Life on the River, Kmer Style

 Monday, September 26, 2011


At Phnom Penh, the Mekong winds north through Laos and into China. We take a left on the Tonle Sap and head for Siem Reap and the great temples of Angkor. Along the way, we visit two unforgettable towns.

The sounds and the sights of the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers in Cambodia are different than Viet Nam. Our captain tells us that the Cambodian rivers are quieter, greener, and he's right. There are cows grazing, and few houses and boats beside us on the banks. This may be due to the extremely high water, overflowing for miles in every direction. When we do pass a town, we hear loudspeakers, but these are either Buddhist pagodas blaring holiday music for Dak Pen, or one of the many Mosques calling the faithful to prayer - very different than the sounds of My Tho or Chau Doc. 

Kampong Tralach is the smallest village we've called on to date, and we're scheduled to ride ox carts to a remote ancient Buddhist vihara, or monastery, a short distance from town. High water requires another plan B from Thoa, because the road is flooded part of the way. We ride in the smallest boats we've seen so far to a dry spot halfway there, and continue on our way. It's a great adventure. 

The ox carts are bumpy but fantastic, with children following us to practice their English. We arrive as the vihara's only visitors, and are greeted monks while some of the children go inside to pray. We learn that, at least until we get to Angkor, "ancient" means anything from 1850 or thereabouts, when the French first came to Cambodia.

When we get back to the Toum Teave, another boat is waiting to take us to Cambodia's floating village of Kampong Luong. The whole village literally moves about once a month, and has almost anything you'd expect to find: barber shops, gas stations, schools, churches, and a fish farm shaped like a boat with nets to keep the fish inside when it moves. The town's electricity comes primarily from car  batteries; a few businesses thrive by charging hundreds of batteries every day. Today, the village is anchored over a flooded road, the floating houses lined up alongside it as if they always belonged there. 

We return to the Toum Teave for our final evening on board, just in time for a beautiful sunset before the Captain's Farewell Dinner.