2008-01-05 - Vietnam 1 - Tour

The trip starts getting on the boat a bit outside Phnom Penh – you have to stay on your allocated side, or else the boat will lean too much. It all looks quite serene, but the boat is powered by an engine that sounds like a diesel-powered lawnmower.

River scenes were other water traffic, the houses and people on the banks, and animals various.

On the boat

Dredging sand - used to raise the land in low-lying areas

Boat motor - engine, long shaft, prop

The border - Cambodian side

Water buffalo

The other side

Houses on the bank

The smaller boats are traditional wooden boats, now mechanised via something between the good old Honda 5.5hp red motor to an old truck motor. There is then a long shaft with a propeller at the end – you lift it up when coasting, or start the engine and stick the prop in to go.

After crossing the border with tour guide guidance and border official disdain, it was lunch and then more river-boating, with time off the main river and onto the back channels. Here you can really see daily life – it’s amazing what is based around the water.

The day ended in border town Chau Doc, a medium-sized river town which sees very few westerners and is thus 100% Vietnamese in terms of signs, menus and language spoken. The tour hotel felt like the only one in town, which is probably how they justified the size of the tiny rooms and the mattress springs sticking into your back.