The Mekong - Part 1

Chau Doc - January 22

In Vietnam now, having come from Phnom Penh (Cambodia) on the ninth longest river in the World (3,050 miles), the Mekong. The first stretch of what will be a multi-fragmented journey from the rivers near-terminus in the South China Sea back upstream towards it's source in Tibet. In particular, over the next week or so, we'll be in and around the delta areas south of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). Next stop, Can Tho...


Can Tho - January 24

This bustling commerce center of the region has an impressive amount of river traffic ever coursing it's numerous waterways. We rented a moto one morning and cruised out to Phong Dien for a very scenic floating market. Women were expertly maneuvering around on small boats with the grace of dancers, pirouetting as they guided the rear motor with their foot, standing like a stork, while operating both oars with their hands. As if this wasn't exotic enough, even today, many women don the ubiquitous conical hat to protect them from the sun as fair skin is highly valued here.


Vinh Long - January 27

Our first day here we took a ferry out to one of the islands that boasts numerous lychee + rambutan (fruit) orchards. We had intended to walk to a town where we'd been told we could rent bicycles, but the walk en-route was so wonderfully scenic - Along canals + under the shade of trees, watching groups of people trimming lychees for shipment + boat traffic along the numerous canals - that we were lured to continue meandering these winding paths the remainder of the afternoon instead. At dawn the next morning we were having coffee, fresh out of Vietnam's signature aluminum drip-filters, as women busily set up stalls around us at the central market. A couple cups of this jet fuel and we were wide awake for our boat ride through the canals to the nearby Cai Be floating market. This was the first market we'd seen where produce was sold wholesale from larger, wooden houseboats where families live. Laundry hung to dry + children were swinging on hammocks off the back deck while their parents loaded produce onto customers smaller crafts. Each boat simply advertised their goods with a fruit or vegetable strung up on a single, tall pole.

Check the "link" for more photos from the Mekong Delta

The Stuff that Dreams are Made Of

January 10 (Day 3)

Angkor Wat - We spent an entire day exploring this monumental edifice, starting and ending the day in the same spot atop the towers without even consciously setting out to do so. It's interesting to note that there are more Khmers + Japanese here than anyone else, by far, and they've both been great for people-watching in their own ways. It's obvious why the Khmers dig it so much... Just look at the carvings and faces on the statues... It must be thrilling to see the same beautiful faces with their almond-shaped eyes and full lips gazing back. The Japanese are HILARIOUS to watch and have become a fun part of the experience here... They're really into photography and each person in a group has his/her own, distinct pose. Some even hire costumed dancers to pose with them for photos.



January 12 (Day 5)

The Bayon - Struck speechless, again. Ho-Lee-Shit this one's a mind-blower! Over a hundred faces gazing out towards the cardinal points. Buddhas. What to say to that?! The pale green lichen softens the stone even after the work of the elements for over a thousand years.

I was thinking about Cambodia in general today and how it's really grown on me. SO much about it on the surface is unimpressive. It's dusty + characterless and the cities look like any crappy burb of San Jose, L.A., or even Honduras. But these OTHER things - The way the kids talk that are trying to sell you bracelets + cold drinks is just about the cutest, most endearing English either of us have ever heard in our LIVES; The fact that there are more 2-wheeled vehicles on the road this side of Holland; That you can rent a bicycle and they don't ask you for a scrap of info or collateral, you just drive off and pay when you return it; The lack of copyright laws here making music, books + movies basically FREE and readily available to all; The fishing villages that have somehow remained trapped in time; The sauciness of the people in general, especially the women, rivals that of the Cubans; That anything and everything is available here for a price - All this makes it unique to other countries we've traveled through and makes us intrigued to delve deeper.



January 14 (Day 7)

Preah Khan - Telescoping corridors through an infinity of doors. Huge slabs of stone overhead, under foot, encircling me like a womb. You would think I'd feel intimidated inside this mass of stone, but instead, it cools... It comforts. What a MASSIVE amount of human energy to create temples such as this - Stones brought from far away mountains, YEARS of work, THOUSANDS of skilled builders + craftsmen... And all eventually abandoned for the jungle to reclaim... And now, for us to journey through like explorers. To be IN such a spiritual space... Stone crumbling, Birds calling, Mind reeling, Golden yellow leaves fluttering down through filtered light... Wow!

The tree! It's been so long since I've seen any of my old photos that I'd forgotten... And at first I didn't even fully understand what I was seeing... The beautiful, arcing twin had been struck dead by lightning! This used to be the famous "entwined tree"... Still impressive, but to have seen it before and not to have known! The continuation of our exploration of the temple brought many more deja vu/dreamlike moments... There's something about these places I'm revisiting - Architecture. There are so few places that I've returned, but they've all been monuments in some respect. There's something about how I feel when I'm there that's transcendent... Like my idea of what "heaven" might be like. The spaces have power... Mana.

I keep being reminded of some of the Buddhist principles -
"Impermanence" - Of man vs. nature. Nature WILL win. You can see it happening before your very eyes in these temples where trees are both supporting + tearing the structures apart.
"Mindfulness" - We've been asked if it's harder to get inspired now that we've been traveling for so long. Does every day become a little more the same? The answer, at least for me, is a resounding "No!" We've both seen MANY temples + ruins in our lifetimes and we're STILL wowed. I had much the same feeling on the Annapurna circuit + in Ladakh, India. Each day COULD'VE been JUST another mountain or JUST another monastery, but if you slow down enough to become mindful then experience becomes the people and the light, the serenity... The things that are sometimes SO hard to appreciate in our hectic, western lives. Mindfulness is a choice for us westerners and doesn't come naturally, even here. I'm working on it.

