allowing the company to expand to tours on the Ganges River in 2008, trips in Laos and Northern Vietnam in 2015, and the Brahmaputra River in India in 2023. And just this year, they have deemed portions of the Irrawaddy River safe to return to.
Amidst all the expansion, Paul and Rosa have been quietly giving back to the local communities. In 2008, for example, Cyclone Marvis devastated the region, so the renamed Pandaw Company repurposed two of their boats as floating hospitals to provide healthcare for months. They also started an NGO called Pandaw Clinics and provided funding for local schools and medical services while making systemic efforts to reduce waste and plastic.
Paul admits that these acts of generosity are not ultimately why people choose to travel with Pandaw. It’s not the history either, especially as the original fleet and its role in the region disappear from living memory. Moreover, while the ships are still novel in design, many major international companies have arrived offering similar services. But the convivial spirit and respectful appreciation for slow travel that attract mostly Western travelers who want relaxed comfort with a suggestion of adventure cannot be duplicated.
Comparatively small passenger numbers foster a togetherness amongst travelers that continues after the final docking. Paul noticed that friendships develop, and groups reunite every few years to relive the experience and try new routes. The welcoming vibes benefit from expert crews attuned with local cultures, so all aboard can experience a journey seemingly untethered from the rush of the modern age.
Staring out across the river at dusk, the setting sun dappling the water’s surface with flecks of orange and pink, if you’re lucky, you might catch a family of Irrawaddy dolphins playfully leaping. Steadying your hand on the metal railing, remind yourself that you are connected to a legacy extending back to colonial rice transport, wartime calamity, and more recent medical heroism. But beneath the boat flows the primordial currents that churned with an elemental diligence that brought you to this moment and will gracefully take you away faster than you realize. All you’ll be left with are the memories and the friends who accompanied you.
