March 13-24, 2011

Our holiday begins with two nights in Saigon which we haven't visited for five years.  Delighted to be staying at The Caravelle Hotel with its large, comfy rooms, and delicious breakfast buffet.     We spend our time walking and rediscovering - surprised that the rate of progress seems to have slowed just a little - not a bad thing either.  We visit the central market to stock up on pepper, and then the Russian Market for some (outstanding quality in a civilized environment) shirts, shorts etc.   Best discovery:  the restaurants in the Refinery precinct - an old opium refinery is now home to a number of restaurants  - everything from Japanese to contemporary western, all in a pretty courtyard setting, and all as cheap as chips.  We had a fabulous meal at Hoa Tuc - superb.

Our brief Saigon sojourn is over, and we travel 90 minutes by coach to the Mekong port of My Tho where our river boat awaits - resplendent in shiny teak, canvas and pretty potted shrubs.  We know before we board that we are going to love it, as do all of the 40 or so Australians who will be our traveling companions for the next 11 days.   All of us excitedly discover our cabins which are beautifully appointed - navy and white linens and totally furnished in wood.   Our beds are a little higher than usual with fabulous storage underneath - drawers and cupboards, one of which "swallows" a suitcase.  The sundeck beckons and we congregate there to meet our crew - Burmese, Vietnamese and Cambodian.

Our cruise director - Roath (Rosie) bids us a warm welcome, and gives us a run down on the itinerary to come.    We notice while she is speaking that there is a very large "S" hook hanging outside the bar (drinks included by the way!), and wonder what that is for.   Later, a very large bunch of lady finger bananas appears on it - to hang there throughout the cruise, for us to grab a quick snack - as if the endless supply of delicious peanut brittle and homemade biscuits, to go with the self serve tea and coffee aren't enough!!!

We cast off, and soon after, lunch is served in the pretty dining room - fitted out in reproduction period style - loads of flowers and light flooding in from the windows which surround it.   We come to enjoy congregating here for meals, and the atmosphere quickly becomes that of a country house party.  Wonderful for people watching of course, and quality opportunities to meet and get to know our fellow travellers.

We instantly fall in love with the Mekong and at 4800 kms long, we know we are seeing such a tiny part of it.    The river life on,  and alongside is so interesting and we never tire of watching.    

Our first excursion, soon after lunch is by sampan, to the town of Cai Be - we remain in Vietnam for the first few days of the trip - famous for a wonderful floating market - where the vendors tie a sample of their wares to a pole on the front of their boat to advertise what they are selling - we see pumpkins, watermelons, bags of rice and so on.   A massive Catholic cathedral built in 1929 dominates the town, and reminds us that 80% of Vietnamese are Catholic.  We call at a kind of commune where the locals make such Vietnamese staples as the sheets for rice paper rolls, coconut candy, noodle candy, popcorn, and peanut brittle - of course we sample and enjoy it all. We visit a very old house beautifully preserved, and marvel at the 100 year old bonsai in the front garden, before returning to Indochine Pandaw.

Our daily evening "ritual" is set with evening cocktails on the sun deck - watching a spectacular sunset.  Hors d'oevres materialize, and we all agree that this is going to be a very nice week indeed.  At 7pm we receive our briefing for the next day and then it's dinner (very very nice but disappointingly meat and three veg, and we hope this isn't how it will be for a week - it isn't!).   Tonight's movie is The Lover - shown in the Lecture Room - beautifully decorated with contemporary and appropriate "Indochinese" furniture.  One by one we leave the movie - leaving Barry and a bunch of women.  Turns out the movie is somewhat "blue" and he too left - embarrassed!!  The movie was well chosen because tomorrow we visit Sedac -the village in which the movie was set.

Day 2: Sedac is also a bustling place - full of cottage industries: chief among them a brick making factory - even this is very interesting.   A local market bustles, and we visit another ancient house - this time that of Huyn Thuy Lee the "stayer" in last night's porn show.  We enjoy a lazy afternoon on the sun deck, marveling at the pristine market gardens which are everywhere.  How neat and bountiful they are.  River life is frenetic.  Children everywhere - calling to us, and showing off at the edge of the river and in it!  The riverscape varies dramatically from one side to the other - this is something we wonder at for the entire trip.  It is variously wide and narrow, serpentine and straight - an utterly superb waterway.   Tonight's dinner is a fine local meal, and the movie is The Quiet American.

Day 3: As we wend our way north our next stop is at the town of Chao Doc - another bustling place light years from Saigon.  We take a long rickshaw ride around town, with time at the local market where Karen and Sally noticed a little girl beggar with plastic shoes which were split in half - who knows how she could walk in them.  Anyway $1.50 later and a new pair were purchased, and it was the highlight of everyone's day just to see the look on her face and the spring in her step.     Once again we take to the river in very spartan wooden sampans and visit a catfish farm, and then a remote village where the Cha'am people live and work - silk is their "thing", and naturally contributions were made to the local economy! To get to the village we had to walk across a very rickety (built for tiny Vietnamese) wooden walkway - often without sides, and with the filthy Mekong under us - powerful incentive not to lose one's footing!  The Americans who were coming the other way declared it to be an "adventure".  I might not have gone that far with my description.....   Back on board we settle in for a relaxing afternoon - a cooking class perhaps? or we can try our hand at fruit carving.      It is today that we cross the border into Cambodia - an exercise which takes almost 5 hours!!!  as we bob on the river waiting for our passports to be scanned.  Afterwards, we motor towards Phnom Penh and moor close by.  Tonight's movie is (predictably) The Killing Fields.

