Mekong Cruise - Day 5

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We sailed from Phnom Penh this morning with only seven couples remaining on board. Until our arrival in Phnom Penh our number had included a group of four people working in the travel industry who were invited on board to find out more about Pandaw so that they will, hopefully, promote their cruises to clients. There was also a group of six Vietnamese and I never quite established if they were also working in travel or if they were a group of family/friends. We also said farewell to Sarah from Sydney who only had a short break from work and could only do the short cruise and a rather strange Indian guy who only seemed to want to drink and smoke. Seriously, by 10.30am when we were out on our excursion yesterday he was desperate to buy a beer and not at all interested in learning about the local farming.

That leaves us with ‘The Norwegian Couple’ - I really should try to learn their names – Chris and Dianne from the UK, Stuart and Jeanette also from the UK, Phil and Denise from Perth and Bob and Penny from Port Macquarie, in addition to our group of four from Melbourne. The ship is far from being at capacity which is actually great for those of us who are on board, but not so good for Pandaw who I am sure would love to have their occupancy rate much higher. Hopefully their numbers will improve as the season progresses.

After a short sail upriver we docked at ### where we welcomed two Buddhist Monks and a Buddhist Priest on board. We met with the monks and priest up on the sun deck where they performed a Buddhist Blessing for the group. The monks chanted a blessing that was quite calming and meditative regardless of one’s beliefs and sprinkled us with holy water before tying individual blessings around our wrists.

Following our blessing we left the boat and clambered into tuk tuks for a short drive to Ko Nghe Tei (Silk Island) where we were introduced to the silk making process. Our tuk tuk was first there and our driver spoke a little bit of English so he pointed out the wood apples growing in the trees above us. There were nets slung under the canopies of the huge wood apple trees to catch the fruit. He told us the fruits often fall when it is windy.

We were able to see all of the stages of the process. We saw silkworm eggs on a sheet of paper and silkworms gorging themselves on mulberry leaves in a couple of baskets before being shown the bunches of twigs that the silkworms are encouraged to nest in. We were shown how the threads of silk are removed from the cocoons before making our way to the looms where the ladies were weaving incredibly complex patterns from many coloured silk threads. Of course we ended our tour at the gift shop where most of the group gave their credit card a workout!!

Nearby we were able to see a demonstration of the ancient martial art of L’bokator. L’bokator includes weapons techniques and is one of the oldest combat techniques in Cambodia dating back to the Angkor Empire. The young men certainly did not hold back as they put on their demonstration for us. They were working on a paved arena – not a gym mat in sight – and they were smacking onto that unforgiving surface without a wince or a groan!! When they performed with their swords I initially thought they were wooden practice swords … until they scraped them on the paved area and sparks flew.

When we returned to our tuk tuk our driver gifted us with a wood apple and explained that its flesh should be pounded with salt and chili to make it edible. Hmmn, that could be difficult!!? Our convoy of tuks tuks had us back to the boat by about 10.45am. As I re-boarded with our wood apple Muang told me that the fruit is not ripe and would be very, very sour. He confirmed the pounding with salt and chili treatment saying that is the only way you can prepare and eat the fruit when it is not ripe so as more of a condiment than a fruit.

We had just over an hour to fill in before lunchtime. At lunch today the other three ordered hamburgers and French fries, but I ordered the spicy grilled chicken thigh which was DELICIOUS. The best meal I have eaten on the boat so far.

Later in the afternoon we docked at the village of Angkor Ban where we took a walking tour as Leng explained to us the villagers’ way of life. The homes are in the traditional Khmer style, built on stilts with their animals at ground level and the family living above. At the moment most of the villagers have several cows or water buffalos in their front yard. Usually the cattle are in their fields but, at the moment, their fields are still under water at the end of wet season. This means keeping the cattle at home and feeding them hay or cutting grass and bringing it home to them.

It is the season for herds to be expanded so we saw quite a few calves as we walked around. It is also the season to be drying radishes out on tables ready for them to be either sold on in bulk or pickled at home. The smell of the radishes was quite tangy. We walked as far as the school on the other side of the bridge where we were shown the library that Pandaw sponsored. I guess it is a reasonable compensation to receive assistance with building school infrastructure in return for having tourists walking around your village? As we returned over the bridge a HUGE truck laden with wood and workers trundled over. Leng told us that the wood would be going to the local brick factory to fire the kilns.

Tonight’s cocktail was a mojito. There was no onboard entertainment this evening, just our briefing on what to expect tomorrow.



Steps for the day: 7,142 (4.61km)

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