Mekong Delta

Monday evening

When you visit countries as poor as this it is amazing to see how important a river is to the lives of everyone down its length. We started on the Mekong in Laos on our boat trip. Friday morning we went off to the Mekong delta. The Mekong divides into 2 arms as it approaches the South China Sea - the Mekong and the Bassac. There are in total 9 rivers. Crisscrossing these major rivers are hundreds and hundreds of smaller rivers and man made canals. Amd the whole of this region seems to live, work and die on the banks of the river. To our eyes the river is stinky mess - they all seem to pour everything into it and get their water out of it.

Many of the houses are perched over the river on what seems a very precarious existence. However, it obviously works for them as they seem to feed themselves - the surrounding areas are extremely fertile. Friday night we stayed in a homestay. Its a bit more than someones house. We stayed in a restaurant which had a large upstairs room in which we all slept in beds (under mozzie nets as they were on flying duty). It was ok, hot humid and sweaty but that is real life down here.

It was very difficult when boating, walking or cycling around not to gawp at the houses and the way people lived. All of the house space had many uses - it was a small shop or wor area, which then became a meal table and finally converted to a bedroom - having seperate bedrooms or any kind of leisure space is just not possible. Although they do have tvs in most houses - even those that you think are derelict!!

Saturday we boated out of delta and caught a bus to the Vietnam / Cambodian border to stay in a local town whose name escapes me. It was definitely NOT aimed at tourists. We had lunch in a brilliant restaurant. It was all noise, chaos and cokking on the floor. If you didn't think about it it seemed safe - noone is yet poisoned but seeing them cook as they did (my word)

Sunday moprning we went through the normal disorganised slow process of leaving Vietnam and reacjhing Cambodia. We then had a 150km journey by bus to Phnom Penh - the capital, As soon as we came over the border it was so obvious that this place is much poorer than anywhere we have been so far. I'll talk about the chequered past in the next blog but tragedy doesn't descrive it.

Phnomh Penh is a city of contrasts. Most of it - 95% is so poor. But in a small enclave around the royal palace and business district are some very large rich villas and french colonial houses - lots of large toyotas drive around. We have been told that of the 1 million people in the city only 50,000 are involved in life - the rest are just out to eat...

Next post from Phnom Penh