Day 4: We moor outside of Phnom Penh and motor in early morning.   Had no expectations at all of this town (city of 2 million really) but were so pleasantly surprised.  Our day started with a very cool temperature but it soon became hot.  Took a long cycle ride to the utterly lovely Royal Palace, then on to the National Museum and then a long orientation ride around town via the hill.  Saw Simbo the 54 year old elephant, who roams freely in the area.     Lunch on board.  Afternoon bus ride to the Russian market for a spot of silk purchasing.  All so lovely and also cheap.   We pass on the optional tour to the killing fields and S21, followed by the Genocide Museum.  Our guide Pohly (Polly) tells her harrowing story of her time as a child in a prison camp - separated from her entire family. The happy ending was that she was eventually reunited with parents and siblings - except for one brother who was killed by the regime (for stealing food).

Back to town via tuk tuk and then a walk back to the boat - bikes arriving - all 13 of them which our pax have clubbed together to buy for the orphanage we are to visit in a few days - total $400.  We love the street life and marvel at the number of cafes, restaurants and bars - most of which look really appealing.

Disturbed to see an "elephant man" on the way back to the ship.  Hoping to try and do something for him via the embassy network.   Back to the ship for a cool drink.

We are in port overnight, and so pop back into town for a meal at The Foreign Correspondents Club with Karin & Sally.  Had a superb dinner - $70 for 4 of us including a $30 bottle of wine!!! and a fruit and ice cream buffet desert.  Wishing we could have stayed longer, we hurry back to the ship to enjoy a concert by local orphans.

Day 5:  We leave PP early and veer off on to the Tonle Sap River and call at the Kampong Tralach village.  Our boat noses into the bank where a makeshift gang plank and a chain gang of young men from the ship see us up the steep bank.  Ox carts are waiting and we take a long (and very bumpy) ride through the village around to a 200 year old monastery.  Mercifully the poor old oxen get a rest at that point while we look around, and hear all about the history of this very remote place.  Back on board we settle in to pass through a very narrow stretch of river  (Kampong Chhnang),with children calling loudly from the banks.

Our eyes dart from side to side as we marvel at the river life all around us.  We just loved it.   Later in the day we see a massive floating town - we are told the people are Vietnamese who come here to fish.  They also live, garden, breed animals (everything from pigs to chickens), and go to school on the river.  The housing on the banks is of the very high stilted variety which is so common in these parts.

We double back to Phnom Penh and moor overnight.

Day 6:   We cast off and sail on the Mekong again upstream to Chong Koh - yet another remote village.  Once again the boat noses into the bank - quite steep this time.  The trusty gangplank materializes and we clamber up the "steps" which have been hacked into the dirt river wall.  Waiting for us at the top are hordes of mothers and children selling silk.   This is a Cha'am village where silk weaving is the primary industry and river ships like ours provide a welcome and much needed income stream.  We happily contribute!!!

The children are adorable - they all are, and after much yelling and waving we wave them goodbye.

The ship has a sweet policy of taking all our shoes as we board after shore visits.  They are cleaned and returned to our cabins.  They say "we would rather clean all your shoes, than the entire ship after the mud and dirt gets walked around"!   In the afternoon we nose into Angkor Ban Village - same procedure, a plank shoved into the river bank (very high this time) with a lad from the ship "monkeying around" on the vertical river bank to tie us up.    The river is very wide here, and the water a pretty blue.   More market gardens -  we get the impression that this is a very fertile part of Cambodia.

In the afternoon, we visit the village of Angkor Ban - again we nose our ship into the river bank and the makeshift gangway is in place.   What a different place this is - very "authentic", much quieter, lovely children, and people in general.  We all love it here.  We also get a real feeling of visiting somewhere a long way off the beaten track.

In the evening, some of the ladies from Perth arrange a raffle to assist (our guide) Polly and a project she has with a jungle school which has no aid at all.   One of them says to Polly "tonight we are going to have a raffle" to which she replied "Oh no, we get to Raffles in two days time"!   Lots of laughs at that.  Anyway, the raffle raises $200 which will make an enormous difference.

Day 7:  Our final day on Pandaw and a very full one.  We dock at the very high river bank at Wat Hanchey.  There is an option to take a motor bike ride to the top of the hill - I think of Mt Blanc and walk instead.  Along the way I do my radio cross to 3AW.  John Blackman is filling in for Denis Walter and he has done a wonderful job of researching the topic in advance of our chat.  A very interesting temple complex - obviously fruit is the thing here because there are massive "models" of every piece of fruit you can think of, including a big pineapple!

Back to the ship for lunch, then we return to Kampong Cham - a bustling agricultural town which we are told is in the richest province in Cambodia.  Some lovely homes and a general air of prosperity - a relative term, you understand!   We visit the Amica village which has been sponsored by a French NGO, and also the twin holy mountains with their naughty monkeys.  We are possibly "templed out" at this point, but remind ourselves that the daddy of them all, in Angkor Wat is to come.   We stop at a supermarket to purchase gifts for the kids at the orphanage which we visit later on. This is a place which is supported by Pandaw, and is the beneficiary of the 13 bikes we have donated.   We arrive at the complex which I must say is positively 5-star compared to many I have seen.  There are 90-odd kids and while the need is great, my thoughts turn to Burma and the work to be done there.  Bikes and biscuits are handed over, and our people enjoy playing soccer, volleyball, and hooning on the bikes with the kids.  A pleasant way to end the day.

In the evening, we are invited to a farewell party on the sundeck, and this consisted of a fun demonstration of assembling and wearing the various Cambodian items of clothing.  Crew entertained us with music and dancing, and there was much of the latter - Cambodian and Western.  Everyone joined in - lots of fun.

Day 8:   An early start as we pack our bags and get ready to leave for Siem Reap - a 4 hour drive away - eeew!!!

Have loved every minute of this trip - could easily do another week and probably more. 

For more photos of this trip please click here