Rudyard Kipling, Somerset Maugham and George Orwell wrote extensively of Myanmar’s colonial past. Its complicated present amid magnificent temples, life-sustaining rivers and 135 distinct ethnic groups make traveling in this Buddhist-majority country unforgettable.

A complex past

Myanmar — formerly known as Burma— achieved its independence from Britain in 1948, but it has hardly been smooth sailing since. In 1988, Aung San Suu Kyi, known in Myanmar as The Lady, became head of the National League of Democracy. She then spent the next two decades mostly under house arrest. In 1991 she received the Nobel Peace Prize and finally became state counselor in 2016.

The political road for The Lady has been rocky, reflective of an increasingly delicate dance with the still powerful military. In 2011, 300,000 visitors began trickling in. This number increased to 4.7 million by 2015, but then dropped to 2.9 million in 2016. This fragile foxtrot has been exacerbated by the August 2017 Rohingya rebel attack on the military in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, followed by allegations of military ethnic cleansing. In Myanmar, one thing is crystal clear: life is complicated and multifaceted.

Long inspired by writers’ depictions and intrepid travelers, I decided it was time to see if the Myanmar of my literary dreams was matched by Myanmar today.

Mandalay: Myanmar’s second largest city

The Mandalay Hill Resort’s central location made seeing the city’s sites a snap. Climbing the watchtower at the 1990s reconstruction of the Royal Palace provided a good view of the city and the 40 timber buildings that resemble the original 1850s structures. Some interesting period furnishings salvaged from King Mindon’s period are in the small, attached museum, along with old photos of the royals.

Unlike most Burmese monasteries, Mandalay’s Golden Palace Monastery is not gold at all, but covered in a cornucopia of intricately detailed teak carvings. Nearby, Kuthodaw Pagoda’s 729 inscribed, massive marble slabs, each in its own stupa, or temple, comprise the entirety of Buddhist scriptures. When King Mindon assembled 2,400 monks in 1871 it took them six months of continuous relay reading to complete the carvings, which have been dubbed the world’s biggest book.

Driving 45 minutes to the launch, I boarded the RV Kalaw Pandaw riverboat to begin a seven-day journey on the Irrawaddy River. This important 1,348-mile waterway was Kipling’s “road” to Mandalay.

Built in 2014, Pandaw’s 187-foot riverboat has hardwood floors and 18 air-conditioned staterooms with deliriously comfortable beds, marble-countered bathrooms with large showers, generous closet space and plenty of outlets. The riverboat has a large, open deck stern for outdoor dining, a mid-ship indoor bar and another furnished aft outdoor deck to take in abundant river-side village life. This Pandaw ship felt less like a boat and more like a very nice house that happened to travel on a winding waterway.

On my sailing there were just 17 passengers, a group composed of British, Canadians and Australians. Beautifully prepared Burmese and western meals were served at three tables of six, and by the end of the trip — with lives, stories and experiences shared during the week — we parted as friends. The Pandaw staff shared the well-known and heartfelt Burmese hospitality — the crew of 20 treated passengers like favored relatives.

Riverside Villages of Mingun, Sagaing and Amarapura

Mingun is known mostly for what would have been the world’s largest stupa had it been finished. But construction ceased when King Bodawpaya died in 1819 with only one-third of the base completed. The 1838 earthquake gave it its new designation as the world’s largest pile of bricks.

Built for the beloved wife of Bodawpaya’s successor, Prince Bagyidaw, is the all white Hsinbyume stupa. Its impressive wavy architecture represents the seven mountain ranges surrounding Mount Meru and is locally known as the Burmese Taj Mahal.

Once the capital of an independent Shan kingdom, Sagaing village is now a meditation training center with over 5,000 monks and nuns studying in the area. Great Irrawaddy views beckoned from atop the 14th century Soon-U-­Ponnya-Shin pagoda, though the added, neon-lit halos around Buddha’s head were bizarre.

Amarapura, Myanmar’s penultimate royal capital, is home to the world’s longest teak footbridge, over shallow Taungthaman Lake, and is one of Myanmar’s most photographed sites. Built in 1849, it is 1,300 yards long with over 1,000 teak posts.

Riverside Villages of Yandabo, Pakokku, Salay

The 1826 Treaty of Yandabo — ending the first Anglo-Burmese War — was signed in the tiny riverside village of Yandabo. Here about 1,500 people, mainly terracotta potters and subsistence farmers, reside in elevated, bamboo-thatched houses. Women go about their days miraculously balancing atop their heads enormous, stainless-steel bowls containing kilos of rice and vegetables.

In the small town of Pakokku we boarded tuk-tuks, motorcycles with attached six-seat carriages. Driving through fields dotted with farmers in conical hats, we made our way to the lively town market known for its vegetables and thanaka, a beige therapeutic paste of ground sandalwood bark that men and women routinely apply as facial adornment.

Only the Pandaw riverboat experience enables travelers the ability to access these remote, off-the-beaten-track villages, coupled with onboard cultural lectures.

An active religious village with more than 50 monasteries and less than 10,000 residents, Salay has remnants of once gorgeous Burmese-Victorian architecture built when oil was discovered in the late 1800s. At the river’s edge, Salay House has a small upstairs museum with artifacts of the era and a lovely garden restaurant.

The belle of the ball: Bagan

There was a building boom until the late 13th century and more than 4,000 temples were built in the 26-square-mile Bagan region. Bagan, with its thousands of gold stupas, is an ethereal sight. Despite Mongol invasions, earthquakes and some questionable restorations, Bagan is breathtaking.

I ended my Burmese adventure at Mount Popa, where an enormous gold-gilded Buddhist prayer hall is precariously perched atop a 2,400-foot volcano. My guide in the area, who also guided author J.K. Rowling when she traveled around Myanmar, reiterated the lore that Popa inspired her Harry Potter writings.

Kipling was awestruck by Myanmar and described a nostalgic longing for Asia’s exoticism. He once said, “When I die I will be a Burman.” I’ll never know if Kipling’s post-mortem dream came true, but I suggest that it’s a far better plan to experience the wonders along the Irrawaddy while still alive.

Julie L. Kessler is a travel writer, legal columnist and attorney based in Los Angeles and the author of the award-winning book “Fifty-Fifty, The Clarity of Hindsight.” She can be reached at Julie@VagabondLawyer.com.