one the road again, still on the Mekong

Before I start talking about Cambodia, it is important to wrap-up the journey through Vietnam. When I last was chatting about the tour, we had arrived at a charming hotel in Can Tho. This place was opulent to the French core and if I’d known about it sooner I would have asked to stay there at least two [2] days…one could really believe that Bogie & Bacall would show up at any moment.

Had our first [1st] bottle of wine in Vietnam…a nice Rose (from where I can’t remember but I do remember I could have bought a full case from Tinhorn Creek for the price I paid!!) and an elegant Vietnamese meal of diverse sliders!! The bar included an old style billiard table and a piano (that was played by someone who really knew how to play, AND DIDN’T INCLUDE CHRISTMAS CAROLS!!!!). We sat out on the patio, near the pool and with a view of the river and the numerous boats coming and going. By the way, that’s one [1] thing you can say about the Mekong Delta — it’s a boat owner’s (or maybe seller’s is a more appropriate reference point) paradise. If you think English Bay on a sunny Sunday afternoon in July is busy, quadruple that for every ten [10] kms of water. However these are neither Great Lake Freighters nor SeaRay runabouts. Most have dragon eyes painted on the front to scare away crocodiles, and when loaded many actually seem to be below the water-line. And most have engines straight out of African Queen (ooops, there comes Bogie again).

Anyway the stay at the riviera was delightful, even if it was too short. The next morning we started the long journey to Chau Doc where we were to meet our own riverboat to take us across the border into Cambodie (again, it turned out not to be either Martin Sheen nor a replica US Gunboat, but more on that later).

We actually left Can Tho by boat, a somewhat interesting contraption that had seats (not fastened to the floor) and even better, a well-seasoned pilot. We headed first for the floating market which is a wonderful collection of disparate boats all filled with a variety of product — mostly vegetables and fruit. In among them were scores of smaller boats, stopping and dealing as they searched for numerous goodies — as soon as they had what they needed, they headed off home to sell their purchases to people in their village and environs. We observed this for a while and then headed further down river finally stopping at a major farm. This place had a significant orchard and special gardens. It was interesting to wander through the various species and see how they re-cycle as much as they can (trying to avoid pesticides/herbicides as best they can). From their we walked along the levee, past a variety of homes as well as a primary school (which was closed as it was Saturday). Then our driver appeared…

We then headed out looking for a place to eat. Again traffic was a mixture of insane bus drivers, oversized (for the road) trucks, seven [7] motorbikes for every square metre, numerous unscratched cars (obviously purchased that day just to add to the congestion)and a huge number of kids on bikes (obviously being out of school for a day generates a self-destructive mania that can only be satisfied by trying to dodge all of the aforementioned motorized vehicles). Suddenly the Guide asked if we’d like to see crocodiles — as he had previously told us that crocs had been extinguished in Vietnam many, many years ago, we thought he was trying to once again demonstrate some Vietnamese humour. However the driver spun around (without being hit) and drove into a compound. As we got out of the car, the Guide said that before we would still down for lunch, we should go for a walk with a friend of his…since the guy spoke reasonable English, we said okeedokee (actually we said “cum on” which is Vietnamese for “thanks”. Then began a strange tour:
First on the stops was a Husky in an air-conditioned animal shelter…they had paid ten thousand bucks [$10,000] to import him from Canada.
Then we saw an enclosure with a tonne of what looked like imitation crocodiles (when we returned, on our way out, some had moved — didn’t know plastic knock-offs could do that!!!!!).
Then we saw another pen where young ones were crawling about and occasionally taken snips at each other…
Finally we realized that, yes, we were in a “crocodile farm”. The next twenty [20] minutes or so was really intriguing as our guide (who is part of the management structure) showed us the entire layout. There were a number of females rather pregnant. It was explained that once she starts laying her eggs, it is very important that these eggs are dug up quickly and transplanted in the incubator room. After the young hatch, they are kept until they reach at least ten [10] centimetres then they are moved to their own pen. Mothers not only are bigger than the males, they occasionally will kill them (ST thought that was a cheaper alternative than divorce) and dring the mating season a female may consort with several different males. Oh, and another thing, when the eggs hatch often the parents will eat some of the young if they aren’t protected. One other thing, males have to be replaced every seven [7] years to keep the gene pool from deteriorating… As for the farm… by the time a croc is seven [7] s/he has either been exported live somewhere in the world, or more likely has had his/her skin harvested for belts, handbags or cowboy boots, and the meat processed for food. Subsequent to the tour, we then had lunch in the compound and actually tried the croc meat — quite good…

Later we stopped at a local (non-touristy) market in a smaller town — it was interesting, especially because no one tried to sell us anything…we then went on to Chau Doc. While the hotel was part of the same chain as the Bogie place, and while the architecture and interior design was similar as well, it was not as elegantly situated. Nevertheless we had a good walking visit of the town and enjoyed a nice evening meal by the river. We knocked off in reasonable time as we had to be up, breakfasted, and checked out before 7:15 to catch the “speedboat/riverboat” to Phnon Penh.

Today dawned really sunny. Breakfast was very good and substantive. We were then given a bag lunch to take with us an we went to the dock (just outside the hotel). While there were only four [4] of us taken the boat (the big tour that we had seen on several occasions had left on an earlier boat), we discovered that our boat had already picked up some passengers from another stop. We all settled in and off we went, up the mainstem of the Mekong River. About an hour out we stopped at the Vietnamese check-point to have all our documents reviewed (I guess they wanted to make sure that the Cambodians wouldn’t send us back). After a twenty [20] minute stop (where we all had to get out of the boat and stand in a small room where a lady was desperately trying to sell her wares @ one buck [$1.00] an item whether it was a chocolate bar or a wee bag of peanuts which we resisted as we still had our lunch bags, we got back in the boat, started up the river and then had to stop and get back out again, about five [5] minutes later — this time at Cambodian Customs. By now it was hot, but the processing people all were sitting in the shade, so they took an inordinate amount of time. Eventually we re-boarded the boat and set off…

Other than another new bridge being built (on the model of the new Port Mann in Vancouver) and a few waterside facilities, including a container terminal, a couple of fuel storage stations, the view was basically: fishing boats in the water, old rickety houses along either bank. It allowed me to read a fascinating book: “Worthy Fights” by Leon Panetta (the former head of the CIA & Secretary of Defense under Obama). Finally the new skyscrapers of PP appeared in the distance, I put down my book and watched in some awe as we approached the city. I counted at least half a dozen construction cranes operating around the downtown area…and some of the new buildings are real architectural marvels.

After docking we met our Guide, a really thoughtful but focused guy. Even though it was hot and we had longer clothes on because of the possibility that the boat ride would be cool, he got us immediately into the tour of the key sites. The central temple, the main museum and the Presidential Palace…I’ll talk about these more tomorrow… I’m tired right now and so am going to knock off…