Not sure if I'll have time to post pictures again because I have to be up early to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat. I'll try to get to it tomorrow or the next day.
Last Sunday, I left Vietnam for Cambodia via the Mekong Delta. The Mekong Delta is a region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River nears the sea through a number of smaller tributaries (so says Wikipedia.) It's a rural area with a lot of ethnic minorities who mainly fish or grow rice. It often floods during the rainy season so many people live in houseboats or in homes on high stilts. It's the image that probably comes to mind when people think of life in the Vietnamese countryside.
We first took a bus for a few hours to get to where we boarded the boat on the river. Along the way we stopped at the typical tourist rest stop where there are Agent Orange victims making shell paintings and other handicrafts. I wasn't in the market to buy anything, but as I was wandering around I ran into Judith and Shlomie who were on their own one-day Mekong Delta tour roundtrip to and from Saigon. We thought we might run into each other elsewhere along the way, but that turned out to be our only common stop.
After getting on the small wooden boat we rode past a floating market where farmers were selling all sorts of fruits and vegetables from their boats. Then we stopped at a small shop where we watched some locals make rice paper, coconut candy, popped rice and honey tea. Of course, we were encouraged to buy their products, but we were able to taste everything before we had to lay out any money. I was running out of dong so I didn't make any purchases, but everything I tried tasted pretty good.
As we were about to get back on the boat it started pouring rain. Luckily it ended quickly and we didn't get all that wet. We rode for another hour or so before stopping for lunch at a traditional Vietnamese place. The standard lunch was included, but I ended up also splitting the local specialty, elephant ear fish, with the two older Australian brothers and the young American guy I was sitting with. As many of you know, I don't normally eat fish, but I figured "when in Cambodia." It actually wasn't half bad.
After lunch we split off from part of our group that was heading back to Saigon the following day and were on the boat for just a bit longer before getting back on the bus. At one point, we made a made what was supposed to be a brief pit stop, but turned into an extended rest. It turns out one of our tires was flat and had to be replaced. Luckily there were hammocks where we could all get out and relax. Then the torrential downpour began. We were all getting wet underneath our thatched roof hut, but the mechanic was getting absolutely soaked! He must have been used to it because he really seemed not to mind.
After we got going again, we had to board a ferry to cross part of the river. The crossing only took a few minutes and then we drove a bit farther to a crocodile farm. It's literally a farm where they grow crocodiles for food and leather clothing. Some of them were huge, but of course my favorites were the one to two-year-old babies. The enclosure for the really young crocs was all covered in netting because apparently they are famous for their ability to escape.
Our final stop was the floating hotel where we spent the night. I roomed with the American guy, Cliff, who is also traveling through Asia for about six months. He is Korean-American and had also been teaching in Korea for a year before leaving on his trip. It was fun because we had a lot to talk about and notes to compare. We had dinner on the roof-top restaurant before the bugs drove us back inside for cover. It was definitely a weird feeling to stay in a hotel on water because when you stopped and concentrated you could actually feel the whole place moving.
We had to be up very early the following morning to tour the area before getting on our boat to Cambodia. We first went to a fish farm, which is basically a barge built over the water. Our guide would throw fish food in the river and the fish (mostly bass) would go splashing and flopping all over the place, some even ending up on the deck. It was pretty funny to watch.
After the fish farm we went a bit farther down the river to where our boat to Cambodia was to meet us and walked through a traditional Champa village. The Champa are a Vietnamese Muslim minority. We walked to one of their local mosques where we greeted some of the children going to school and saw one of the local women working on a weaving. It was obviously a very poor area, but the people were all very friendly. I bought some sort of bun/pancake thing from one of the locals and it was pretty darn good.
For the rest of the morning we floated down the Mekong River to the Cambodian border. At the border we stopped for lunch while our guide took care of our visas. We then got back on the boat only to go about 300 meters where they suddenly dropped us off on the side of the road. None of us had any idea where we were going. Our guide (a new one) started to lead us on foot, but there was no bus in sight. Then as we rounded the corner we saw the rinky dinkiest border partition you have ever seen. We had to cross into Cambodia by foot and get on the bus on the other side.
Once we got into our new van, they drove us down a small dirt road and over the narrowest bridge before suddenly telling us all to get out. We had no idea what was going on until we walked a bit farther. Parts of the road were completely flooded out and the van could not get through. We had to take off our shoes to wade through the one-foot deep muddy water. It was definitely not the right day to wear sneakers. I would put them back on just to have to take them right off again a few feet down the road. We finally arrived at the customs station and had our passports stamped. We then had to walk through more flooding to get back to the main road. At one point I made the joke that we were like "comrades-in-arms" trekking through this flooded Cambodian village. Since there were nine of us-two Koreans girls, one Japanese man, an Israeli couple, a French couple and us two Americans-I decided we should be dubbed "The Cambodian Nine."
At one point along the way, I had stopped to put on my shoes and try to track down a bottle of water. When I looked up I couldn't see any big backpacks looming in front of me. I momentarily panicked. What would I possibly do if I got stuck here on my own at the Cambodian border. Then I thought, "They won't leave without me. They'll come back for me. They know it's the Cambodian Nine!" Fortunately as I walked a bit farther I saw that all the backpacks had just taken a left to get back in the van.
The rest of the way to Phnom Penh was completely by van. The flooding conditions continued and there were some spots that were quite a bit hairy. At one point, the looks on the faces of all the villagers standing outside while we drove through several feet of water did not install much confidence in our ability to make it through. Luckily we never got stuck and made it to the capitol before nightfall.
Vietnam was pretty amazing, especially along the Mekong Delta where time seems to have stood still. My dad has been been commenting that it's funny that 40 years ago he was doing everything he could to stay out of Vietnam and Cambodia and now I'm there on vacation. I have to say that it is a very surreal experience knowing that as recently as 20 years ago I would not have been allowed in. Even stranger is the fact that these people who claim to despise America speak better English than people in many other parts of Asia and will often even accept US dollars, especially for larger purchases. The dollar is actually the primary currency they accept for visa applications at the border. I realize it's probably more the government than the people who hate Americans, but it was definitely interesting to get a completely different perspective on the place than all those tens of thousands of US soldiers did nearly half a century ago.
NOT PROOFREAD... EXCUSE ERRORS.
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