We finished off the day, and our week-long visit, with a return to the Bayon. The golden glow had already left, as had the tourists, so we had the place virtually to ourselves. We stayed until a guard finally asked us to leave. We hadn't even had time in the week to squeeze in a second visit to Angkor Wat, so to compensate we now opted to do as the local tourists do every evening - Find a vacant spot on the banks of the moat and drink beers by candlelight while watching the triple-towered silhouette fade to black.



January 15 (Day 8)

Phnom Krom - Wow, what a week! Darin equated it to the end of "burn" week and our beaten-down, overwhelmed, emotionally-drained exhaustion does bear remarkable similarity. What to say about Angkor? Words are mostly inadequate. Even having been here before I find myself still at a loss. The sheer expanse + number of temples alone has something to do with it, as does the setting. Biking through this forest "park" from temple to temple gave us a deep appreciation for both these points. Another facet that I hadn't clearly articulated until Darin pointed it out was the people-watching. In a place like this, people are so awed that they let their guard down... They're silly. They laugh easily. I found it much easier to let my guard down as well this time because of the change the country has undergone in just the past 7 years - There's ALOT more money here now. This time, we weren't subjected to scores of begging children, lepers + landmine victims always reaching out to you. The children are still around, but they're WAY more charming + less desperate. We saw but one leper in the entire week, thankfully, and landmine victims have started up bands at each of the major temples (The Phnom Bakheng Sextet, etc.) and even sell cd's! Cambodia + Cambodians have had a ROUGH history, until just recently, but with political stability the tourists have come flooding in. It still is a poor country, but the trickle-down effect of the dollar seems to be making life a little bit easier for everyone, and it shows. Thailand isn't the ONLY "Land of Smiles".

Check the "link" for more Angkor temple photos

"Cambodia Ruins People, Man!"

It's like India, or maybe Cuba, meets Bourbon Street New Orleans. You've got the grunge + the weird, the hustlers, the booze + the girls. It's sex, drugs + rock 'n roll here baby and anything's available for a price. (Photo: This is what you have to warn people against!)

There are ALOT of expat's here and we've been warned that Cambodia ruins people. When everything's for sale it seems too easy not to say "Sure, why not?!" With that in mind, it's not SO surprising to discover that the Russian mob is laying down LOTS of cash for resorts and "hostess" bars and the Japanese are buying whole islands for casinos. Cambodia's still growing, but it's "boomed" and you'd have to be willing to lay down some cash and deal with stiff competition to make a go of it here. (Photo: Man-powered "cyclo", cycle rickshaw)

Sihanoukville - December 31

The Khmers were out in full-force tonight, vastly outnumbering the falang/tourists, kicking it down for western New Year which they don't even celebrate by their calendar, or so we thought! They were shooting off roman candles out over the ocean which we could see down the long stretch of sand. We walked along, feet in the surf, past sandcastle-style Angkor Wat's and Happy New Year 2007's on the beach, lit by candles, with the background soundtrack of dance music changing as we passed bar after bar. When midnight struck, we were surprised by the moment and found ourselves separated - Ironic considering how glued at the hip we've become on this trip, and actually had to run towards each other for the token kiss as the fireworks began firing off with fury. Later - At one bar, a Khmer dude was spinning fire at professional level while we boogied down. Eventually, their amp started to go and then so did we. Such is the way things seem to happen by luck and chance here.

Check the "link" for more Sihanoukville area photos.

Phnom Penh - January 5

The Central Market - A pale yellow, peeling, art deco showpiece is one of the best preserved French colonial buildings remaining in the city. The market itself is not so exciting on the surface - Tons of vendors all selling the usual junk, but if you wander the many lanes you'll see electric-blue legged lobsters, crabs dueling in a bowl, and fried insects! Including large tarantulas with egg sacks filled to bursting. (See photo) Another wild, but a bit more tantalizing site were large, flayed squid grilling over coals, then sliced up and served over rice with a sweet chili-lime sauce. Smelled good, but not enough to lure us out of our vegetarian diets.

Check the "link" for more Phnom Penh photos. And for something a bit more tasty, try this one at home, it's practically the national dish of Cambodia - Amok Recipe (Note: Put lots of basil leaves in the bottom of the banana-leaf cups. You can also substitute the fish with cubed firm tofu or veggie chicken + mushrooms)


Tonle Sap Delta- January 8

Leaving Battambang, we cruised through scruffy little riverside villages for a solid two hours or more before the stilt homes became fewer and far between and the river began to curve in long, lazy S's. This was the area of the REAL fisherpeople. There were fish traps of every shape and size - Spheres, long cylinders with a spiraling vortex in the center to better catch the fish, and the grandaddy of them all, a huge, cantilevered contraption with net that is lowered in to catch fish by the scores (See photo) - and every stilt home or houseboat we passed had someone cleaning the catch. All along, kids waved and screeched out "Goodbye!", hands flailing wildly, as our boat slowly cruised by. By the looks, things haven't changed much here in a very long time. We passed many small settlements and at one point opened onto an entire floating city where the delta widened. About midway through this 8 hour cruise we both popped in our I-Pods. I put on my Burningman daytime set which was just about perfect (and more than a bit reminiscent) for the slow, scenic unfolding of river life as we people-watched in the warm sun.

Check the "link" for more photos from the Tonle Sap delta cruise

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