VIETNAM/CAMBODIA - 2025(18 & 19 May'25)
Sunday 18 May'26 - Mekong River Cruise (Vietnam & Cambodia)
This morning, we were moored next to the picturesque border town of Long Thuan. We boarded a sampan where we visited the floating fish farms. They feed the fish twice a day with a mixture of rice bran, antibiotics and dead fish meal.
We then headed to a Taoist temple where we met a local fortune teller. The bridge access was, to say at the least, rather shonky.
Back on the sampan & off to a local village for a performance of both a traditional Lion and Dragon dance.
We then travelled by Tuk Tuk to a local farm in the XI Loi area. The rice paddies went for ever. But an interesting fact was they had a Swallow House in the middle of the fields. This is an aviary for swallows. Apart from helping to keep the insects at bay across the fields, the farmers also sell the birds’ nests that get created within the aviary, for $1,000 USD/kilo! Then back to the boat for our border crossing into Cambodia.
Monday 19 May'26 - Mekong River Cruise (Cambodia)/Phonm Phen (Cambodia)
The day started with a trip through the city of Phnom Penh, by Cyclo, finishing at the Royal Palace. Now for those of you playing along at home, the P in Phnom IS NOT silent. It is a common problem us westerners make! Our guide, Mr Somalya (pronounced Somali), is a hoot. When he talks about things, he asks himself a question, as in; “Phnom Penh is only recently the capital of Cambodia. Somalya why is that? Well, it moved from Angor Wat in the 19th century” 😊. We visited the Royal Palace, which, during Pol Pot and his mate’s rule, was a prison for the royal family (#6-15). Whilst walking through the gardens, we were shown the tree that Buddha “came to earth in” (#16). The flower is beautiful with a very aromatic scent because "he is special", but the fruit, called locally a cannonball, can’t be eaten or used in anyway and that is because, once Buddha became earth bound, he could not be “used” by ordinary people…
After our visit to the Palace, we were given 2 options. These being to visit either the National Museum or take a Cyclo Orientation tour of the city. We opted for the city tour… We then returned to the ship for lunch.
After lunch, we travelled by bus to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. Now again for those playing at home, during Pol Pot’s rule, there were 300 “killing fields”. The one we visited had 129 mass graves, 86 of which have been exhumed but they have decided to leave the rest. They have found 9,000 bodies of the estimated 20,000 in this area alone. It was very sombre, and I welled up and had tears when I came across a tree that is part of the next photo group. How can human beings be so barbaric?
Again, we were offered 2 options at the conclusion of this tour. Visit the "S21" Genocide Museum, which was a school that was used as a detention centre during the Khmer Rouge Regime or go to the Central Markets. As I didn’t want to see the photos taken by these monsters of their atrocities, I opted for the markets.
Back to the boat for happy hour, and as was the case the day before, the 1800 rain shower. The 1st video (#34) is just after the rain started, whereas the next one (#35) is exactly the same stretch of river but only 5 minutes later!
In closing, I need to say Mr Somalya is a real character. He tells us things about himself and his family, cracking himself up and laughing so much, I fear he’ll wet himself. When he says something that REALLY cracks himself up, he’ll say, “Oh my Buddha” 😊.