Slow Boat to Phnom Penh

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Having shaken off our touts best attempts to part us with more money than necessary we made our way out in the afternoon to explore Chau Doc. This didn't take very long and we soon found ourself retiring to a riverside cafe to enjoy the views and sunset over a long cool drink. The river is full of life. All shapes and size of boat ply their trade across the waters. No stretch is quite for more than a few minutes at a time. Floating houses and business can be spied further away from us. As the sun started to set so the clouds rolled in and the first few drops started to fall. We hid under our large umbrella and convinced the staff that all was fine. Then the drops turned into a full out thunderstorm and we had to run for cover inside. We sat for another hour as it absolutley howled it down!! There was no let up and we figured we would have to be brave and go for it. The locals started laughing at us as we ventured out - only us eh! After about five seconds - despite waterproofs and umbrella - we were drowned! Removal of flip flops essential and we waded at times knee deep back to our hotel! David didn't quite see the funny side of me bursting into 'I'm singing in the rain, just .......' - it amused everyone else!!! It contined like this for several hours, until finally petering out. The whole town then fell very quiet and was apparently empty!

The next day saw us on our slow boat. We walked back to the river, whilst our bags when cyclo style! The guy then fleeced us for carrying our bags down to the boat - guess we should have seen that one coming. There were six ordinary plastic seats on the boat and we decamped to the first two. En route we picked up for other passengers who emerged from the floating houses. We made our way through homes, businesses, some made of wood, som of corrugated steel. Naturally the further we moved on the more rural it became. All homes became the stilt variety to rise above the evident yearly flooding. Ducks, chickens, cattle, cats and dogs wander and jump on the dry bits they can find. Women wash clothes either in seperate floating rooms away from their homes or at the bottom of their wooden stair or ramps that lead away from the ground. Lots of people smile, wave and shout hello! It's all very beautiful and the expanse of flooding is mighty. As we are savouring the moment and looking at life unchanged except for a tv, the boat goes 'phut' and grounds to a quiet halt. We drift backwards for some distance before they manage to start it again and get us into shore - which reads as a few trees! After much chuntering and hammering the fan belt is pulled out and the technical term is 'broken' - I think! They have a spare - phew - a shortlived phew - it's too big - damn I knew I should have brought a pair of tights today!!! So we sit their contemplating the trees in front of us, watching the ducks go by, when by a stroke of luck another boat (a bigger one thank goodness) appears! We all decamp to this and carry on waving farewell to one guy left on our boat!! The other guy had the 'broken(!)' fanbelt and would get a new one of the right size when we stop!

It's not too long before we stop to leave Vietnam and enter Cambodia. Having decided not to pay the guy the extra four bucks for the privelige of carrying out this task we went through immigration ourselves. We were stamped out of Vietnam and then had to walk a good mile on a dusty track in the blazing midday sun, with all our bags before getting to the Cambodian Immigration. To say we were a little non-pleased with eachother would have been an understatement! We were then taken away from customs to a building that was mereley a roof where two shady looking characters had a pile of Cambodian Visas, a briefcase, and mobile phone. I suspected the worse and could see the dollars flying out of our pockets! However, I should not be so quick to judge, in five minutes flat our visas were done, the exact dollars were handed over and we were not overcharged at any stage!! We then sat and waited for our boat to come and pick us up!!

The next two hours saw us continuing up the river until we alighted to a minibus to take us the rest of the way to Phnom Penh. Our immediate thoughts were that the area is far poorer than Vietnam. Some children still run about naked and more of the houses are of the wooden variety. Phnom Penh is immediately quieter than those in Vietnam. And it was raining heavily when we got there. We were all dropped off at the same hotel and we got a room here without having to go anywhere else. We stopped in for the evening which was just aswell as I decided to throw myself down the stairs and bash my arm in for the first time since my accident (all's ok - but you should see the bruises). Next day would see us exploring a bit more!

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