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Pandaw’s India sailings on the rise

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NEW DELHI, 7 February 2019: Following a successful tug-tow transfer of the riverboat Katha Pandaw from Yangon Myanmar to Kolkata India, last week, Asian cruise specialist Pandaw says it will boost its Indian presence with a third boat soon.

Pandaw confirmed this week that a third river cruise vessel will be towed to India this month. The 18-cabin Kindat Pandaw will join her sister-ship Kalaw Pandaw that is already offering river cruises on the Ganges.

The company said the two additional vessels would supplement the already popular departures that are mostly sold out on Kalaw Pandaw.

It offers a seven-night lower Ganges cruise from Kolkata to Farakka, on the Kalaw Pandaw, while the Katha Pandaw will be used for a 14-night cruise on the upper Ganges’ from Kolkata to Varanasi.

Kindat Pandaw will be used to provide additional departures on both the upper and lower Ganges.

Sister-ships, Kindat and Kalaw, belong to Pandaw’s ultra-shallow draft K-class that made up the backbone of the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company that operated out of Yangon, Myanmar in the 1880s carrying cargo and passengers upriver to Mandalay and beyond.

The shallow draft allows the two boats to operate year-round on the Ganges to sail all the way to Varanasi and beyond. Being only twin-decked, they can also get under low bridges.

In 2020, Pandaw will expand operations to include sailings on the Brahmaputra River and will again operate further upstream to Dibrugarh.

Pandaw founder Paul Strachan commented: “India is the jewel in the crown for river cruising, there are no other rivers in the world where there is such a magnificent combination of cultural treasures and majestic beauty”.

Exploring remote rivers and coastal routes in Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, China and India, the original company, known as the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company was acquired by Paul and Roser Strachan in 1995 and renamed Pandaw.

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