Sailing down the Irrawaddy

We set out for the ferry at 5.30 am, in the dark of course, and have spent the entire day on the boat, sailing down the Irrawaddy. In the morning it was pleasant on deck, sitting on basket chairs on deck under a sun canopy, but after a delicious lunch of noodles and veg, the heat was too severe so we escaped to comfy airline-type seats in an air conditioned room below. However the aircon is not up to the job and we are sweltering.

I've been thinking about my uncle, then a teenager, who was a soldier out here in WW2 and captured by the Japanese. It is impossible to imagine what a hell on earth that must have been. He returned, never talked about it, and his children don't know anything more about it. Like most, he never spoke about it.

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