Vietnam TO Cambodia

---

Up at 6am. Breakfast of fruit salad, loaded the luggage onto a pedicab while we walked to the wharf. Boarded a small boat and headed to a fish farm where the fish lived under a floating house. fish food is expensive so they manufacture their own from fish waste and rice husks. There are 15000 basa fish of up to 1 kg in size in pens under the floor. Kids rarely get to school and spend their time helping their families. The next stop was Cham village where a Muslim minority lived. Originally they were weavers but now make their money from aquaculture. Back to the boat and a long 3 hour voyage down a canal to connect up with the main river at the Cambodia border. We passed many little houses and fish traps but it was pretty cramped sitting for 3 hours!! The guide demanded extra money to bribe the border guardss....what could we do. There was no down river boat fron Phnom Penn so we had no option but to take a minibus. They crowded us in with feet on packs and an "official" listening to every word we said. It was quite amazing how agriculture changed immediately from rice to corn and zebu cattle but it took over 3 hours in a hot semi air con bus to get to Phnom Penn. the South Africans negotiated a pedicab to the Nawin Hotel $20 which was right in the centre of town. Chicken Amok and Beef Lau Lau for dinner. Currency is virtually interchangeable with the US dollar. Lots of restaurants and bars and an easy atmosphere in the city.

---