MeKong is King.
Yo yo, how are you all? We finally arrived in Cambodia yesterday evening after our three day trip up the Mekong. Initially it had sounded like we would actually be cruising up there the full time, but we sort of positioned ourselves at the allocated hotels on both nights, and did little day trips from there until the last day when we headed from Chau Doc (Vietnamese side) over onto the Cambodian side.
I absolutely loved the Mekong trip - would recommend it to anybody. Some of the highlights:
- me holding a massive python around my neck (pic to be seen on next upload)
- the floating markets, where each boat ties each of the types of products they sell onboard to a bamboo stick, and the punters cruise along in their boats buying what they like (the old skool drive-through)
- getting rowed down a small, stealthy canal by some Olympian-strength Vietnamese ladies in conical hats
- Quentin eating snake for dinner (cobra, apparently)
- trying banana rice wine, and cobra wine (but cobra only allowed for the lads)
- trusting our bags to be looked after in the boats, buses, vans and hotels we stayed up and finding them there each time, untouched
- all the kids living beside the Mekong waving enthusiastically to us as our boat went past
- seeing how the people live on the side of the Mekong
- meeting a whole lot of wicked people who we are still hanging out with in Phnom Penh
- coming to the border in our boat and being ambushed by ten year old "pirates" whom we thought we trying to steal our bags, but were trying to carry them to the border for us for a fee
- getting used to Cambodian Riel: about 4000 to the dollar, with the highest denomination being 5000, so you constantly have a massive pimp roll on you at all times (but you are mainly asked for U.S dollars, and get Riel in change so it gets a little confusing)
So we are now in Phnom Penh, the capital. We got in late last night, and I've been feeling a bit under the weather (probably after eating lunch on the boat off plates they'd washed in the river or something) so we're having a quiet day close to the hotel - will head out and see some things tomorrow. And it's Quentin's birthday on Saturday so we'll have to do something special then.
I absolutely loved the Mekong trip - would recommend it to anybody. Some of the highlights:
- me holding a massive python around my neck (pic to be seen on next upload)
- the floating markets, where each boat ties each of the types of products they sell onboard to a bamboo stick, and the punters cruise along in their boats buying what they like (the old skool drive-through)
- getting rowed down a small, stealthy canal by some Olympian-strength Vietnamese ladies in conical hats
- Quentin eating snake for dinner (cobra, apparently)
- trying banana rice wine, and cobra wine (but cobra only allowed for the lads)
- trusting our bags to be looked after in the boats, buses, vans and hotels we stayed up and finding them there each time, untouched
- all the kids living beside the Mekong waving enthusiastically to us as our boat went past
- seeing how the people live on the side of the Mekong
- meeting a whole lot of wicked people who we are still hanging out with in Phnom Penh
- coming to the border in our boat and being ambushed by ten year old "pirates" whom we thought we trying to steal our bags, but were trying to carry them to the border for us for a fee
- getting used to Cambodian Riel: about 4000 to the dollar, with the highest denomination being 5000, so you constantly have a massive pimp roll on you at all times (but you are mainly asked for U.S dollars, and get Riel in change so it gets a little confusing)
So we are now in Phnom Penh, the capital. We got in late last night, and I've been feeling a bit under the weather (probably after eating lunch on the boat off plates they'd washed in the river or something) so we're having a quiet day close to the hotel - will head out and see some things tomorrow. And it's Quentin's birthday on Saturday so we'll have to do something special then.
posted by Nic at 4:20 pm
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