The raison d’être for booking this cruise was to visit Myanmar (Burma), a long held ambition, and once Aung San Suu Kyi indicated that tourists should come,” but be mindful of where they spent their money”, .i.e. travel independently and not do “government” operated tours, we felt that the time was ripe.
Unfortunately on doing further research, we discovered how vast the country of Burma is. By sailing into Yangon, it would necessitate flying to both Bagan (nearer) and Mandalay, and in the time available, it was not possible to see both. In the event, whilst Silversea originally offered these two itineraries, only Bagan was on sale as a shore excursion.
The title therefore, mirrors Rudyard Kipling, who ironically also never visited Mandalay, like us, only staying three days, and his famous poem is based on a pagoda he visited in Moulmein. Maybe next year?