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Published: January 23rd 2010
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Photo 3
Rice paper is made at Can Tho It was time to cross over into the 17th country of my visit, Cambodia, but I was fed up of coach journies so decided to enter the country on a boat... something I'd not done before. Southern Vietnam's border with Cambodia runs northeast from the Gulf of Thailand, with the majority of the southeastern tip of Vietnam being occupied by the massive Mekong River Delta. The trip I decided to take would head south to the town of Can Tho, then on to Chau Doc before crossing into Cambodia on the Mekong itself.
Travellers frequently find themselves bumping into the same people in different places, and so it was that Gonzalo and Yvonne (the Mexican and Polish friends of the Slovenian couple I'd been for dinner with on my first night in Saigon) were entering Cambodia on the same trip. Our first stop was Can Tho, one of the larger towns in the Delta (which is home to some 20 million people), where tourist boats ply the waterways to see a floating market, honey farm and other attractions. We boarded our launch and toured the floating market, but I can't say it looked much like a market. There was life
Photo 18
Transporting goods at Can Tho on the river... houseboats, people transporting goods and plenty of movement on the riverbanks, but little that resembled a market. I was thinking Thai-style (anybody remember the Thai Bites advert?), and was a tad disappointed. Our tour continued at the honey farm, where we were shown how the locals make various sweets and snacks. Unsurprisingly, I loved this bit, especially as we got to taste the end products! Rice paper, coconut candy, popcorn squares... they were all there, and more, so that after an hour or so my teeth were coated in sugar and I wasn't nearly ready for lunch!
We cruised on down a small water channel to get to the restaurant, watching the daily activity in the delta, which was much more interesting than the supposed market! Thick vegetation lined both banks, and vessels big and small plied their way to and from town. Lunch brought us a small performance of local songs (as at Halong Bay, our tour was organised and we were allotted time for each activity!), after which we made our way to Chau Doc, a large town near the border of Cambodia.
The next morning we went for a tour, by row-boat,
Photo 5
Happy to be on the river of a floating village just next to Chau Doc. I shared a boat with Jelle, who along with his girlfriend Debra was travelling round the world. Although the village was similar to the houses I'd seen at Halong Bay, it was nevertheless fascinating to see how the people here live, all bathed in the glow of an early morning sun, and Jelle and I had a go at rowing the boat, which was much harder than the Vietnamese women rowers made it look! By now the river had grown wider, and it began to open further still as we boarded a larger boat and headed towards the Vietnamese immigration post. Border formalities completed, we sailed on to Cambodia. By now the Mekong was huge... details of the opposite bank could barely be discerned, but the roofs of Buddhist temples could be made out, peeking above the tree line. As we sailed into Cambodia, scenes of rural life played out along the banks... children swimming, farmers bathing their cattle, women washing clothes. Several hours floating serenly past was possibly the most relaxing border crossing I've ever had! So I was now in Cambodia, a land known to me for two things
Photo 13
Safety first as we tour the floating village - the genocide of the Khmer Rouge and the mighty temples of Angkor. Arriving in Phnom Penh, it would be the genocide that I'd meet first.
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Su
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On the boat(pic #15)
Sheesh dude, you look rather gaunt here. Hope you are not expelling everything you consume. :) Maybe it was the angle of the camera or your height and gravitational pull. BTW, I forgot to bring up a cousin who lives in Sandakan in Sabah. So he is another one you could stay with or he can show you the workings of a palm oil factory. If you are a snorkeler (I am, but too chicken to venture into the scuba world), there are plenty of pristine underwater life you could marvel at, a boat ride from Sandakan. Up to you of course. Eat a little more, will ya?.Make sure you retain some of it at least. This is coming from a mother of two teens. I am sure your mum would agree.